The Mariners have acquired 1B Mike Morse as part of a three team trade. The team sent catcher John Jaso to Oakland as part of the equation. The Nationals will receive two minor pitchers and a player to be named later from the A’s.

I understand this move from an offensive standpoint by the Mariners. They are a team still starving for offensive production. Over the last two seasons Morse has 49 home runs and 157 RBI combined. In the 2011 season he had career highs in games played (146), at-bats (522), runs (73), hits (158), doubles (36), home runs (31), RBI (95), batting average (.303), on-base percentage (.360), slugging percentage (.550), OPS (.910) and a WAR of 3.1. Last season, Morse hit 18 home  runs and drove in 62 runs in 1o2 games. Morse would have finished 4th in home runs and tied for 2nd in RBI on last year’s  roster.

There are drawbacks to this deal. Morse has had a long history of injures. He has only appeared in over 100 games 2 times in his MLB career. Morse has only reached the 500 at-bat plateau only once in his 8 year career.

The 2nd drawback to this deal is he joins a jumbled group of players at first base/designated hitter. Over the course of this off season the Mariners have acquired Raul Ibanez, Kendrys Morales and Jason Bay to fill one of those roles. Returning players Justin Smoak and Mike Carp also fall into this group. Currently the Mariners have too many players for these two positions. Bay and Ibanez could both play the outfield but neither can play a full season in the field. Morse can also play the outfield but he better suited to play first or DH.

The 3rd drawback of this trade is that Morse is only under contract for this season. It seems like the Mariners gave up too much in order to acquire a bat for one season. John Jaso was under team control for the next 3 years. He was the most clutch hitter on the team last season. The team must think that they will be able to sign Morse to a new contract or that one of the kids on the farm will take over for him next season.

As stated in the last paragraph John Jaso is a huge loss for the team. He come through in clutch situations last season and mashed on  right handed pitchers ( .302/10/47/ .419/.508/.927). Jaso called a great game and had a good rapport with ace Felix Hernandez. Because of this move, the M’s are in the market for a backup catcher.  Jesus Montero is the only catcher on the 40- man roster. The M’s will either sign a veteran free agent or promote prospect Mike Zunino to become the backup catcher.

Hopefully this gamble will payoff.  This move has more drawbacks than improvements. But it does have the potential to improve the offense tremendously. Morse needs to be the impact bat that the M’s have been looking for all off-season. Because if this gamble do not pay off ,the fans can say adios to GM Jack Zdurnciak either during the season or at season’s end.