What a needed acquisition the Mariners got Wednesday in shorstop Jack Wilson. They traded away what was once their future, Yuniesky Betancourt, and replaced him with a guy, Ronnyt Cedeno, who was on a 0-for-26 skid and a .167 average.
There was no one in the minors to fill that spot any time soon. General manager Jack Zduriencik had to move and he did in a major way, a seven-player deal with Pittsburgh. They brought in Wilson and RHP Ian Snell and traded away Cedeno, C/1B Jeff Clement, the former first-round pick in the 2005 draft and three minor league right-handers.
Here's a more elongated and random version of our interviews with Zduriencik and manager Don Wakamatsu.
JACK ZDURIENCIK
On Snell:
“He (Snell) didn't have successful first half in Pittsburgh. He's done very well in Triple-A. That was intriguing to us. Maybe this guy is somewhat of a reclamation project. We hope we can resurrect his career. He's done very well at Indianapolis.
“This has nothing to do what might happen. We got Ian Snell because he has a very nice arm. If we can get him back on track he's a pitcher we can add to our major league club.
“I just think he's a guy who gives us three-plus years of experience, which is more than some of the guys we have on our staff right now. We'll see when he gets here.
Why did he struggle this year?
“I don't think it was injury related. He's still throwing in the mid-90s. We sent (scout) Kenny Medeja in there a few days ago and sat on Ian Snell. Kenny came back with a real good report on him. He has a live arm, he has more strikeouts per innings, his ERA is under 1.00. So Kenny was in a large part responsible.''
On Wilson:
“What we acquired here (with Wilson) is a very talented defensive shortstop. He set several record of errorless games. He's a feisty player. I think you're going to like watching this guy play.
“He's an intelligent player. He has a lot of skills. He has leadership ability.He's feisty. He's a West Coast guy. In my conversations, I thought he'd be a little disappointed in leaving an organization that he basically grew up in....but he was very excited. He was like, 'wow, I know you guys are in a pennant race. This is exciting.' I told him how much we wanted him.
“Some of the questions we might have had at shortstop, I think we've answered that. And Ian has a nice arm.
“We'll see how jack like it here. I honestly think he's going to be here from some length of time. This certainly answers questions for us as we move forward.
“We've been talking a couple months ago. Probably in May. But it was about a lot of different things. But his name came up and where are you going to go with this guy in the future? We had another shortstop here at the time. But intensely, probably the last 10 days. Many conversations back and forth.''
On Clement:
“I feel very bad about Jeff Clement not being with us. Pittsburgh pursued him. Sometimes when you trade it creates an opportunity. Pittsburgh is going to look at him at both positions, first base and catcher.
“There are a lot of names that get thrown out. I think five or six days ago he was a guy they identified. We went through several discussion after that.
“I think it comes back to the pieces you get back in return. I don't think this deal is related to anything else. This deal in itself is the fact that you answered the question at shortstop for number of years. Whenever you get talent, you have to give up talent. That's what it amounts to. Then you have to weigh. Does this deal fit us? And it did. We addressed two nice needs with this move and you have to give up talent to get talent.''
On Cedeno, minor leaguers:
“I didn't want to lose Ronny Cedeno and held out. But they wanted him in the deal. The three minor leaguers have nice arms. I wish all the kids the very best. They're future guys. The centerpiece were the two guys on this club who are going to make an impact.''
Do you have a framework for another deal?
“There are always discussion going on. I don't know if I would classify it as a framework. Maybe someone else would think there' a framework, I'm all ears. You always want to improve your ballclub. I don't think there's any imminent at this time. Do I think there's a framework at this time? I don't think there's a framework. I think there are people mentioning things. But we haven't jumped into the fray and said, 'that really makes a lot of sense.' Like I've done for the last month, you listen.
“Someone may think that I'm shopping guys. I'm not doing that. People call me. I have to listen to what they have to say. When I get one, two, three phone calls as a courtesy you call them back. I can't say anything going to go anywhere.
Is this team in a pennant race?
“Where are in standing, we're on the outside looking. The other club, in fact, the other two clubs ahead of us have been playing well. This club has been resilient. They've shown in what what supposed to be the toughest trip of the year, they came back with a really nice record.
“No one is throwing up the white flag. We're trying to get better in any way we can.''
DON WAKAMATSU
On the trade:
“We’re awfully excited about getting Jack Wilson and also the possibility of some point getting Ian Snell in our rotation. Both come highly recommended; both have good pedigree. Jack’s worked extremely hard to pull this off and it’s not a knock at all on Ronny Cedeno. I think Ronny has done a commendable job for us. He’s a guy that’s awfully athletic and somebody that we really didn’t want to give up because of his versatility. The short time I’ve gotten to know him, we think nothing but the best of him. We wish him well over there.
“Jack (Wilson) is a guy that is known as one of the best defensive shortstops in the National League at least and somebody that brings some leadership and some presence to this ballclub and that’s something we’ve talked about from day one, is constantly try to get better and improve and build a world champion and this is a guy that we hope adds some depth to us, to be a part of the future and gives us some options.
What message does it send?
“I’m not a general manager, but the hardest thing is to try to add without subtracting and I think that’s exactly what Jack’s trying to do. It’s not an easy task and I think, again, to be able to get a shortstop of this caliber obviously makes us better
“I saw him (Wilson) probably four years ago or so when I was with Texas, we played interleague and I got the chance to see him then and I know Buck Showalter talks extremely high about him. I've seen him play for a number of years and he’s a guy that has a lot of range, that really understands the game and is a ballplayer.
“I think what we talked about when we acquired guys like Franklin Gutierrez and what that’s done to our pitching staff, and I think to be able to continue to add that caliber of player up the middle is only going to make you better. Not only that, offensively, maybe the numbers don’t show that he’s a tremendous hitter but every coach I’ve ever talked to said he can be awfully painful against you. You look at a guy like Marco Scutaro that just wears you out because he gives good at bats, and that’s the reports we get with jack Wilson.
On Snell:
“Good arm. I saw him about four years ago, I haven’t seen him since. I know he struggled early in the season and was sent down…he's a fairly young pitcher, 27, 28 years old that has already thrown 200-plus innings in the big leagues. Where we’re heading and what we’re trying to do here, he could easily fit into the picture.
Can Clement still be a catcher?
“I think so. He had a little set back early in the season and he was scheduled to catch quite a bit. He’s a tough kid and I think for me, the bat is an awfully big plus at that position. Spending some time, getting to know him a little bit in spring training, I was awfully impressed with him.''
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