Per Jeff Todd (MLB Trade Rumors) Nathan Karns (pictured), CJ Riefenhauser, and Boog Powell are head to Seattle.
Per Jeff Todd (MLB Trade Rumors) Nathan Karns (pictured), CJ Riefenhauser, and Boog Powell are head to Seattle.

According to Jeff Todd (MLB Trade Rumors), the Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to a six player trade with the Seattle Mariners. Tampa Bay sent RHP Nathan Karns, LHP reliever C.J. Riefenhauser, and minor league outfielder Boog Powell to Seattle, in exchange for infielder/outfielder Brad Miller, first baseman Logan Morrison, and reliever Danny Farquhar.

Todd writes,

With the trade, new Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has made a striking first major move. The key piece, of course, is the 27-year-old Karns, who put up a solid 147-inning campaign last year, working to a 3.67 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9. He’ll bring ample, cheap control with him to the Mariners.

Seattle also gets Riefenhauser, a 25-year-old southpaw. He has yet to do much of use in the big leagues (6.30 ERA in twenty innings), but has put up stellar run prevention numbers in the upper minors.

And Powell is not an inconsequential piece of the deal, either. He had been rated 13th on MLB.com’s list of the best Tampa Bay prospects. That publication credited him for excellent plate discipline and on-base skills as well as solid defensive versatility across all three outfield positions.

Prying Karns loose required Dipoto to part with some appealing assets. Miller, a talented 26-year-old, has not managed to hold down the everyday shortstop job with the M’s but did product an above-average (when park-adjusted) bating line of .258/.329/.402 last year. He also picked up experience in the outfield, and figures to be a versatile piece for Tampa (joining another former Mariner, Nick Franklin, in the infield mix).

Morrison has had his ups and downs, and didn’t exactly light the world on fire at the plate last year, but ought to provide a first base/DH option for the Rays. And Farquhar, 28, has shown the ability to put up big strikeout totals out of the pen — though he struggled last season.

Tasked with rebuilding a lackluster bullpen, this is the first offseason move by Matt Silverman, the Rays president of baseball operations. The question begs, how might the team use Morrison, who is under team control until 2017? Moreover, what might this mean for James Loney, who is set to make $8M in 2016? Will Morrison take over at DH, or will the Rays deal Loney and slot the newly acquired 1B in his place?

Miller is also intriguing. In 750-1/3 innings at short last season, Miller collected a -4 DRS/.818 RZR. Compare that with Asdrubal Cabrera, who posted a -7 DRS/.752 RZR over 1141 innings. It should be noted, Miller erred 14 times ― a gaudy number to say the least.

For his part, Silverman told Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) that it’s obviously too early to commit, but talks about Miller as a middle infielder and Morrison for his bat (thus DH).

With Karns now on the move, it could be assumed that Erasmo Ramirez ― who I am in the process of writing about ― has earned himself a spot in the 2016 rotation, which may also feature über prospect Blake Snell.

An evaluation of the trade should be expected once I’ve had some time to digest it.

Noteworthiness

― The team posted a triplet of player cards regarding the three newest Rays:

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