Mariners acquire Miles Mastrobuoni and draft Nick Raposo

The Mariners announced they have acquired an infielder/outfielder Miles Mastrobuoni from the Cubs. The latter club nominated him for a role last week and is now receiving financial compensation for his departure. Seattle designated catcher Nick Raposo for the order to open a squad position.

The 29-year-old Mastrobuoni has been a part-time big league player in recent years. Over the past three seasons, he has played in 119 games and made 272 plate appearances, mostly with the Cubs but also with the Rays. He has a tepid .219/.279/.263 batting line during that time, but has stolen 16 bases in 17 attempts while providing defensive versatility. He has spent time at the three infield positions left of first base as well as the outfield corners.

As is often the case with a deep player like this, the minor league performance was better. Over the past three years, he has made 982 Triple-A plate appearances with 22 home runs, a strikeout rate of 18.1%, a walk rate of 12.8%, a slash line of .278/.371/ .434 and a WRC+ of 114.

The Mariners have been looking for infield upgrades this winter. You lost Justin Turner to free agency, declined an option Jorge Polanco and not advertised Josh Rojas. She left that JP Crawford at shortstop and no clear answers for the other positions. They have several possible solutions in the squad, including Luke Raley, Dylan Moore, Ryan Bliss, Austin Shenton and others, although strengthening the group was clearly a goal this winter. The club has signed Donovan Solano But it shouldn’t be done this week.

Mastrobuoni won’t fix everything, but he’s a solid addition to this group of potential contributors. He can jump to multiple positions and steal at least a few bases. The offense hasn’t been good in the majors yet, but the numbers in the minor leagues have been better, perhaps indicating there’s potential for more there. He also has one option left, meaning he doesn’t need to be assigned an active roster spot and can move back and forth between the minor and major leagues with relative ease.

Raposo, June 27, was claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays just last month. He has not yet made his major league debut. Last summer, he earned a spot on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster for the first time, as both Ivan Herrera And Willson Contreras were injured but never played in a game. He was traded from the Red Birds to the Blue Birds in August when the Jays claimed him off waivers, although Toronto lost him to Seattle a few months later.

In his four years in the minor leagues, he has a .241/.321/.387 line and 85 wRC+ in 808 plate appearances. Baseball Prospectus gave him high marks for his blocking and throwing in the minors. He still has a few options and only a few days of service time.

The M’s now have a week to figure out what’s next for Raposo. This could be a trade or Raposo could be placed on waivers again. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade discussions would have to take place within the next five days.