MLB trade deadline: Here’s what the Mariners did, and Houston welcomed back ace arm
MLB’s trade deadline passed Tuesday afternoon without a major Seattle splash, while several American League contenders bolstered rosters in hopes of playoff berths.
The Mariners swung one trade with Baltimore in the early afternoon — sending High-A Everett arm Logan Rinehart to Baltimore in exchange for Triple-A righty Eduard Bazardo.
“It was a fairly uneventful deadline, by our standards,” president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said Tuesday. “But we did the things that we thought were necessary to address holes on our current club. We do think we’re a better, deeper, more-athletic roster than we were at this time last week.”
Bazardo, 27, is a 6-foot righty with a 3.05 ERA in 38.1 IP in Triple-A this season. He was DFA’d by Baltimore on Sunday and has appeared with the Orioles (2023) and Red Sox (2021-22) across three major league seasons.
Bazardo will report to Triple-A Tacoma.
Rinehart, 25, goes to Baltimore. He posted a 2.84 ERA with 51 K and 12 BB in 38 IP for High-A Everett this season and appeared in 43 career games with the AquaSox following Tommy John surgery in 2021.
Seattle’s major league clubhouse was relatively unscathed.
Teoscar Hernandez is still a Mariner. So is Ty France. Seattle’s only major move came Monday when the Mariners sent longtime closer Paul Sewald to Arizona for a three-player package.
CANZONE, ROJAS REPORT
The Sewald deal brought in-house roster moves shortly after Tuesday’s 3 p.m. PT deadline.
Those in: Infielder Josh Rojas and outfielder Dominic Canzone, the two major league players acquired for Sewald, were activated to the active roster. Manager Scott Servais penciled both into Tuesday’s lineup to make their Seattle debuts versus Boston.
“There were a ton of teams interested in Paul,” Mariners general manager Justin Hollander told Seattle Sports on Tuesday afternoon. “We could’ve done a lot of different types of deals. The deal we ultimately did was because there were players that could step on the field right away for us in key roles.”
Canzone, 25, “feels right at home already,” thankful for Seattle’s desire to acquire him. With only 38 career major league at-bats, the outfielder slashed .354/.431/.534 in 71 games with Triple-A Reno before his first call-up on July 8.
“Nothing but good vibes so far,” he said.
Rojas watched Seattle’s magical playoff in 2022 “from afar” and now gets the chance to help the Mariners make an attempt to return.
“I thought that was pretty awesome. The stadium’s awesome, the city’s awesome, and I’m excited to try and make one of those runs again this year.”
The Mariners also recalled right-hander Trent Thornton, 29, from Triple-A Tacoma, who will soon make his Mariners debut after parts of five seasons in Toronto (2019-23). He was acquired for Rainiers infielder Mason McCoy on July 26.
Those out: Reliever Juan Then and OF Taylor Trammell were optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.
Kolten Wong, the two-time Gold Glover brought in as a permanent infield solution for Seattle last offseason, was designated for assignment on Tuesday following the worst campaign of his 11-year career (.468 OPS).
Wong shared hugs with teammates and said goodbyes. Of Seattle’s offseason hitting additions, Hernandez became the last still rostered by the Mariners only months later.
“That blame falls on me,” Hollander said. “I just didn’t do a good enough job of making choices in the offseason. I felt like our process was fine, and the results were bad, and we needed to get better.”
MARINERS KEEP HERNANDEZ, FRANCE
Those rumored throughout Tuesday to be dealt remained.
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi first reported the increasing likelihood of a trade of Hernandez, Seattle’s right fielder who will become an unrestricted free agent this winter. The Blue Jays, Giants, and Phillies were named potential suitors, with as many as six teams interested.
Hernandez was absent from Tuesday’s lineup, though Servais deemed it a typical rest day.
Minnesota reportedly showed interest in Seattle first baseman Ty France. The Twins cling to a one-game lead in the AL Central, and a deal never materialized.
“We simply didn’t feel like we got a fair offer (for Hernandez),” Dipoto said, despite great interest from numerous clubs. “And we don’t feel like we’ve seen the best of what Teo has to give.”
Despite tying Baltimore for the best July record in baseball (17-9), Seattle remains in fourth place in the AL West. The Mariners are within five games of division-leader Texas and within 3.5 games of the wild card.
Dipoto deemed potential hitting acquisitions sparse. The club could have entered trade conversations “with a bag of money and a ton of prospects, and we still couldn’t have really done a whole lot outside of what we did,” he said.
AL WEST RIVALS IN ‘BUY’ MODE
Each of Seattle’s three division rivals above them added reinforcements.
Tuesday’s headline deal: The Mets sent ace Justin Verlander to the Houston Astros, where the three-time Cy Young Award winner pitched from 2017-22 before signing a two-year deal with New York last offseason as a free agent.
Texas already took advantage of the Mets sell-off, adding ace Max Scherzer from New York on Sunday.
Tuesday brought the Rangers another addition — Pittsburgh catcher Austin Hedges in exchange for international cap space.
Los Angeles, steadfast to compete with two-way megastar Shohei Ohtani in the final year of his contract, added Chicago starter Lucas Giolito to its rotation in a deal with the White Sox on July 27.
“Teoscar Hernandez is still here, other players are still here because we feel like we can win this year,” Hollander told Seattle Sports. “We do feel like we can make the playoffs this year… we feel like we can do damage. It was incumbent on us not to wave a white flag and trade Paul Sewald for prospects in A-ball.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2023 at 4:44 PM with the headline "MLB trade deadline: Here’s what the Mariners did, and Houston welcomed back ace arm."
