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The Jean Segura-Taijuan Walker trade: What they said

Let's round-up reactions and comments to the first significant trade of the Mike Hazen era.

By Jim McLennan

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Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

From inside

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks trade Segura to Mariners for Walker - "It’s not one of those guys that you’re able to acquire all the time with the state of the game now with pitching and the premium, especially on starting pitching," Hazen said. "We felt like this was an opportunity we needed to take at this moment in time... He’s sort of a prototypical starting pitcher that you want to have in your rotation. Good stuff, throws strikes, can eat a lot of innings – all those thing that we’re looking for. I think he’s still growing, in terms of his repertoire, he’s still growing into his abilities as a starting pitcher."

[Arizona Sports] Diamondbacks bet on infield depth in Taijuan Walker-Jean Segura trade - [Marte] showed well with a .259 average and high upside in the field despite inconsistencies. "Our scouts loved his ability, his athleticism in the middle of the field," Hazen said. "He’s such a young kid still at this stage in the game. I think he adds a lot in our middle infield, into that mix, in that group... It certainly helps to deal with a position of strength. I think that was definitely part of the factor. That was a small piece to this, yes."

[FOX Sports] D-backs acquire Walker, Marte for Segura, two others - Trade talks between Hazen and Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto started during the GM Meetings in Paradise Valley three weeks ago and continued last week when Hazen was at the organization's training facility in the Dominican Republic. "Then they died for a few days before they picked back up today," Hazen said. "We both had what the other wanted." The D-backs nearly acquired Walker as part of a deal that would have sent Justin Upton to Seattle in 2013. But Upton blocked the deal and later was dealt to the Braves.

From outside

[FanRag] D-Backs Add Power Pitching Potential In Taijuan Walker - At first blush, the Diamondbacks’ acquisition of Taijuan Walker and Ketel Marte looks like a smart move. At second, it looks better than that. Pitching wins, and in Walker the D-backs received a young starter who had made scouts salivate for years now. One major league talent evaluator acknowledged that the D-backs accepted some risk in the deal, but he liked it. "Major league-ready players with upside," the evaluator said of Walker and Marte.

[FanGraphs] Mariners and D’Backs Exchange Upside and Downside - This is a fascinating trade. I don’t know if I’m sold enough on Haniger, so I’d probably prefer Arizona’s side, but for a win-now Mariners team, you can see the potential for this to make the team a lot better in the near future... For Arizona, this is an easy deal to like from their end. If Walker turns into this year’s Segura, and they hit on another buy-low talent, Mike Hazen will be plenty happy with his first deal as the Diamondbacks GM.

[MLB Trade Rumors] Mike Hazen, Jerry Dipoto Discuss Segura-For-Walker Trade - "It’s always hard when you give up talent like Taijuan," said Dipoto. "You have to give to get and in this case we feel like we are getting a little bit more of a known commodity and we understand that Taijuan takes with him the upside to achieve something greater than we’ve seen. I know that’s real. At some point, Tai is going to put it all together and he will find himself as a pitcher.’

[ESPN] Mariners, Diamondbacks make fascinating trade - In one of his first starts back from the minors, Walker allowed six runs and three home runs while getting knocked out in the first inning. After that, he took some advice from pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. and added a little Felix Hernandez-like twist to his delivery to help him hide the ball better and keep his shoulder from flying open. Two starts later, against the same team that had just shelled him, he pitched a three-hit, 11-strikeout shutout against the Angels. Over his final five starts, he posted a 2.93 ERA. That's the kind of upside the pitching-starved Diamondbacks are banking on.

[Beyond the Box Score] With Jean Segura-Taijuan Walker trade, the Mariners and Diamondbacks each try to get better - In a typical trade, the contending team would bring in a major leaguer, and the rebuilding one would snatch some toolsy farmhands in return. This isn’t a typical trade, though: Neither the Diamondbacks nor the Mariners want to punt on 2017, so each of them addressed an area of need and dealt from a relative strength. If Walker finally breaks out and Segura doesn’t regress, no one involved will regret this trade — a rarity in today’s MLB.

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