Salk: Trade indicates Mariners didn’t have complete trust in Taijuan Walker, Ketel Marte

Generally, when someone wants to bury a major story filled with bad news, the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving – when most people are checked out and with their families – is an ideal choice. So more than anything, the fact that the Mariners chose that time to announce a blockbuster trade surprised 710 ESPN Seattle’s Mike Salk and Brock Salk.

“They couldn’t have had it be the front story for four days; it had to be done Wednesday night?” Huard asked Monday. “They couldn’t have made the trade today?”

“It’s as if they try not to get themselves coverage,” Mike Salk responded.

As much as the timing of Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto’s trade Wednesday was less than ideal for sports pundits, the deal itself bolsters a Mariners team trying to make one more big run at the postseason while still building for the future. Seattle sent a pair of young, talented and popular players – 24-year-old pitcher Taijuan Walker and 23-year-old shortstop Ketel Marte – to Arizona for two-time All-Star shortstop Jean Segura (26) and two prospects – outfielder Mitch Haniger (25) and left-handed reliever Zac Curtis (24).

While Salk said the deal doesn’t necessarily turn Seattle into the favorite to win the America League, he likes the thought process behind it. He added that it shows that the organization didn’t fully trust Walker or Marte, both of whom suffered injuries in 2016 and had bouts of inconsistency. Salk said he doesn’t think either earned the organizations’ full trust on or off the field.

“The Mariners gave up a couple players with upside, but they seemed to be players they didn’t trust 100 percent,” Salk said. “Certainly, Taijuan Walker’s weight gain last year gave them a reason to pause before committing to him in the future. Instead, they get more athletic and they get to be a better team I think in the infield and at the top of the order, where they now have a legitimate leadoff hitter in Segura.”

Huard agreed that the key was trust.

“You don’t trust Taijuan and Ketel short-term, you don’t trust the long-term,” he said. “You don’t trust their projection, you don’t trust what they can be.”

The Mariners’ return also comes with some risks. Segura, one of baseball’s more highly coveted prospects in 2012, was traded from the Angels (whose general manager at the time was Dipoto) to the Brewers as the centerpiece of a deal for ace pitcher Zack Greinke. He flourished early in his first full season before nagging injuries played a part in draining his power and consistency in 2014 and 2015. Additionally, in July of 2014, Segura’s 9-month-old son, Janniel, died suddenly in the Dominican Republic. Segura spent a week on the bereavement list and admitted to struggling mentally when he returned. He told AZCentral in March of this year that Mariners’ second baseman, and fellow Dominican, Robinson Cano reached out and actually helped him get over the loss.

“I really appreciate Robinson Cano. He talked to me about it a lot and he tried to help me work it out,” Segura said on March 29. “He would talk to me all the time. I really appreciate that guy because when you’re doing good, everybody around you is your friend. When you’re doing bad, not many people are there for you.”

Milwaukee traded Segura to Arizona prior to the 2016 season for mid-level talent to make way for its top-rated prospect, Orlando Arcia. With the Diamondbacks, Segura switched to second base, where he is potentially better suited because of his frame and less-than-elite range, and started driving the ball thanks to some stance and bat-grip alterations at the plate. As 710 ESPN Seattle’s Shannon Drayer noted, Haniger and Curtis bolster Seattle’s farm system but don’t have the upsides of either Walker or Marte.

Walker showed spurts of dominance and had been billed as a future star for Seattle, but Salk said the team had to go in a different direction to try and make the postseason leap.

“They have a terrible farm system, and if you’re Jerry Dipoto, you only have so much as value,” Salk said. “Taijuan Walker is prime among those things, and if you don’t trust him but the rest of the league is interested, don’t you have to pull the trigger? They were going to deal him this offseason somewhere.”

Salk said that, without seeing Dipoto’s other potential trade options, he is happy with the deal. And while making the trade with Walker at his present value and Segura at his highest comes with some risk, Salk said Segura’s breakout season at age 26 is not unusual. Walker, meanwhile, just couldn’t put it all together in Seattle, even if his future is still bright.

“I think the Mariners have got the best view of him,” Salk said of Walker. “They’re the ones who groomed him, they know him all the way through, they’ve talked to him, they got a sense as to what his personality is. And, I’ve got to be honest, I don’t love his stuff either. I’ve never been a big ‘trust his stuff’ guy because the fastball seems pretty darn straight to me and it dropped off a couple miles per hour this year, and at the same time he gained weight. I know there was the foot injury and I’m sure that played a role in it. I don’t mean to say the guy stinks, he’s probably going to be a good pitcher but, for now, he wasn’t going to be as good, I don’t think, this year as Segura is gonna be. And I think you’re making a run for it now.”

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