Jack Z Discusses His Deals at the Deadline
Jul 31, 2009, 4:31 PM | Updated: Apr 4, 2011, 7:55 pm
The Mariners’ continued their deadline activity on Friday morning dealing veteran pitcher Jarrod Washburn to the Tigers for starting pitchers Luke French and Mauricio Robles. There was a lot of speculation as to what Zduriencik would do with Washburn, but it seems that Detroit made an offer he couldn’t resist.
French has made five starts for Detroit with a 3.38 era in those outings. Robles is said to be the prize of the trade with much more upside. Both of the pitchers are lefties who are a part of the Mariners’ plan for the future.
The Mariners’ GM was able to talk with Kevin about the deal he made for Washburn this morning. Zduriencik said it was very difficult to trade a veteran like Washburn who was such a huge part of the team’s chemistry. He said. “We wanted to get someone who was big league ready as well as a chip at the minor league level.”
The obvious holes in the Mariner’s offense remain mostly unchanged, but Jack recognized that acquiring a big bad isn’t that easy. He told Kevin, “We didn’t acquire a big thumper, and I’m not sure there was one out there to get.”
Art Thiel asked Zduriencik if the team was throwing the white flag after trading away a veteran like Washburn. The GM doesn’t see his moves as waving the white flag saying, “We just lost Jarrod and we brought in three guys so all in all I still think this is a competitive ball club.”
Kevin was also able to catch up with reporter Lynn Henning from the Detroit News. Overall, his reviews were positive of the Mariners’ two new arms. He says that in Robles, “The Mariners got the premier dog there.”
The clubhouse has a different feel now that the deadline has come and gone. It will be interesting to see how the Mariners will respond to this weeks trades. One thing is certain, no one can fault Jack Z for not attempting to improve the ball club in every way possible.
Check out Jack Zduriencik’s whole interview here.