The Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners completed one of the first major offseason trades Wednesday in a three player deal.
Arizona will receive slugger Eugenio Suarez in exchange for RHP Carlos Vargas and C Seby Zavala, filling their need at third base with a proven impact bat. The 32 year old has hit at least 20 home runs in each of the last 7 seasons, and will take over at the hot corner as former 3rd baseman Evan Longoria will test free agency.
Suarez is due $11M in 2024, but carries a club option for $15M in 2025. While he brings power to the Diamondbacks lineup, having previously hit 49HRs in 2019, he’s also led the league in strikeouts three times previously as well.
Arizona will take the good with the bad however, as the former All-Star sports a 7.2 WAR over the last two seasons, placing him 9th amongst qualifying third basemen across Major League Baseball during that time frame.
Heading back the other way is 24 year old right hander Carlos Vargas who made 5 relief appearances in 2023, striking out 7 in 4.2IP. Zavala is a 30 year old back up catcher who will add depth behind home plate alongside Cal Raleigh.
“Adding Seby and Carlos is another step toward building the type of deep roster that is required at the major league level,” said Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto. “Seby is an experienced catcher with excellent defensive skills who will team with Cal behind the plate. And Carlos is a young reliever with the type of ‘big stuff’ that our staff has done a wonderful job developing over the years.”
More importantly however, the deal clears salary for the Mariners, who have been linked to a variety of free agents this offseason. Whether the front office pulls the trigger on a larger signing or trade at this point however remains to be seen.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.