Kendrys Morales Traded to Seattle For Jason Vargas

935 days after Kendry Morales smacked a walk-off game-winning grand slam against the Seattle Mariners, only to have Erick Aybar knock him off balance as he jumps on home plate and busts his leg, Jerry Dipoto has sent Kendrys to those very same Mariners in exchange for LFP Jason Vargas. Morales came back with an extra letter to his name, a limp in his giddyup, and a few dozen pounds added to his girth, and gave us a decent 2012 season. Personally, I was hoping for a little more off-season training to benefit his fitness and restore to us More Kowbell, but it is not to be. Perhaps Dipoto knows something about the progress of his regimen that we do not. Good news for Morales, though, as the Mariners are pulling the fences in starting this 2013 season. He could totally mash up there. That should serve Scott Boras well in the near-future FA negotiations.

Vargas, meanwhile, is a 6'0 215 lb. left handed starter from Apple Valley by way of the Seattle Mariners. Drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 2nd round of the 2004 amateur draft, he was sent to the New York Mets after the 2006 season after appearing in 116 innings over 29 games. he sniffed the majors only barely for the Mets until being traded to Seattle two years later. For Seattle, Vargas has pitched 702 innings over 119 games, 110 as a starter. his Seattle time has yielded 36 wins and 42 losses with an ERA of 4.09 and an ERA+ of 95. WHIP of 1.257. His comps through age 29 are closest to Chris Capuano and Carlos Perez.

Prior to the trade to Anaheim and the LAA defense, Bill James was projecting Vargas with a 10 and 13 season, at 3.82 ERA over 205 innings and a BAA of .273. This is our new #3.