How likely is a Mariners-Braves trade?

ESPN’s David Schoenfield posted an article on Monday that has drawn a lot of interest from Mariners fans. He believes the Mariners and Braves set up nicely for a trade and explained Tuesday on 710 ESPN Seattle’s “Bob and Groz” why outfielder Justin Upton and catcher Evan Gattis could be dealt to Seattle.

“If they (the Braves) are rebuilding, Justin Upton like Jason Heyward is a free agent after ’15, so theoretically he has got to be on the trade block as well,” Schoenfield said, conceding that reports that the Braves met with free agent Jon Lester earlier in the day might indicate they are going in a different direction. “If the Braves really do want to add some more young, cheap talent, my idea was Taijuan Walker, maybe one of the young shortstops to the Braves for Upton and Gattis, a possible match for both teams.”

Both players would fill immediate needs for the Mariners with Upton most likely taking over right field and Gattis becoming the designated hitter. Upton, in the final year of his contract, would be a short-term solution but Gattis will be under club control for four more years. Why would the Braves want to move a young, cheap hitter? He is about to lose his position. The Braves have a young catcher who is big-league ready and while there has been talk of moving Gattis to left field, Schoenfield doesn’t believe this is a good option.

“Gattis is not a plus defender,” he said. “If they move him to left field he really would be a disaster out there. He really is a born DH meant for the AL, which is why I think the Braves would consider moving him.”

My guess would be if the Mariners were to acquire Gattis, his catching days would be over. Their No. 2 catcher must be good with the glove as the staff is a challenge to catch with Felix Hernandez’s changeup, Hisashi Iwakuma’s splitter and an array of nasty pitches in the bullpen. It is also tough to DH your No. 2 catcher with the DH rules, although in similar situations last year manager Lloyd McClendon seemed to have the belief that they could absorb the loss of the DH for one game if anything were to happen. Regardless, because of his defense, Gattis would be a DH and No. 3 catcher for the Mariners at the most.

Upton vetoed a trade to the Mariners before the 2013 season but can no longer do so as he took Seattle off his no-trade list earlier this offseason. He was almost traded for Walker once before; could it happen again? A couple of things to keep in mind:

Assuming the Mariners are still willing to move him, Walker is the club’s best trade piece. If they are willing to move him, they should be looking at a number of other players as well. Is this the best return?

Also, if they trade Walker, they are going to have to add a pitcher. This is going to be an additional cost – and probably a considerable one at that – to the $14.5 million they will pay Upton. If they add Upton and Gattis they shouldn’t need much more, but will they have room under whatever the budget is to pick up the quality arm?

Shoenfield believes the Mariners should be all in. With Felix and Robinson Cano in their primes and a rapidly improving division, this would appear to be the Mariners’ best window of opportunity.

“The Astros, in two years, there is a little bit of talent, there are rumors they are going to spend a little money this offseason,” he said. “The Rangers theoretically have got the money, they just got killed by injury. You’ve got five teams who at least by ’16 could all be playoff contenders. The AL West is going to be absolutely brutal I think.”

Notes

• How determined are the Mariners to land a big right-handed bat? According to this MLB.com report, enough to possibly move someone who was thought to be nearly untouchable.

• The Rainiers have a new manager. Pat Listach, who has spent more than 20 years in professional baseball as both a player and coach, is Tacoma’s new skipper. He spent 2014 in Houston as the Astros’ third base coach.

• Felix looks like he has rebounded nicely from the disappointment of not winning the Cy Young Award. If you follow him on Twitter (and you should @RealKingFelix) you might be aware that Felix and family are on vacation in Istanbul. This is the second straight year he has taken the family on a trip overseas, something you don’t see players do as much as you might think you would as most prefer to stick close to home in the offseason. Great to see Felix and family checking out other corners of the world.

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