Zduriencik: Seth Smith trade gives Mariners a “real professional” hitter

Jack Zduriencik held a brief conference call with the media following the trade for Seth Smith and then joined “Danny, Dave and Moore” Tuesday afternoon to further break down the deal and address a number of other topics.

“We are going to get a real professional type of hitter,” Zduriencik said on 710 ESPN Seattle. “He’s been a guy who knows how to walk. He grinds out a good at-bat. His .367 on base percentage, in 2014, will be our second highest on our club. It’s going to give us depth and a guy who certainly has the ability to hit right-handed pitching.”

As for what he gave up to acquire Smith – 24-year-old right-handed pitcher Brandon Maurer – Zduriencik said he believed the Padres were getting a very good arm.

“In the end I hated to part with Brandon,” he said. “We think he has a real big upside, but that is our strength, we do have depth there (in the bullpen). Since I have been here we have been able to do some things with the bullpen that have been pretty good and we will continue to do that. I think he will move on and have a really nice career, but in order to get something that we felt was a really, really good fit for us in Seth Smith, you have to give up talent, and Brandon was the guy in this deal.”

The trade was yet another one-for-one deal for Zduriencik, the third involving a reliever in the last year. I find this interesting in that while his depth in organizational talent has become greater in the last two years, the trades have become smaller. He’s open to a multi-player trade, but believes that those deals are more complicated on a number of levels.

“There were deals out there where clubs were asking for three players. That’s tough to do because your depth becomes really affected then,” he said. “You can bring in a really good player and hope he plays really well for you but it just seems that we have got a surplus, we have got depth in certain areas. Clubs call me frequently about that depth, and if you can make a good baseball trade, a one-on-one deal, that’s good. Sign a free agent, that’s good. But the multi-player deals, when you are doing those you end up depleting your depth and you end up usually taking on a pretty large contract, which really hinders you from doing anything else.
“We will be open and active in any way we can to help our club get better and who knows, the next deal might be a two-for-one or three-for-one, but at this moment I don’t anticipate that.”

Other topics Zduriencik addressed:

Is there still a chance Brad Miller could be moved to the outfield now that they have added another left-handed bat?

Zduriencik said that outfield coach Andy Van Slyke was very impressed with Miller’s workouts in the outfield late last season and that he has the natural instincts of an outfielder. The first priority for Miller this spring, however, will be to try and win the job at shortstop. That said, never say never.

“He has never played a game in the outfield. To say that this guy is not going to be your shortstop, we are going to put him in the outfield and we are going to be satisfied with what he is going to do? I think that is a leap of faith. That may happen, but he also may be your opening day shortstop. We will find out when we go to spring training.”

What is the status of Jesus Montero? Could he factor into the plans for next year?

“Jesus has an option remaining and we are really pleased in what he has done this offseason. He has spent the whole winter in Arizona, under really strict supervision. He has lost 30-35 pounds, he’s been working daily with James Clifford, our strength and conditioning coach. There have been a lot of things we have instituted with him and he has taken to it. We’ll see. Does he come in and make noise in spring training? I certainly hope he does. And if he does then you are just going to have to do what you have to do to make room for him. But we will see what happens. He has been through a lot. We are pleased with where he is, but you have to perform on the field, and if you do you just make room for people.”

Could they sign Franklin Gutierrez?

“It’s hard to say right now. There has been slight dialogue. He’s been in and out of winter ball. We will just monitor that as we go forward. Certainly, if there was anything with Franklin it would be a minor-league deal, it would not be a not be a major-league deal.”

Finally, here are two topics of interest from Zduriencik’s conference call with reporters shortly after the trade was announced:

What is the backup plan for first base?

“There are guys on our club that can go over there and play. We’re going to work real hard with Jesus Montero in spring training. We will see if he is a player or not. That is going to be up to him. We have other players on our 40-man roster that certainly fit the bill. We’ll see what happens. In no way am I panicking about our first base situation. If we were put in a position where something would happen to Logan I certainly think we could fill that role and we could fill that role comfortably.”

How close to complete does he feel the roster is after acquiring Smith?

“I think we are in a good spot. To say we are done, I don’t think that would be accurate. I have continued discussions going on. I don’t think it will be anything big in terms of a multi-player deal or some earth-shattering free-agent signs. I don’t think that’s going to be the case but I do think there are ways we can help our ball club. There are fits for our ball club and we will continue to investigate them and see where it ends up.”

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