Mariners Acquire Randy Arozarena In Late-Night Blockbuster

By: Jacob Zanolla

Late Thursday night, or Friday morning in Seattle, Jerry Dipoto made a move that should change his team for the better.

Randy Arozarena has had a down year, but is still known as a postseason superstar. He always seems to do well in the bright lights, whether it’s setting postseason records, or posing mid game at the World Baseball Classic for fans chanting his name and wanting selfies.

(Side note, I just started Ted Lasso on my flight and a kid on the plane calls it an “ussie” because “it’s not myself, it’s us” and he’s not wrong…random but interesting tidbit to ponder)

The Mariners’ starting rotation is absolutely phenomenal. Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I love their staff, including Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller. Kevin Gausman had a quote earlier in the year where he addressed the Blue Jays and their offensive struggles (still very relevant). He said, “If we don’t pitch well, we probably lose.” At this point in the Cubs season, I’d say the quote for us is “even if we pitch well, we’ll probably lose.” Anyways, this quote is perfect when talking about the Mariners. The rotation is top 5 in multiple pitching statistic leaderboards. The problem is their offense, which for the most part is nonexistent. While the pitching ranks top 5 on all of these pitching categories, the hitting ranks bottom 5 in the offensive charts. Julio Rodriguez is having a big down year, which isn’t helping.

Adding Randy Arozarena won’t fix all of their problems, but it’s a great start. We were told that Dipoto would be aggressive with adding offense this deadline. It makes sense, especially after they lost a ten game lead to the Astros for the AL West, within a month. Their main problem? Zero offense. They aren’t done, and I’d be ok the watch for at least one to two more additions before all trades are nixxed on Wednesday.

The prospect return wasn’t amazing. It wasn’t awful, but seems to be more high ceiling risky prospects, which is why it made sense for Seattle. Another reason the Rays did this is probably to save money with Arozarena nearing arbitration.

It doesn’t have many Cubs implications, but as a secondary Mariners fan I can’t wait to see how Randy does in the second half!