Mariners acquire Kolten Wong for Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro
The Mariners and Brewers have agreed on a trade that will send second baseman Kolten Wong to Seattle in exchange for outfielder Jesse Winker and infielder Abraham Toro. The Brewers are sending about $1.75 million to the Mariners as well.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic was first to break the news.
Wong will $10 million for the 2023 season and will be a free agent next offseason. The 32-year-old was with the Cardinals for the first eight years of his career before his player option was surprisingly declined by the team back in 2021. Wong has won two Gold Gloves so far, both with the Cardinals in 2019 and 2020. The Mariners didn’t have a true starting second baseman until this trade and now they’ve gotten their guy. While Wong is more known for his defense, his bat has been solid for the past few years.
During his two seasons with the Brewers, Wong slashed a combined .262/.337/.439 with 29 home runs, 56 doubles, and 29 steals. During that time he’s also gotten better at elevating the ball and getting more line drives. His ground-ball rate sat at 47% in his time with the Cardinals and dropped to 41.8% with the Brewers in 2022. Wong wasn’t fully healthy in 2022 however, which lead to 17 errors at second base which is unlike him. Wong said his legs that weren’t healthy, which could explain the downyear defensively.
For Jesse Winker, the injury story was similar. A .305 batting average and 24 home runs earned Winker his first All-star nod in 2021 with the Reds, but the production fell off mightily in his only season with the Mariners. He slashed a poor .219/.344/.344 with 103 strikeouts. He’s never been a premier defender, but that also took a toll. Winker had -16 Defensive Runs Saved and -10 Outs Above Average, both career lows for the outfielder.
Despite this being the third time he’ll be a part of, Toro is only 25 years old. He was originally on the Astros before he was a part of the shocking trade that sent reliever Kendall Graveman from the Mariners to the Astros. It was a down year for him as well, as Toro only batted .185 in 109 games. It was the first time Toro played over 100 games in his career, so perhaps he just wasn’t ready. With Wong out of the picture in Milwaukee, Toro will have a chance to win an everyday spot alongside Willy Adames and Luis Urias. At worst, Toro will be a nice utility piece to have off the bench for the Brewers.
Wong will be a great filler at second for a now-playoff Mariner team. Winker has a chance to bounce back with an underperforming Brewers team before hitting free agency next year. For Toro, it’s another new opportunity to get some at-bats and reach his ceiling. The Mariners are going into win-now mode and giving up on Winker is a risk to take. Unless Winker can return to past form, the only real loss for the Mariners will be Toro.
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