Morse for Jaso... thoughts?

[daddyferrari]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ap-source-morse-headed-seattle-003635497--mlb.html

They seem to be trading away a lot of the younger guys looking for power, which I like... Some of these young guys I liked a lot too... I'm torn. What do you guys think?

[Igoe4Mariners]

Jaso is only a year younger than Morse. Both of the guys have only had one really good offensive year. It's about an even swap, other than Jaso can play defense, while Morse can hit for power. Now the M's need a catcher, badly.

[daddyferrari]

Do you think they have plans to bring up Zunino anytime soon?? I know he's down with the Generals, but wasn't everyone pretty high on the kid? You don't like Montero? I'd give him a "servicable" rating!! I guess looking through the roster, a catcher should be high on the list of needs though!!

[georgmi]

The way I see it, Morse projects to provide about the same value to the team in 2013 as Jaso would have, so from a number-of-wins perspective, this is a neutral move.

The imbalance comes in two places; contract status and organizational depth. We had Jaso under team control through the 2015 season, at league minimum this year and whatever he gets in arbitration for '14 and '15, which obviously will be performance-based. In other words, essentially for free. Morse costs us $7M this year and is a free agent for 2014. In other words, a rental.

Organizationally, we gave up one of only two ML-ready catchers in the org (Zunino is not ready today, and you can't afford to assume he's not going to have a setback or an injury) to acquire yet another 1B/DH guy. Bringing a crapload of freely-available relief pitchers into Spring Training and seeing who sticks makes a lot of sense; relief pitcher performance is super volatile, hard to predict, and consistently undervalued on the market (except for "proven closers", but Zduriencik has done a pretty good job of exploiting that particular market, rather than being exploited by it). But doing the same thing with expensive DHs is just nutbar crazy.

The only way this doesn't represent a huge error (or worse, an abandonment of The Plan in a desperate attempt to save somebody's job) is if Zduriencik thinks Morse won't embarrass himself in the outfield (I disagree, by the way) and that it's going to be easier to upgrade the team at catcher than find an actually good outfielder. So more moves need to be forthcoming. Though since that was our hope with the Vargas/Morales trade, and we still don't have a replacement for Vargas in the rotation, I'm worried.

[Igoe4Mariners]

Do you think they have plans to bring up Zunino anytime soon?? I know he's down with the Generals, but wasn't everyone pretty high on the kid? You don't like Montero? I'd give him a "servicable" rating!! I guess looking through the roster, a catcher should be high on the list of needs though!!

Zunino is being fast-tracked. Will like be up by midseason at the current rate. And I like Montero, but he's far from a full-time catcher. Doesn't need to be catching more than three times per week at this stage. Should be a veteran FA C signing or trade in the next couple of weeks here to fill Jaso's slot until Zunino is ready.

[JosephC]

Okay, I'll go against the grain. I like this move. Morse is a legit bat, and I don't have any doubts about it. When healthy, he's as good as any power hitter we've seen (Sexson, Branyan etc). His worst batting average with over 200 at-bats in a season was .278 and that was back in 2005. He's a possible 30 HR guy and a good game changer in the lineup. Guys, he's good. He puts the fear in the lineup for a fraction of the cost for Hamilton. He has the ability to play 1st base, DH and even outfield in a pinch. I don't feel we overpaid for him, in fact we may have under paid for him. Yes, Jaso was one hell of a pinch hitter last year but I think more of that was luck than anything else. Just remember how many games Jaso was a DH last year. Do you really think he can reproduce 2012 numbers? I think Morse can produce 2011 numbers if healthy.

I say we sold high and bought low on Morse. Let's wait and see what catcher we bring before getting to excited about this move.

[206HoopsFan]

I was surprised to see how upset some fans were with this deal. I like Jaso, but essentially we traded a part time player for a power bat. Yeah Morse sucks in the field, but lets not forget that the organization trusted Montero behind the plate more than Jaso. Only time will tell what happens, but I like the deal.

[evergreenmachine]

Okay, I'll go against the grain. I like this move. Morse is a legit bat, and I don't have any doubts about it. When healthy, he's as good as any power hitter we've seen (Sexson, Branyan etc). His worst batting average with over 200 at-bats in a season was .278 and that was back in 2005. He's a possible 30 HR guy and a good game changer in the lineup. Guys, he's good. He puts the fear in the lineup for a fraction of the cost for Hamilton. He has the ability to play 1st base, DH and even outfield in a pinch. I don't feel we overpaid for him, in fact we may have under paid for him. Yes, Jaso was one hell of a pinch hitter last year but I think more of that was luck than anything else. Just remember how many games Jaso was a DH last year. Do you really think he can reproduce 2012 numbers? I think Morse can produce 2011 numbers if healthy.

I say we sold high and bought low on Morse. Let's wait and see what catcher we bring before getting to excited about this move.

I totally agree and wasnt sure why the uss mariner guys were throwing a fit.

To me there is one thing that no one talks about, especially the stats lovers from the WAR camp...an that is winning and coming from a winning culture. Morse and raul both just came from playoff teams and i put a lot value on that amd WAR doesnt or any other advanced stat doesnt accout for that.

Seattle has a culture of losing, and one way to change that is to bring in winners

Anyone remember a guy named Jason werth? I like morse an morales moves for that same impact

[clarknova]

My main issue with the entire off season isn't necessarily a question of are we a better team than last year. I'd say we are, and I expect them to do better. My issue is that I desire a championship team, or at least the semblance that one is being built. Better is not bad, but slightly better and not better long term in a pivotal off season is a little troubling for me.

Regarding the specific subject of this thread, Morse for Jaso. Don't love it because I wanted and expected more for this year. Morse will probably hit and that's great. Then he's gone as a free agent and maybe we'll get a draft pick maybe, or we'll trade him, or whatever. It's not as bad as it has been made out though, IMO. We had/have an amazing defense and we can afford to give up a few hits if it means we'll get much more power from our outfield. We still need a long term solution, but you know what- I like this better than the reported deal for Upton, and I like this better than trading a bunch for Andre Ethier. I was sure I wouldn't like it because we already traded him away for Langerhans, AND we're talking about a guy that is being basically tossed aside because the Nats are so stacked. Same with Morales. I know they're going to make us a better team in 2013 and that's great, but honestly I'm jealous because these are guys that teams with superior talent are casting away because they don't have room for their potential 30 homer power. They've got equal or better locked up for longer. I just want that too, and I guess that's why I don't like the move as much as some might, but the fact that he's turned into a pretty decent hitter makes me hate it less than others. I'm a "meh" on Michael Morse for John Jaso.

[georgmi]

I don't see Morse getting a qualifying offer after this year, so no draft picks for us, precioussss. Thirteen million is what you offer a guy who you think is going to give you three WAR.

In isolation, I do like Mike Morse and always have. I still say that he doesn't improve the team very much in the short run, and doesn't help us at all in the long run, but bringing him on doesn't make us worse in the short run either. If Z really wanted him, I'd rather he had traded a pitcher for him than Jaso--seems like he could have made that happen straight up with the Nats without sending Jaso to the A's, but obviously I can't know for sure how it really went down.

What helps me accept this trade is accepting the fact that no matter what value optimal use of Jaso would have given us, Wedge wasn't going to use him optimally, so the actual, on-field value we lost isn't as great as it should have been.

[evergreenmachine]

Jason werth

[evergreenmachine]

Yoenis cespedes

[clarknova]

I know a qualifying offer is a stretch. If he hits 30+ homers and averages more than .280, I think there's a chance. If he (and his agent, and the Mariners) believe it's likely that he could get better than a two year deal at $7 million per year, then there's a chance, but yeah... not likely.

[clarknova]

Ivan Calderon

[evergreenmachine]

Ivan Calderon

Hahaha. Nice

Kenny lofton, orlando cabrera, and maybe octavio dotel

[evergreenmachine]

My main goal is to play every single game. I'm so excited. Words can't describe what me and my family are going through right now. Seattle is where I got my first shot,'' he said. ''I'm glad to be back home

When was the last time you heard a player this amped on seattle?