Morales and the Twins agreed to a one-year deal worth $7.4 million -- the prorated amount of a $12 million contract had he played an entire season. John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
SEATTLE — Playing the part of trade-deadline buyers while trying to recapture lightning in a bottle Thursday, the Seattle Mariners acquired veteran Kendrys Morales.
In exchange for the designated hitter/first baseman, Seattle sent reliever Stephen Pryor to the Minnesota Twins.
Morales, 31, was a key contributor to the Mariners in 2013, when he led the club in batting (.277) and RBIs (80) while hitting 23 home runs. He was such a success in his one season with Seattle that the Mariners tried to re-sign him to an extension, only to be thwarted in their efforts by Morales and his agent, Scott Boras.
Because any other team that signed him this season would have had to compensate the Mariners with a draft pick, Morales went unsigned until after the June draft, at which time compensation was no longer required. Morales and the Twins agreed to a one-year deal worth $7.4 million — the prorated amount of a $12 million contract had he played an entire season.
The Mariners have been desperate for some pop from the right side of the plate, and the switch-hitting Morales has that potential — although he hit only one home run in 154 at-bats with the Twins. If he can put up numbers anywhere near his production from 2013, it would give the Mariners a potentially lethal middle of the lineup that also includes second baseman Robinson Cano and third baseman Kyle Seager.
If nothing else, the deal gives Seattle its most intimidating set of 3-4-5 hitters in about a decade, since players such as Bret Boone, Edgar Martinez and John Olerud were anchoring the lineup.
Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said that Morales’ numbers with the Twins (.234, 18 RBIs) were of little concern in the deal.
“He’s in a pennant race, and now he has technically spring training under his belt — unfortunately he had to do it at the major league level,” Zduriencik told reporters, referring to all the time Morales missed before going straight to the Twins without spring training or any minor league at-bats. “We all feel that Kendrys will hit his stride and be the Kendrys Morales we all know.”
The Mariners did have to give up a young flamethrower to acquire Morales, but Pryor, 25, isn’t nearly the prospect he was at the beginning of last season. Pryor was looked at as a potential closer of the future before he tore both latissimus dorsi and triceps muscles, requiring separate surgeries within a matter of four months during the 2013 season. Pryor spent all but one game this season at Triple-A Tacoma after rehabilitating all offseason.
