Mariners notebook: Dustin Ackley trade ‘made sense,’ says Zduriencik

MINNEAPOLIS – The New York Yankees have had interest in Dustin Ackley for some time now, and Thursday afternoon they completed a deal to bring him to the Bronx. The No. 2 pick of the 2009 draft is no longer a Mariner.

“It’s pretty crazy. I am going to miss everybody for sure,” Ackley told a group of reporters outside the visiting clubhouse at Target Field shortly after receiving the news that he had been traded. “I’ve been with this organization my whole career, so to say that I am leaving it now is kind of crazy.”

In return for Ackley, the Mariners get a pair of minor leaguers with a little MLB experience: outfielder Ramon Flores and right-handed pitcher Jose Ramirez. Both will report to Triple-A Tacoma.

“We’ve been in a situation where we have been evaluating everything that’s going on. This move made sense,” Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said on a conference call. “We have a kid we think is a nice little baseball player. Flores is kind of a real knowledgeable gamer-type kid. We got an arm back that is a big power arm, mid to upper 90s.”

While not highly regarded prospects, Flores and Ramirez are young, club-controllable players with big league experience. With Ackley relegated to a part-time role, Zduriencik thought two pieces for the future were a better fit for the team at this time.

“If we can add two pieces that can very well help your club either immediately or certainly in the near future, that was the right move to make,” he said.

Ackley now heads to a contender. He, like others in the clubhouse, is surprised that the Mariners roster has not had more success.

“You kind of see where we were this year and we could never get on that streak of winning games consistently. We could never string that good stretch out,” he said. “I think that’s really all we were away from continuing on to make the playoffs, is just get that stretch of games where we really got hot. This team could do it still. There’s everybody that needs to be here to win.”

As a No. 2 pick, Ackley’s name will always be tied to Zduriencik, who insisted that his draft status did not come into play when deciding to move him.

“I don’t view it that way, I never have,” Zduriencik said. “I respect our players and I like our players. The first player is no different than the third player chosen that year. I’ve been in this thing long enough to know there are heartbreaks with people you take in the top of the draft and there are surprises that you take lower in the draft and at the end you just have to do the right thing which is best for the organization. We thank Dustin for everything he has done for the organization. We wish him the very best in New York. He’s given it his best and it just didn’t work the way he hoped it would work. That said, he is going to a very good hitters park, maybe he gets a spark.”

Ackley admitted there were disappointments for him as a Mariner, but he leaves with nothing but good thoughts of his time in the organization.

“I have nothing but good memories here,” he said. “I’ve had some struggles, some good times here but ultimately when I look back at it, it is going to be all positive things. I’ve got some teammates here and friends here that I will have for the rest of my life and you can’t trade that for anything.”

Lineup!

Austin Jackson, CF
Kyle Seager, 3B
Nelson Cruz, RF
Seth Smith, LF
Franklin Gutierrez, DH
Mark Trumbo, 1B
Brad Miller, SS
Chris Taylor, 2B
Mike Zunino, C

J.A. Happ, LHP

Notes

• Ackley was in the original lineup for this game. After his trade Gutierrez was added as the DH.

• The Mariners are playing very shorthanded Thursday as Robinson Cano is out with a grade 1 abdominal strain and Logan Morrison has a bone bruise on his thumb. Both players are considered day-to-day; Cano said he expects to be able to DH in the next two days.

• The corresponding move to replace Ackley on the 25-man roster will not be made until tomorrow, when Jesus Montero is expected to join the club.

• Earlier today Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports had a report that Mariners ownership would not allow a trade of Hisashi Iwakuma. With the majority of the ownership now in the US, I am skeptical that is the case. Zduriencik said that he was treating Iwakuma like any other player on the Mariners when it comes to trades.

“Anything can happen,” he said. “We’ve had discussion with clubs. You have to be open, you have to listen. There are players you think can be part of your organization going forward. Like any player on the roster we will have discussions, we’ll listen to what other clubs have to say and at the end make the decision.”

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