Mariners Complete 5-Player Trade with Arizona
Seattle Mariners Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto tonight announced that the Mariners have acquired shortstop Jean Segura, outfielder Mitch Haniger and left-handed pitcher Zac Curtis from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for right-handed pitcher Taijuan Walker and infielder Ketel Marte.
In addition, to make room on the Mariners Major League, 40-man, roster the team has designated switch-pitcher Pat Venditte for assignment. The Mariners Major League 40-man roster remains at 40 players.
“Segura was one of the premiere offensive players in the Majors last season,” Dipoto said. “His combination of average, power and speed is extremely difficult to find, especially at a position like shortstop and at the top of our lineup. We believe pairing him with Robinson Canó gives us tremendous offensive potential in the middle of our infield.
“We see Haniger as a high ceiling prospect who projects to join our outfield as soon as next season, while Zac Curtis’ track record in the minors gives us great confidence in his future as a big league pitcher.”
Segura, 26 (turns 27 March 17), hit .319 with 203 hits, 102 runs, 41 doubles, 7 triples, 20 home runs, 64 RBI and 33 steals in 153 games with Arizona last season. His on-base percentage of .368 and slugging percentage of .499 gave him an OPS of .867. Segura batted lead off in 147 games, hitting all of his home runs from that spot, including 8 homers to lead off a game. Among NL leadoff hitters, ranked first in hits (198), tied for first in triples (7), second in total bases (310), tied for second in homers (20), third in RBI (63) and fifth in average (.319). He posted a 6.9 WAR, second highest in NL to Kris Bryant (8.3) and best by a NL second baseman since Chase Utley in 2009 (7.4) [source: STATS LLC] . Segura, who played 142 games at second base and 23 at shortstop last season, finished 13th in the NL MVP voting.
His combination of 20+ home runs, 30+ steals, 40+ doubles, 100+ runs, 200+ hits and a .300+ average has only been done five times since the start of the 2000 season. Segura joined Alfonso Soriano (2002 w/NYY), Hanley Ramirez (2007 w/FLA), Jacoby Ellsbury (2011 w/BOS) and Jose Altuve (2016 w/HOU).
The 5-foot-10, 205-pound infielder made his Major League debut with the Angels in 2012, but appeared in just 1 game prior to being traded to Milwaukee as part of a deal for RHP Zack Greinke. He played with the Brewers from 2012–2015 and was traded to Arizona prior to the 2016 season. He is a career .280 hitter in his five big league seasons (632 games) with 95 doubles, 31 triples, 43 home runs and 208 RBI.
Haniger, 25 (turns 26 Dec. 23), made his Major League debut with the D-backs on Aug. 16 vs. Mets, going 2-for-4 with a double, triple and 3 RBI, the most extra-base hits and RBI by a D-back in their first career game. In 34 MLB games, he hit .229 (25x109) with 9 runs, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 5 home runs and 17 RBI.
Haniger was named the D-backs Minor League Player of the Year after batting .321 (147-for-458) with 34 doubles, 5 triples, 25 home runs, 94 RBI, 79 runs scored and 12 stolen bases in 129 games between Double-A Mobile and Triple-A Reno. Prior to his promotion, ranked among Minor League leaders in extra-base hits (5th, 60), OPS (8th, 1.011) and RBI (11th, 86) and was named to the Southern League midseason All-Star Team.
Haniger was the Milwaukee Brewers 1st round selection (38th overall) in the 2012 draft out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He was traded to Arizona on July 31, 2014 in exchange for Gerardo Parra.
Curtis, 24, went 0–1 with a 6.75 ERA in 21 games with Arizona after making his Major League debut on April 30 vs. Colorado (0.2,0,0,0,0,0). Over 2 stints with the Diamondbacks (4/30–6/14 & 7/6–30) he held opponents scoreless in 14 of 21 appearances, including not allowing a run over his first 10 appearances (8.1 IP), April 30-May30. The 5-foot-9, 192-pound left-handed reliever limited opponents to a .255 (13x51) average, including a .182 (4x22) average vs. right-handed batters. Curtis also made 27 relief appearances combined between High-A Visalia and AA Mobile, going 1–1 with 6 saves and a 3.90 ERA (13 ER, 30.0 IP).
In his career, Curtis has averaged 13.70 strikeouts per 9.0 IP (169 SO in 111.0 IP) in 104 Minor League games.
Curtis was originally selected by the Diamondbacks in the 6th round of the 2014 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Middle Tennessee State University. Over 3 minor league seasons, he is 7–6 with 53 saves and a 1.95 ERA (24 ER, 111.0 IP) in 104 relief appearances. He has limited opponents to a .199 average (80x402) average, while waling 35 and striking out 169. Curtis’ 53 saves over the last 3 seasons, are the 9th-most among all minor league players.
Walker, 24, was 8–11 with a 4.22 ERA (63 ER, 134.1 IP) with 119 strikeouts in 25 starts with Seattle last season. In his final 5 starts of the season, he was 4–1 with a 2.93 ERA (10 ER, 30.2 IP) with 30 strikeouts, following an 11-start stretch (May 29-Sept. 3 where he was 2–6 with a 6.37 ERA (38 ER, 53.2 IP) with 42 strikeouts and 16 home runs allowed. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list on July 6 with right foot tendinitis and made one rehabilitation start on Aug. 1 with AAA Tacoma. In parts of four Major League seasons with Seattle, he was 22–22 with a 4.18 ERA (166 ER, 357.0 IP) with 322 strikeouts in 65 games, including 62 starts. He was the Mariners 1st round pick (43rd overall) in the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft.
Marte, 23, hit .259 (113x437) with 55 runs scored, 21 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run and 33 RBI in an injury-shortened 119 games with Seattle in 2016. He was on the 15-day disabled list on May 22-June 6 with a sprained left thumb and July 23-Aug. 4 with mononucleosis. In 9 games over two rehab stints with AAA Tacoma, Marte hit .235 (8x34) with 6 runs scored, 3 doubles, 1 home runs and 3 RBI.
Marte signed with Seattle as an international free agent on August 13, 2010. He made his Major League debut with Seattle on July 31, 2015 at MIN and over parts of 2 seasons with the Mariners hit .267 (175x656) with 80 runs scored, 35 doubles, 5 triples, 3 home runs and 50 RBI in 176 career games. Over parts of 6 seasons in the minor leagues, he hit .289 (514x1777) with 290 runs scored, 72 doubles, 20 triples, 11 home runs and 170 RBI in 453 games.
Venditte, 31, was 0–0 with a 5.73 ERA (14 ER, 22.0 IP) with 19 strikeouts in 15 relief appearances with Toronto and Seattle. With Seattle he was 0–0 with a 6.08 ERA (9 ER, 13.1 IP) with 12 strikeouts in 7 relief appearances after going 1–0 with a 1.08 ERA (1 ER, 8.1 IP) with 11 strikeouts in 5 relief appearances with AAA Tacoma. He was acquired from Toronto in exchange for a player to be named later on Aug. 6. He posted a 5.19 ERA (5 ER, 8.2 IP) with 7 strikeouts and 4 walks in 8 relief appearances with Toronto and in 25 games, including 2 starts, with AAA Buffalo this season, he was 2–1 with a 4.37 ERA (17 ER, 35.0 IP) with 52 strikeouts and 13 walks.
