Mariners Acquire Alex Colome, Denard Span
In a stunning early-season swap, the Mariners have acquired reliever Alex Colome and outfielder Denard Span from the Rays. RHPs Andrew Moore (Mariners #4 prospect, AA) and Tommy Romero (A) will go to Tampa Bay in return. $4.75M is also going to Seattle in the swap.
The club is off to a nice start (29-27), but just lost Robinson Cano for eighty games (and the postseason) due to a suspension. Of course, the Cano suspension also freed up around $11MM in cash for the organization to deploy elsewhere. The new additions are earning $11MM (Span) and $5.3MM (Colome) for the season, so they are owed almost exactly that amount (around $11.2MM) the rest of the way. The extra $4.75M means Seattle will have some extra spending money.
Colome is surely the headliner of this deal. He has served as the closer in Tampa Bay for the past three seasons, racking up 95 saves in that span. He’ll be eligible for arbitration one final time over the offseason, so there’s some future value here for the M’s. The Mariners will bet that he returns to more dominant results in a high-leverage role. Of course, they won’t ask him to handle the ninth, which will likely remain the domain of young fireballer Edwin Diaz. Span has now been dealt twice in the final year of his contract. The 34-year-old no longer moves as well as he once did but is still a polished hitter and should be a legit 5th OF for the Mariners, who can play all 3 outfield positions.
On the other side of the agreement, the Rays have again acted to shave a fair bit of salary obligations. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the ability to move Span’s contract — which itself was acquired only to offset partially the money the Giants took on in the off-season’s Evan Longoria swap — was a strong motivating factor.
Still, they’ll also recoup some talent here. Moore, 23, has had plenty of success in the minors and reached the big leagues last year. He’s not really regarded as a high-ceiling hurler, but could be a near-term option that fits the Rays’ current model that relies upon multi-inning relievers. This year in AA, Moore had spun a 3.28 ERA in 60.1 IP, but will report straight to Tampa Bay to play in the MLB level. Moore is also a candidate to start for the Rays on the 2nd of June, which is against the Mariners. Romero, 20, was a 15th-round pick last year, and after having a solid debut year in the AZL, he will report to single-A for he Rays and start pitching immediately for them.
