Trader Jerry: Visualizing the many trades of Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto
Let's get something straight, folks: The most shocking development of this Hot Stove season has not been the relatively slow pace. Rather, it's that Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto has now gone nearly an entire month without making a trade.
Dipoto has not made a trade since Dec. 13, and while we eagerly await his next inevitable swap, we decided to take a look back at Dipoto's roughly 28 months as GM of the Mariners, and see how his trading frenzies stack up against his front office peers. So: just how exactly did Jerry Dipoto earn his nickname of "Trader Jerry?"
Let's take a look:
(click to enlarge)
Trader Jerry indeed.
Now that we understand the extent to which Dipoto has blown away the competition when it comes to trades, let's take a closer look at this remarkable history of player movement.
- Since becoming the Mariners GM at the end of the 2015 season, Dipoto has made over 60 trades with 22 (!) different teams.
- Dipoto's most common trade partners have been the Rays (8 trades), the A's (5 trades), the Dodgers (5 trades), the Braves (4 trades), the Orioles (4 trades) and the Rangers (4 trades).
- Dipoto has made it no secret of his affinity for trading with Tampa Bay. On Episode 5 of his podcast, The Wheelhouse -- which is a thing he also somehow has time to do between transactions -- in response to a question about how teams interact at the Winter Meetings, Dipoto joked: "I just hang out in the corner with the Rays guys and we make trades."
This browser does not support the video element.
- There are only seven teams remaining who have yet to make a trade with Jerry Dipoto. Those teams: Angels, Astros, Mets, Nationals, Reds, Rockies and Tigers.
- There are two players who Dipoto has traded away, and then re-acquired via trade: Patrick Kivlehan and Minor League left-hander Anthony Misiewicz.
- Mallex Smith was a Seattle Mariner for a little over an hour. Wait, what? Smith was acquired from Atlanta and then shipped off to Tampa Bay before he could even say "I'm so happy to be a Mari-"
- Jerry Dipoto has made at least one trade in every month except October. But that's no surprise -- trades in October are extremely rare across baseball.
- And finally: The trades completed by Jerry Dipoto have involved 129 different players. That is patently absurd! You could make three entire 40-man rosters with players traded for or away by Jerry Dipoto!
Here's to you, Jerry Dipoto. May you continue to complete trades as freely and frequently as you have since Day 1 in Seattle.