Mariners Acquire Miles Mastrobuoni, Designate Nick Raposo

The Mariners announced that they have acquired infielder/outfielder Miles Mastrobuoni from the Cubs. The latter club had designated him for assignment last week and now receives cash considerations for his departure. Seattle designated catcher Nick Raposo for assignment to open a roster spot.

Mastrobuoni, 29, has been a part-time big leaguer over the past few years. Over the past three seasons, he has appeared in 119 games and taken 272 plate appearances, mostly with the Cubs but also with the Rays. He has a tepid .219/.279/.263 batting line in that time but has stolen 16 bases in 17 tries while providing defensive versatility. He has spent time at the three infield positions to the left of first base as well as the outfield corners.

As is often the case with a depth player like this, the minor league performance has been better. Over the past three years, he’s had 982 Triple-A plate appearances with 22 home runs, an 18.1% strikeout rate, 12.8% walk rate, .278/.371/.434 slash line and 114 wRC+.

The Mariners have been looking for infield upgrades this winter. They lost Justin Turner to free agency, turned down an option on Jorge Polanco and non-tendered Josh Rojas. That left them with J.P. Crawford at shortstop and no clear answers for the other positions. They have various possible solutions on the roster, including Luke Raley, Dylan Moore, Ryan Bliss, Austin Shenton and others, though strengthening the group has clearly been a goal this winter. The club signed Donovan Solano this week but shouldn’t be done.

Mastrobuoni won’t fix everything but he’s a solid addition to that cluster of potential contributors. He can bounce around to multiple positions and steal a few bases at least. The offense in the majors hasn’t been good yet but the minor league numbers have been better, perhaps suggesting there’s potential for more there. He also has an option remaining, meaning he doesn’t need to be given an active roster spot and can be shuttled between the minors and majors with relative ease.

More to come.