The Mariners have reportedly acquired minor-league slugger Dan Vogelbach in a four-player trade.
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The story was broken by ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian and confirmed by Yahoo’s Jeff Passan, and the teams appear close to finalizing this deal.
Montgomery has been terrific out of Seattle’s bullpen this season. Ken Rosenthal adds that Double-A right-hander Paul Blackburn heads to Seattle, as a Triple-A starting pitcher will come back to the Cubs.
Montgomery, 27, who pitched for manager Joe Maddon in Tampa Bay, is expected to shore up a thin left side of the Cubs’ bullpen. Sports first reported the trade. His body type, 6-foot, 250 pounds, doesn’t allow for another position other than designated hitter. Vogelbach’s approach and hit tool are not questioned, and while he has never hit 20-plus homers in a minor league season (although he has 16 this year), many scouts put a 60 on the power, so he could end up being a prototypical middle-of-the-order run producer in time. Triple-A first baseman Dan Vogelbach is available though as the Cubs have a logjam at first base with Rizzo there at the Major League Baseball level. With Dae-Ho Lee and Adam Lind at first for the Mariners, Vogelbach looks to have an easier time finding at-bats with the Mariners going forward. He has a 2.34 ERA this season mostly out of the bullpen, but he started both of his past two outings.
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After a promising start to the season, the Mariners entered Thursday with a 47-47 record and 5.5 games out of a wild-card spot. The Cubs took him in the second round of the 2011 draft.
