Mariners Acquire Drew Smyly: What the Internet Thinks

Jerry Dipoto simply doesn’t know when to stop. In case you missed it, the Mariners made a pair of trades today (again). In the first, they acquired OF Mallex Smith and RHP Shae Simmons from the Atlanta Braves for LHPs Luiz Gohara and Thomas Burrows. In the second trade, they flipped OF Mallex Smith, LHP Ryan Yarbrough, and INF Carlos Vargas to the Tampa Bay Rays for LHP Drew Smyly.

So in essence...

Mariners gain:

LHP Drew Smyly

RHP Shae Simmons

Mariners lose:

LHP Ryan Yarbrough

LHP Luiz Gohara

LHP Thomas Burrows

INF Carlos Vargas

Got it? Cool. Let’s see what everyone had to say about the moves. First, here are the statements by Jerry Dipoto.

And some other musings from the general manager...

Travis Sawchik at Fangraphs had some fun things to say about Simmons.

Simmons doesn’t headline the trade, but he’s an intriguing component of it at a time when the industry is paying premium prices for relief help.

A 22nd-round pick by the Braves in 2012 out of Southeast Missouri State, Simmons rose from obscurity to become the Braves’ second-best prospect by WAR prior to the 2015 season.

Prior to that 2015, former FanGraphs prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel ranked Simmons as the Braves’ No. 15 prospect and was given a “poor man’s Craig Kimbrel” comp on Simmons.

Dave Cameron thinks these trades might just put the M’s over the top.

When I looked at the Mariners on Monday, I saw a team with an average-ish offense and a potentially great outfield defense, but a weak rotation and a questionable bullpen. With Smyly in the rotation and Simmons potentially in relief, both parts of the pitching staff have been improved, and you can now see a playoff-caliber pitching staff without squinting too hard, especially when you factor in the help these guys will get from their teammates.

Drew Smyly isn’t an ace, and the Mariners added two more high-risk players to a team that already had a lot of risk, but this team now looks like their playoff hopes are more than just hope-a-bunch-of-things-go-right. With another quality starter and a potential quality reliever, plus a solid group of position players, the Mariners look like contenders now.

Talking Chop was excited about the prospects coming to the Braves system.

The prize of the deal for the Braves is Gohara although Burrows is no slouch either. Luiz struck out 81 batters in 69.2 innings and features a low to mid 90s fastball with reports that he can go even higher that that , a slider that is improving but he has had trouble locating early on in his career, and a changeup that could be above average to plus. He also lost a bunch of weight this past season and many saw 2016 as a breakout campaign for him. He was #5 on the Mariners prospect list according to MLB Pipeline. Others have had him even higher than that.

After the first trade, many in the Seattle community were skeptical. But the Smyly acquisition quickly changed everyone’s moods.

Some remain cautious about the team’s outlook.

So it appears that the Smyly move completes the team’s offseason. How do you feel about the team’s roster right now?