Just before the start of baseball’s winter meetings, the Seattle Mariners filled another offseason need, this time with a Gold Glove second baseman.
Seattle acquired Kolten Wong from the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday in a trade for outfielder Jesse Winker and infielder Abraham Toro.
“Second base is really an area where we’ve struggled to get production, particularly offensively,” Seattle general manager Justin Hollander said. “His game really seems to be trending up year-over-year offensively, particularly against right-handed shooters. He is learning to lift the ball. He makes a lot of contact.”
Seattle also receives cash as part of the deal. In the deal the Brewers would send the Mariners about $1.75 million.
Milwaukee has been losing payroll this offseason after going 86-76 and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2017. The Brewers took the $10 million team option on Wong’s 2023 contract last month and then traded him .
“I think he owned it at the end of the season. He didn’t have the type of year, particularly with his hands, where his own expectations are for himself,” Hollander said. “He told me over the phone that he is prepared to be much better defensively next year. He has always been a standout defender.”
After ending a 21-year playoff drought, adding a second baseman had been one of the Mariners’ main offseason goals. Wong was Milwaukee’s starting second baseman for the past two years after spending his first eight seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Brewers have a few options at second base next season. They could move Luis Urías out of the third position, give Toro a chance at a full-time job or bring in prospect Brice Turang.
“A lot of our players in our mix who have a lot of flexibility, know that we value that very much as a franchise,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said. “Having added depth throughout the infield is something we feel really good about.”
Winker gives the Brewers a power outfielder to help replace Hunter Renfroe, traded to the Los Angeles Angels last week.
Winker, 29, struggled a lot in his one season with the Mariners, hitting .219 with 14 home runs and 53 RBIs in 136 games in 2022 after playing five seasons in the NL Central with the Cincinnati Reds. . He hit .305 with a .394 on-base percentage, .556 slugging percentage, 24 home runs and 71 RBIs in 110 games with Cincinnati in 2021, when he was a National League All-Star.
Winker underwent surgery after the season to clean a meniscus problem in his left knee and underwent disc replacement surgery in his neck.