MLB Roundup 12/3: Jean Segura the latest Mariner to be traded

Jean Segura latest player dealt as part of Mariners fire sale

It’s going to be a busy Monday for the Mariners, as a couple of previously reported trades are expected to become official today. First, the Robinson Canó/Edwin Díaz deal that will send that pair to the Mets for a couple top prospects and a couple of veterans to offset Canó’s contract. They also dealt reliever Alex Colomé to the White Sox for catcher Omar Navarez, who should help after they traded catcher Mike Zunino to the Rays. Oh, and they also traded their best pitcher, James Paxton, to the Yankees. So, yeah. The Mariners are tearing everything apart after being pretty close to being a playoff team for a few years running, and there is one more deal in the works.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Mariners next move is expected to send Jean Segura to Philadelphia, provided Segura waives his no-trade clause. That was a legitimate question earlier in the offseason, but now all indications are that Segura wants out of this rebuilding Seattle situation. The exact terms of the deal are not yet known, though former top prospect J.P. Crawford is expected to head back to Seattle along with first baseman Carlos Santana, who would help offset some money for Philadelphia. The Mariners stripping down isn’t great as a baseball fan, but as I’ve said before it’s good for a Red Sox fan in that it provides one less strong American League team. Even better than it weakens one end of that always-brutal west-coast trip. This deal is doubly good for Boston, as Santana’s expected inclusion will make it more likely Philadelphia can afford Manny Machado, which in turn keeps him out of New York.

Brian Cashman insists Yankees won’t trade Gary Sanchez

Earlier in the week there were whispers that the Marlins rebuffed an offer for a Gary Sanchez-for-J.T. Realmuto swap, but Brian Cashman isn’t having any of that. The Yankees GM talked to YES Network over the weekend and insisted Sanchez is New York’s catcher moving forward. The catcher is coming off a brutal 2018 that included poor performances at the plate, bad narratives surrounding his lack of hustle and some bad defense with a lot of passed balls. That being said, his true-talent at the plate is almost certainly much, much better than what he showed this past season and his defense is better than those passed balls would indicate. Sanchez is a fun player to root against as a Red Sox fan, to be sure, but he’s also very good. The Yankees getting frustrated and hastily trading him wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world.