The Seattle Mariners desperately needed a right-handed mid-lineup power hitter for their left-handed driven lineup. Robinson Cano lobbied for him last year after he signed his insane 10-year $240 million pact with Seattle. However, Cruz was one of the players linked to the Biogenesis so he had to serve a 50 game suspension during the end of the 2013 season, which was an All-Star season for Cruz. Many teams backed away from singing him during the 2013 off-season, making him one of the last players to sign a deal. The Baltimore Orioles ended up signing Cruz on a bargain of $8 million for just 1 year. During his short term with the Orioles he put up career numbers and led the MLB in home runs, finishing the season with a stat line of .271, 40 HRs, and 108 RBIs. Thanks to his career year his price tag was risen, and it has also risen a tad more since other right-handed power hitters like Billy Butler, Victor Martinez, Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez, and also Michael Cuddyear have either signed else where or traded to a new team.
The Mariners really needed some production from their DH spot. Their DH spot hit a horrendous .190/.266./.301 with 15 homers this past season, last in every category except home runs. You can consider the bad stats to a lineup filled with left-handed hitters, nine of the ten players who came to the plate most often for Seattle last year were were lefties or switch-hitters. Cruz posted a .977 OPS verses lefties in 2014. Seattle tried to protect Cano with Corey Hart, who missed the entire 2013 season and missed a good portion of his 2014 season as well. They later traded for Kendrys Morales from the Twins hoping they can receive some solid production from him as well, but in return they received a mediocre stat line, but he did miss a good amount of game in 2014 due to him signing late in the season. The Mariners are now hoping that the growth of power hitting catcher Mike Zunino and the July acquisition of Austin Jackson can help balance this line-up around and allow the meat of the order of Cano, Seager, and now Cruz to help drive in runs.
Baltimore did not want to lose Cruz but they would not go beyond 3 years on a contract extension. The reason for that was due to his age, he is 34 at the moment but will be 35 in July.
Once Cruz became an everyday starter for the Texas Rangers from 2009-2013 he was one of the most consistent and feared hitters in the American League. His home run totals from 2009-2013 were, 33, 22, 29, 24 (suspended 50 games), 27. Can you say consistent? His RBI numbers don’t allow many fans understand how great of hitter he is, he never drove in more than 90 runs during his stint with the Rangers but he also never hit below .260 in any of those seasons. Besides hitting tape measured homers he also abuses the baseballs when he hits lasers of line drives.
Seattle is in a win-now moment and want to ride this success they are having after signing Cano. Cruz is a mediocre outfielder but his ideal situation would to be the everyday DH, allowing him to rest his legs and extended his career.
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