MIL has a hole at 1B, and two of their options (Corey Hart and Logan Morrison) were acquired by Seattle yesterday.
The Mariners have a surplus of 1B/DH types, including Smoak, Hart, Morrison, plus the possibility of bringing back Kendrys Morales.
Keeping Smoak requires having at least one of Hart/Morrison roaming the OF. Keeping Smoak and signing Kendrys requires BOTH of them roaming the OF. Having even one of them in the OF is a horrendous idea. The Mariners tried going for broke on HR's last year (via Mike Morse and Rau Ibañez) definitely worked in the sense that it brought the M's all the way up to #2 in the MLB in HR. (Plus it is hella fun yelling "RAAAAAUUUUUULLLLL-IIIII") But their atrocious defense cost the team much more than their offensive production. Don't trust me on that - read the reaearch on Fangraphs.
Smoak is forecasted for about +0.5 WAR in 2014. Davis is forecasted for about +1.7 WAR, making him close to a league-average player. A league average player is a huge upgrade from a below average player.
Both make negligible salary and are under team control for a while.
This just makes sense. Get it done.
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