M's Interested in Aoki

[NWinAZ]

Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports that the Mariners are interested in Nori Aoki.

"At this point," an industry source told Dutton, "there appears to be real interest (in Aoki) from the Mariners. Whether that leads to a deal is anybody’s guess." Aoki played well for the Giants this past season when healthy, hitting .287/.353/.380 slash line with 14 stolen bases in 93 games. He ended the year with concussion issues but reportedly entered the offseason with a clean bill of health. The Giants declined a $5.5 million option on Aoki earlier this month.

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I have been hoping for this since last year. Make it so even though I prefer a RH bat for the OF.

 

[phredmojo]

This wouldnt be a bad signing, hopefully they get him cheap.

 

[NWinAZ]

This wouldnt be a bad signing, hopefully they get him cheap.

A few weeks ago they predicted he would get a 1 year deal for around $5M. Not bad these days.

 

[phredmojo]

A few weeks ago they predicted he would get a 1 year deal for around $5M. Not bad these days.

They can easilly afford it without hampering any deals.

No excuses for why he isnt signed yet..... thanks lincoln.

 

[NWinAZ]

But if we sign him, what are we going to do with Heyward?........

 

[unlvmariners]

I was hoping they would get him last off season too. Instead we got Rickie Weeks lol. A move like this could really impact the way the rest of the roster shapes up also. With Cruz, Guti, Smith and Martin (missing someone?) in the outfield at the moment it makes Cruz DH full time for the most part and then its between Trumbo and Montero for first base. It says to me that the plan for the 2015 roster isn't even close to a finished product.

 

[PolarVortex]

Love Aoki. He’s the kind of player every winning team needs in its lineup. His impact will never be reflected on the back of his baseball card because his contributions are not measured in ‘baseball card stats’.

Contact: It is pretty hard to make a ‘good out’ if you don’t put the ball in play. Aoki strikes out in only 8% of his plate appearances. Below is a list of the strikeout rates of the 11 Mariner hitters who had at least 200 plate appearances last year:
Kyle Seagar 14%
Robinson Cano 16%
Logan Morrison 16%
Ketel Marte 17%
Dustin Ackley 18%
Brad Miller 20%
Seth Smith 22%
Austin Jackson 24%
Nelson Cruz 25%
Mark Trumbo 26%
Mike Zunino 34%

Taking one for the team: Aoki has been hit by 36 pitches in 2200 career plate appearances. The only Mariner player among the 11 listed above that got to first base more frequently via HBP was Mike Zunino.

Grounding into double plays: Aoki has grounded into 28 DPs in 2200 career plate appearances. That is a frequency rate of 1.3%. Last year 9 of the 11 Mariner players listed above grounded into DPs at a higher rate than Aoki.

Sacrifice hits: Last year only Zunino had sacrifice hits at a higher frequency than Aoki’s career average.

Stolen bases: Of the players listed above that are still with the Mariners, only Marte is a bigger base stealing threat.

Hitting versatility: This guy hits everyone. His career BA/OPS versus right handed pitching is .272/.724. Versus left handed pitching it is .321/.776. Of the 11 players listed above, only 4 (Cano, Cruz, Seagar and Marte) had an OPS of .720 or higher against both lefties and right handers.

Side note: of the 11 players listed above, 4 are no longer with the team, one has been demoted to a 50-60 start player (Zunino) and one is being actively shopped to other teams. This is going to look dramatically different next year.

 

[kcden]

Looks like they signed him:

Mariners to sign free agent Nori Aoki

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Yah this helps a bit more. Looks like they just wanted to free up some Trumbo salary. Least we get a guy who historically put up a decent OBP and actually puts the ball in play. Seattle ranked 3rd in the league in strikeouts... YIKES. Aoki keeps his SO #s fairly in line with BB, only about 50 or so for a full season, that's something we can use.

 

[Anointed One]

Great signing... Solid, veteran player to have in the clubhouse... Like Polar pointed out, he only strikes out 8% of the time which would be a huge bump for our ball club...

 

[seahawksfan234]

Love Aoki. He’s the kind of player every winning team needs in its lineup. His impact will never be reflected on the back of his baseball card because his contributions are not measured in ‘baseball card stats’.

Contact: It is pretty hard to make a ‘good out’ if you don’t put the ball in play. Aoki strikes out in only 8% of his plate appearances. Below is a list of the strikeout rates of the 11 Mariner hitters who had at least 200 plate appearances last year:
Kyle Seagar 14%
Robinson Cano 16%
Logan Morrison 16%
Ketel Marte 17%
Dustin Ackley 18%
Brad Miller 20%
Seth Smith 22%
Austin Jackson 24%
Nelson Cruz 25%
Mark Trumbo 26%
Mike Zunino 34%

Taking one for the team: Aoki has been hit by 36 pitches in 2200 career plate appearances. The only Mariner player among the 11 listed above that got to first base more frequently via HBP was Mike Zunino.

Grounding into double plays: Aoki has grounded into 28 DPs in 2200 career plate appearances. That is a frequency rate of 1.3%. Last year 9 of the 11 Mariner players listed above grounded into DPs at a higher rate than Aoki.

Sacrifice hits: Last year only Zunino had sacrifice hits at a higher frequency than Aoki’s career average.

Stolen bases: Of the players listed above that are still with the Mariners, only Marte is a bigger base stealing threat.

Hitting versatility: This guy hits everyone. His career BA/OPS versus right handed pitching is .272/.724. Versus left handed pitching it is .321/.776. Of the 11 players listed above, only 4 (Cano, Cruz, Seagar and Marte) had an OPS of .720 or higher against both lefties and right handers.

Side note: of the 11 players listed above, 4 are no longer with the team, one has been demoted to a 50-60 start player (Zunino) and one is being actively shopped to other teams. This is going to look dramatically different next year.

Thank you for posting this so I didn't have to. Huge fan of the Aoki signing, especially since he's cheap.

 

[unlvmariners]

Awesome!!!

 

[NWinAZ]

Yah this helps a bit more. Looks like they just wanted to free up some Trumbo salary. Least we get a guy who historically put up a decent OBP and actually puts the ball in play. Seattle ranked 3rd in the league in strikeouts... YIKES. Aoki keeps his SO #s fairly in line with BB, only about 50 or so for a full season, that's something we can use.

That is the part that worries me a lot. We are at $114M after Trumbo trade so why did we need to do one in order to sign the other? And I believe that was the case.

 

[NWinAZ]

Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS 6h6 hours ago

aoki breakdown: $5.5M in '16, 6M player option in '17 if hits easily attainable playing time figure. 1.5M incentives each yr

 

[NWinAZ]

Larry Stone ‏@StoneLarry 5h5 hours ago

DiPoto said that Aoki will be #Mariners leadoff hitter, and said he expects him to play all 3 OF positions -- primarily LF.

 

[NWinAZ]

Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS 2m2 minutes ago

Nori Aoki gets an interpreter as part of his deal (50K max salary) #mariners

 

[seahawksfan234]

This was the high point of Dipoto's offseason so far.

Since then, it has tremendously gone down hill.