Cano is one of the biggest names potentially being shipped out during the Mariners rebuildGETTY IMAGES
The Mariners have been active in the trade market in recent days, and while the team "may label it a 'step back,' it's starting to resemble a rebuild with each transaction" that Exec VP & GM Jerry Dipoto makes, according to Ryan Divish of the SEATTLE TIMES. The Mariners, who held the second AL Wild Card spot in early August and finished with 89 wins, are "working toward finishing a trade" that would send SS Jean Segura and possibly one other player to the Phillies in exchange for a package of players including 1B Carlos Santana and SS J.P. Crawford. Additionally, a "much-publicized trade" that would send Mariners 2B Robinson Cano and P Edwin Diaz to the Mets could be finalized by today (SEATTLE TIMES, 12/3). In Tacoma, T.J. Cotterill writes the Mariners' "everything-must-go sale continues." Including the potential Mets and Segura deals, that is "already five major Mariners trades involving shipping players off of their 25-man roster for younger talent." The team earlier traded C Mike Zunino and OF Guillermo Heredia to the Rays, P James Paxton to the Yankees and P Alex Colome to the White Sox. The Mariners will presumably "try to turn Santana's contract onto another team, similarly to what they'll likely do" with RF Jay Bruce as part of the Cano/Diaz return from the Mets (Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE, 12/3).
BEST COURSE OF ACTION? In Seattle, Larry Stone wrote there are "dark, desolate times" ahead for the team with the "foundation-ripping moves the Mariners have made and the inevitable ones still to come." The Mariners will be a "lousy baseball team" in '19 and '20. Stone: "Then we'll take inventory and see how the rebuild is going, but you can probably add on a couple crummy years on top of that." However, this is "nevertheless the right way for the Mariners to go, weighing all the circumstances at play." It is the "right way for the Mariners to go only because of a tidal wave of bad decisions they've made over the years" (SEATTLE TIMES, 12/2). SI.com's Jon Tayler wrote the "tank is officially on" for the Mariners. But whether or not a teardown is the "right call for Seattle is a tougher question" (SI.com, 12/2).
