Well, this was supposed to be the last day of the Winter Meetings, but here we are. Another day ending in "Y" and another trade made at the helm of Jerry Dipoto. But this one was made from his hospital bed.
Yes, that happened.
With our All Access Daily newsletter, stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams!
SIGN UP HERE Here's what the trade entailed:
The Mariners acquired first base / designated hitter, Edwin Encarnacion according to Jon Heyman of Fancred, while sending Carlos Santana to the Indians.
The Rays are also a part of the deal adding Yandy Diaz and right-handed Minor League pitcher Cole Sulser to the roster from the Indians as reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The Rays will send Jake Bauers to Cleveland along with $5 million to Seattle from Tampa Bay (via Joel Sherman of the New York Post). Seattle will send $6 million to the Indians while acquiring Cleveland's competitive balance pick.
Got that all? Good.
Athletics
Find the latest Athletics news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
So how does this AL trade affect the A's? Let's take a look:
Edwin's numbers
First things first, nobody is 100-percent sure that Encarnacion will stay with the Mariners, but if he does, the A's don't have much to worry about if they want to depend on some of his splits.
For instance, Encarnacion struggles against the A's. In 36 games (136 at-bats) he's slashing a career .221/.308/.455 with eight long balls and 16 RBI. That's enough data to let you wrap your head around it.
Overall, however, last season the three-time All-Star struggled, slashing just .246/.336/.474. He did hit a respectable 32 home runs, but that's about as good as it got.
Maybe it'll be one of those comeback stories?
No different for Santana
Last season, 32-year-old Santana did the same song and dance as Encarnacion. He was fine, I guess -- 24 homers with 86 RBI ... but he played in 161 games. And those numbers don't coincide with who he is and who he has been as a player. And I'm a firm believer that 32 is the new 29 when it comes to age.
This shouldn't mess with the A's that much. When the A's are his opponent, the numbers aren't pretty. He has a few long balls at The Coli, but you will not see any of the A's pitching around him.
Bauers hour
Yes, I stole that from Trevor Bauer, but he can deal with it for the time being.
I for one am excited about Jake Bauers. He was a top prospect for quite a while in the Rays organization, but there little to no numbers to back up what he can do. I do have a feeling he has this way of getting a bit of a power surge as the innings go by -- so he could either hurt or benefit from that. The A's have a bullpen that is bragworthy, but it's unclear how much of an advantage Bauers will have over the team.
Bauers is just 23 and brings some diversity on defense because he can play at first base when Yonder Alonso needs a day off and left field when Jason Kipnis is at second base or out of the lineup.
I wish I could say this would be some miraculous way to up the A's chances to "taking it all." But it may be a good thing that nothing drastic has changed.
A's fans will have to wait for some more additions, then we can talk about that. Until then, rest easy fam.