Jerry Dipoto had a well-earned reputation as a gambler and an aggressive trader. Some baseball insiders felt that Dipoto sometimes made a trade just for the sake of making a trade. But few knew that the Mariners GM had become gun-shy after the disastrous events of the 2019 season. He had chastised himself for not pulling the trigger on a deal that would have landed
Sean Newcomb from the Braves. Newcomb had flourished in his first full season in the Majors, turning himself into a viable starting pitcher after posting a 3.34 ERA over the course of 24 starts for Atlanta. Instead, Dipoto had chosen to deal with Cleveland, landing a little-known minor league shortstop named
Marcos Junior Gonzalez. "MJ" had very little clout but was held in high regard by Dipoto's scouts, who dubbed him as a "can't-miss" prospect. Gonzalez hadn't exactly disappointed in Short Season A-ball, but the 20 year-old was still a good three years away from being Major League-ready.
To make matters worse, his peers were making a killing in free agency. Astros GM Jeff Luhnow re-signed
Gerrit Cole to a club-friendly 6-year, $72.6 million deal early in free agency, and followed that up by making the biggest splash of the offseason. 7-time Gold Glove third baseman
Nolan Arenado signed with the Astros on a 5-year, $120 million deal. It no longer seemed like the Mariners were taking one step back to take two step forward. Jerry felt like his team had stepped in quicksand while everyone else was taking an escalator.
Opportunity knocked, though, just before the start of Winter Meetings,when the Boston Red Sox came to the Mariners in hopes of offloading J.D. Martinez's contract. Though talks eventually stalled out, it got Dipoto back on the horse just in time for the Winter Meetings.
Just as Dipoto arrived in Las Vegas, he received a phone call from Miami's Alex Delgado. The Marlins GM was under direction of team owner Derek Jeter to cut payroll, and
Carlos Santana was at the top of the list. Santana hit a respectable .270 with 19 homers, but wasn't living up to the giant contract he had first signed with Philadelphia. Delgado had pitched Dipoto on a swap that would send the first baseman and his $17.5 million salary to Seattle for catcher
Jose Trevino and minor league pitcher
Brenden Heiss. By the time negotiations had wrapped up, Dipoto had talked Delgado into eating $15 million of Santana's 2020 salary, while also landing 23-year old pitcher
Jorge Guzman. All in exchange for 20 year-old pitching prospect
Brailin Gonzalez.
Jerry Dipoto was back.