This week, the Seattle Mariners signed outfielder Nori Aoki, formerly of the San Francisco Giants, to a one year deal, pending a physical. The addition of Aoki and the subtraction of Mark Trumbo  – traded to the Baltimore Orioles – is further demonstration of new GM Jerry Dipoto’s commitment to fielding a more athletic team with a higher on base percentage.

Hello Nori Aoki

Since coming to the United States to play in MLB, Aoki has gotten on base at a .353 clip. He rarely strikes out, posting a career 7.7% K rate and a 90.6% contact rate, and still has decent speed for 34, stealing 14 bags in 93 games in 2015 and projected to steal 17 in 130 games next season. More than likely, Aoki will bat either one or two in the lineup, with shortstop Ketel Marte taking the other slot ahead of Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, and Kyle Seager.

Assuming Aoki plays primarily in right field, his defense is good, if not great. In his career playing all three outfield positions, he has 13 defensive runs saved in right, but -2 defensive runs saved in left and  -2 defensive runs saved in center. But any defensive contribution in right that also allows the Mariners to exclusively DH Nelson Cruz is a significant upgrade.

And among the “intangibles,” Aoki is said to have a wicked sense of humor and to be an overall good team mate. While sabermetrics may not account for “chemistry,” baseball players are human and enjoying being at work can’t hurt.

Goodbye Mark Trumbo

One of former GM Jack Zduriencik’s last acquisitions, Mark Trumbo, was dealt to the Orioles in order to avoid non-tendering his pending $9M salary without getting anything in return. The Orioles could have offered a bag of balls and some Cracker Jack and Trumbo would be out of town. Instead the Mariners managed to add 29 year old catcher Steve Clevenger with a 148 game big league slash line of .228/.280/.327. He’s not the answer at catcher, but he also doesn’t cost much.

Trumbo epitomized everything that was wrong with a Jack Z coveted player – not athletic / poor defender / low on base percentage / strike out machine / with lots of raw power.

Last season with both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Mariners, Trumbo hit .262/.310/.449, while striking out 24.2% of the time, walking only 6.6% of the time, and putting up a whopping 1.1 FanGraphs WAR. Defensively, he cost the Mariners -1 run in LF and -3 runs in RF for both the Diamondbacks and Mariners. He was “OK” at 1B, saving 1 run in 152 innings.

While it’s not immediately clear who will play 1B in 2016, with Logan Morrison also having been traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in a six player deal earlier in the offseason, it is clear what Jerry Dipoto values and what he is and isn’t ready to pay for.

What’s Next?

The Winter Meetings start this weekend in Nashville, running from December 6^th to December 10^th. It seems unlikely from the moves Dipoto has made thus far that the Mariners are in the market for any of the bigger names. Zach Greinke isn’t going to be pushing Felix Hernandez into the number two starting rotation slot and Jason Heyward isn’t going to be the final piece in the outfield. But, the rest of the Mariners 2016 puzzle should start to materialize by the end of the week.