Mariners take on Leake: With one eye on September and another on 2018, the Seattle Mariners acquired Mike Leake from the St. Louis Cardinals. Leake, a durable but otherwise average pitcher, got five years at $16 million per year from the Cardinals in free agency two winters ago; the Mariners assumed three years at $13 million per year. Could Leake become as overpaid in Seattle as he was in St. Louis? As the Dodgers and other analytically oriented teams ask less out of their back-end starters — five innings, please, and we won’t let you take a third turn through the lineup — the market value of those starters might drop below $13 million annually.
Three up, three down: Mariners take on Leake; Royals flushed
