Mariners trade 3 players, including Jean Segura, to Phillies for SS JP Crawford, 1B Carlos Santana
Dec 3, 2018, 1:46 PM | Updated: 2:28 pm
Jean Segura is heading to the Phillies after two seasons with the Mariners. (AP)
(AP)
The Mariners’ next trade after completing a gigantic seven-player swap with the New York Mets is another blockbuster with a National League East team.
Mariners offseason trades: Canó/Díaz | Colomé | Paxton | Zunino
The Mariners have sent All-Star shortstop Jean Segura, right-handed reliever Juan Nicasio and left-handed reliever James Pazos to the Philadelphia Phillies for veteran first baseman Carlos Santana and up-and-coming shortstop J.P. Crawford.
The main prize in the deal for Seattle is Crawford, who is just 23 and has a high ceiling as a strong defender with on-base skills. He has struggled in 72 MLB games over two seasons, however, hitting just .214 with a .333 on-base percentage, .358 slugging percentage, three home runs and three stolen bases. He is under team control through 2023 and won’t be arbitration-eligible until the 2021 season.
Santana, 32, hit .229 with 24 home runs, 86 RBIs and a .766 OPS in 2018, his first season with Philadelphia after eight years with Cleveland. He has six 20-homer seasons over his career, including 2016 when he hit 34. He is owed $34.5 million over the remaining two years on his contract.
“Carlos Santana has been among the most durable players in the big leagues over the last eight years and has been a fixture in the middle of lineups during that time,” Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said in a press release. “He gets on base, he does damage at the plate and is quite an underrated first baseman. J.P. Crawford gives us a young shortstop who is very athletic and fills up the tool box; he hits, he runs, he plays defense, he throws, he has power. For the last four years running, he’s been among the top 20 prospects in baseball.”
Even with Santana’s sizable salary, the Mariners shed a ton of financial obligation in the trade – and that’s with Seattle reportedly paying Segura $1 million to waive his no-trade clause. Segura has $14.25 million per season owed to him each of the next four seasons while Nicasio is set to make $9 million in 2019. Pazos, who made $553,900 in 2018, is under team control through 2022 and will be arbitration eligible after the 2019 season.
Segura, 28, came to the Mariners in a big trade in November 2016 from Arizona along with Mitch Haniger. He made his second career All-Star team in 2018 and led the Mariners with a .304 batting average and 91 runs scored. He added 10 home runs, 63 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, 29 doubles, three triples, a .755 OPS and just 69 strikeouts in 632 plate appearances.
Nicasio, 32, signed a two-year deal with Seattle as a free agent prior to the 2018 season but struggled, at least partially due to a nagging knee injury that eventually cut his campaign short. He finished the year 1-6 with one save, 19 holds, 6.00 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 53 strikeouts and five walks over 46 appearances (42 innings).
Pazos, 27, was 4-1 with 19 holds, a 2.88 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 45 strikeouts and 15 walks over 60 appearances (50 innings) in 2018. He spent two seasons with Seattle after coming to the team in a November 2016 trade from the Yankees.
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