Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/22/16: Trader Jerry, Sunday Night Baseball, and Angels Studs

Good morning everyone! This is some fairly old news, but Greg Johns wrote about how Jerry Dipoto prefers to trade for players than them to sign in free agency. You should read the whole thing, but here’s a little snippet of his reasoning:

"With trades, you're acquiring players that fit your roster," he said. "It gives you the ability to fit a puzzle piece in with some degree of precision, because you identify the pieces and move forward. With free agents, you're in the market competing with 29 other teams. You have to fit the puzzle piece, but also sell your team, stadium, manager, city, the money. Each step gets more complicated."

I understand Dipoto’s logic, but I’m surprised that anyone would prefer trades to free agency as a main route of filling holes in a roster. When you trade for a player, you have to give up tangible talent in return. If you sign a player, the only asset you sacrifice is money, which doesn’t get the team more wins on its own unless it’s used.

To make as many big trades as Dipoto does is bold. You’re bound to have one or two a year that really sting, such as the Mark Trumbo trade with the Orioles. But at the same time, you’re likely to have a couple that really shine, like the Leonys Martin trade with the Rangers.

If you were a general manager, how would you construct a roster? Trades are certainly helpful in that it makes a roster more flexible, but a few bad ones in the wrong places could really screw you over.

Now it’s time to look at the rest of the day’s news.

In Mariners news...

• Former M’s reliever David Rollins continues to get bounced around like a pinball.

Around the league...

• ESPN released their Sunday Night Baseball slate for the early part of the 2017 season. No Mariners games are featured.
• Craig Calcaterra notes that the SNB lineup seems to be pretty heavy on NL Central teams.
• The Pirates have reportedly been aggressive on the Jose Quintana trade front.
• The free agent starting pitching market is mighty thin this offseason, but next year’s should be better, writes Craig Edwards.
• Given that the post-Winter Meetings hot stove has been pretty quiet, Grant Brisbee proposes some moves that would spice up the offseason.
• Jeff Sullivan sings the Angels praises, saying they will likely have the best outfield in the game in 2017.

Anders’ picks...

• Here’s a fun video of Seattle Mariners bloopers over the last several years.