Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays finalize deal with Mike Zunino

The Mariners are finalizing an exchange with the Tampa Bay Rays involving receiver Mike Zunino, the Seattle Times reported Wednesday.

Seattle would send Zunino and part-time Guillermo Heredia to Tampa Bay for 25-year-old Mallex Smith, according to the Times, which reported parties have been discussing an agreement since last week.

It was not immediately clear if the agreement would expand to include more than the three players.

Zunino, who turns 28 in March, only hit 0.201 last season, but his 20 home runs came fifth in the team and only 373 at the bat. He excelled in defense with 12 defensive innings spared in 2018, placing him at the forefront of the catchers and helping him win Wilson's defensive player award for his position from Wednesday.

Tampa Bay, who traded All-Star receiver Wilson Ramos last season, has just two catchers among its 40 members – Nick Ciuffo and Michael Perez. Together, they appeared in only 40 big league games.

Heredia, 27, was the fourth Seattle player in the past two seasons. In 125 games in 2018, he averaged .236 with five home runs, 19 RBIs and 29 points scored.

Smith was one of the Rays' many surprises last season, averaging .296 with 65 points scored and 40 RBIs, mostly with a batting advantage.

The news of the deal came after Yahoo Sports reported this week that Seattle was considering a "full dismantling" this season. But Jerry DiPoto has tried to temper this theory at GM meetings this week in California.

"Clearly overdramatized is the best way to say it," Dipoto told MLB.com, referring to Yahoo's report. "We are open to different ways to improve, but what we want is to re-imagine our list of players and consider the fastest route to a championship club.

"We know what the Astros, the Red Sox, the A, the Yankees and the Indians look like, we do not want to be a perpetual contender for the second wild card, we want to build a list of championships, if that means in 2019, If we're competitive at the top while recruiting talent, we're not trying to demolish our club, we're too talented to do it. "