BEND, Ore. - By trading Luis Castillo to the White Sox last night, the Mariners made what was largely a salary dump given the players they acquired, including a reliever, Seranthony Dominguez, who appears to be so-so at best.
The deal also ended their six-man rotation and piggy-backing experiments, which are two things they’ll be remembered for and joked about if they don’t make the playoffs.
We can all agree the Mariners need to make a major move by tomorrow’s trade deadline at 3 p.m. PDT to have any chance of winning the AL West.
I think they’ll pull off a headliner of a trade, but there’s one player who’s been mentioned as a possible candidate to leave who should be off-limits and somehow isn’t.
In fact, this player was mentioned in Adam Jude’s Seattle Times story yesterday as someone who is “expected to draw considerable interest” in the trade market.
He is also something the Mariners are looking for - a right-handed batter who can actually hit. Since that’s the case, why would you get rid of the only one you have?
And yeah, I’m talking about Randy Arozarena, who in addition to being terrific with a bat in his hands is not very good with a glove and is generally perceived as being a piece of work.
The Mariners are no doubt making him available for two reasons:
No. 1, the haul they could get for him.
No. 2, the fact that he’ll be a free agent in the offseason and likely to leave. So if he’s going to leave, might as well get something for him now.
The problem with that line of thinking…
It weakens an already challenged Mariners lineup. Whoever they get in return, it’s hard to imagine they’ll be able to make up for Arozarena’s absence.
In an era when hardly anyone has a .300 batting average anymore, Arozarena stands out at .283. He also hits .286 with runners in scoring position. His OPS of .836 is nearly 100 points higher than the next-highest Mariner, Cole Young, at .737.
I’m sure what he will command on the open market is a factor in all of this as it always is with the Mariners.
The AI bots on Google tell me that Arozarena stands to make $20 to $22 million a year in his new contract and as much as $80 million to $110 million in a four- or five-year deal. Arozarena’s agent, Scott Boras, won’t stand for anything less, and Randy will probably get $25 million a year from the Dodgers.
Naturally we know that is way too much for the Mariners to stomach, and Jerry Dipoto will tell us that the fact that Arozarena is turning 32 in February suggests that he won’t continue to put up numbers to justify that kind of contract.
If they avoid the offseason debate and trade Arozarena tomorrow, it won’t matter who they put in left field, it will be a defensive upgrade and an offensive mistake.
I get it, he’s annoying, frustrating, aggravating, even infuriating at times. He might not win any best teammate of the year awards.
But I get a kick out of him, and I’m not sure why exactly.
He’s a guy who didn’t even look like he was trying to catch a foul ball in Tampa Bay on July 16th. And that cost the Mariners and Castillo when Cedric Mullins homered on the next pitch.
Arozarena’s also known for being one of the most bone-headed players in the majors, thinking the count was full instead of 2-and-2 and taking off from first base when the bases were loaded only to be thrown out to end the inning. That happened May 2nd against the Royals.
We were also shaking our heads when he lost two challenges in his first at-bat July 3rd against the Blue Jays, leaving the Mariners without a challenge the rest of the game.
I still like his panache and flair, and because he hits so damn well, you have to tolerate his nonsense too, don’t you?
Arozarena has had a pair of three-hit games in the last week and almost single-handedly rescued the Mariners in a 4-3 win over the Twins yesterday.
Along with a solo home run, Randy laced a double off the left-field wall to lead off the ninth inning of a tie game. He smartly tagged up and made it to third when Dom Canzone flied out to deep left field and scored on Cal Raleigh’s fielder’s choice, barely beating a throw home with a terrific head-first slide.
If the Mariners had blown a 3-0 lead and fallen farther below .500 with their fourth loss in a row, Dan Wilson might have finally been fired.
Oh wait, no he wouldn’t have, he’s Dan Wilson, my bad, it would take a 20-game losing streak for that to happen.
In the next 24 hours, I’m perfectly fine with a trade involving George Kirby or Emerson Hancock.
But if they trade Randy, I’m not, and no other Mariner fan should be either.
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