Mariners’ Kyle Seager is on the Block. Should Padres Stay Away?

Third baseman Kyle Seager could be someone of interest to the San Diego Padres as they search for an infielder for 2019 and beyond. The Mariners appear ready to completely dismantle their team, so a trade might be possible. But let’s take a look at the positives and negatives of the 31-year-old infielder first.

The Seattle Mariners are in the midst of an epic teardown of their major league team. Robinson Cano, Jean Segura, James Paxton, Alex Colome, Mike Zunino, and Edwin Diaz were all dealt in the past few weeks as the team has decided to completely reboot their major league roster.

There are still some key members who could be dealt, and someone who may be of interest to the San Diego Padres is Kyle Seager. At 31 years of age, he is not a young player, but could help stabilize the left side of the infield for the Padres in the near future. The durable, left-handed hitter is a former all-star and the older brother of Dodgers’ shortstop Corey Seager. He has totaled 175 homers in his career and recorded a 27 WAR in seven complete seasons with the Mariners.

At this point, it is being reported that the Mariners are desperate to remove Seager and his $57 million of guaranteed money from their future commitments. Exactly how desperate, and how much money they are willing to eat, is anybody’s guess. With multiple young players now on the roster and in the farm system, the team will likely move on from Seager if they are offered a reasonable trade.

With no current options at third base except for maybe Wil Myers, the Padres will explore this idea for sure.

Seager has three years left on his current deal and if the Mariners were to eat enough money, it could be beneficial for the Padres to bring in the third baseman. It all comes down to money and cost. If the M’s were to eat somewhere around half the contract, you would expect that they would demand some pretty viable players in return. Essentially, the more money the Padres take on, the lesser the pedigree of prospect they would need to part with. At what point is taking on Seager an opportunistic move for the team, and at what point are the Padres potentially taking on another team’s problem?

Let’s delve a little further into Seager.

The Positives to Kyle Seager

The man plays each and every day. He has played in at least 154 games for the last seven years. Durability is a thing of great value in the league and Seager will be in the lineup on most days for his team. The Padres have gone through numerous men at the hot corner over the last 20 years, so Seager could provide some much-needed stability

He is considered a top-rated defender at the position. He won a Gold Glove in 2014 and is always among the defensive leaders at the hot corner. Seager also continually puts up exit velocity numbers above the average. If the Padres can get him to make more contact, he could get back to the form in which he produced like a top third baseman in the league.

The Negatives to Kyle Seager

The slugging third baseman is coming off his worst year in the major leagues where he struggled all season long with the bat. He put up a .673 OPS in 155 games for the Mariners, which was way off from his career average of a .765 OPS. Is this a sign that his offensive production will continue to trend this way?

There were issues with his timing and hands, as Seager struck out a career-high 138 times in 2018. With age, moving parts in a swing can be difficult to perfect. He will need to stay on top of his swing and work on continual adjustments in order to be a viable major leaguer moving forward. There are some real concerns with Seager, and they have to do with his production. Especially when you factor in the money that he is owed.

The Verdict

Unless he is able to be acquired for pennies on the dollar, the Padres should probably stay away. There is some feeling that the Mariners could package Mitch Haniger with Seager to get a deal done, but the Padres are stacked at the outfield position. Ken Rosenthal reported on Tuesday that the M’s were against this idea, so this doesn’t seem feasible.

Kyle Seager should have a better year than he did in 2018, but it is natural to be a little gun-shy about acquiring him. At 31, he is clearly entering the tail-end of his major league career. Investing money in him until he is 33 is a risky proposition for a Padres team on the rise. It may be wiser to search for a third baseman elsewhere.

Seager is owed money for the next three seasons and Hudson Potts is looming in the minor leagues. Potts will require a year or two of more seasoning, but the Padres are very pleased with what he brings to the table. Seager is an option for the Padres but, again, the deal must really make sense for the Padres financially.

James Clark

James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.