The Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros reportedly agreed to a rather surprising trade on Tuesday evening.
Seattle is just six games back of first in the AL West and one game behind the A’s for the second and final Wild Card spot. With that being said, the Mariners are expected to be buyers ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.
However, Seattle reportedly sent relievers Kendall Graveman and Rafael Montero to the Astros tonight in exchange for third baseman Abraham Toro (who’s batting .211 this season) and reliever Joe Smith (who has a 7.48 ERA) in return, according to Mariners beat writer Ryan Divish. This is, without a doubt, one of the more perplexing trades in sports this year.
Graveman has been phenomenal on the mound this season. He’s pitched in 30 games and has a 0.82 ERA. The Mariners gave him up for practically nothing in return. To make matters worse, he now plays for a division rival. Seattle has some explaining to do.
Mariners are sending Rafael Montero and Kendall Graveman across the field.
Seattle also gets Joe Smith
Perplexing
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) July 27, 2021
Talk about a steal by the Houston Astros. They’ve strengthened their bullpen and weakened a Mariners team on a hot streak. It doesn’t get much better than that if you’re Houston.
The Mariners are still reportedly looking to add pieces this week, but it is still perplexing that they dealt Graveman like this.
The AL West is still a tight race, all things considered. The Astros have a solid six-game lead, but the A’s are just five games behind with the Mariners trailing by six. The Angels, meanwhile, are fighting to stay alive at 10 games back. They’re just five games back of the final Wild Card berth in the AL, currently held by Oakland.
All four teams could be in the mix of several trades that take place this week. The Astros and Mariners got the party started with a rare intra-division trade on Tuesday.
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