Randy Arozarena trade grades: Who won the Mariners - Rays deal?

Hey now! We’ve got a trade in Major League Baseball!

As the 2024 trade deadline approaches on Tuesday, July 30, we’ve seen our first major deal with veteran outfielder Randy Arozarena getting dealt from Tampa Bay — where he was a Ray for five years after the Cardinals traded him there in 2020 — to the Seattle Mariners, who are in the mix in the AL West and could use a bat.

So, as usual, we’ll throw out some grades for each of the sides and declare who won or lost this one. Here’s a breakdown of the trade and grades for the Mariners and Rays:

The details of the trade

Mariners get: OF Randy Arozarena

Rays get: RHP Brody Hopkins, OF Aidan Smith and a player to be named later

Seattle Mariners grade

Sure, Arozarena isn’t having a great year with a career-low .211 average. But he’s hit 15 dingers, stolen 16 bases, and is generally the sparkplug we know he can be. That’s worth a change-of-scenery trade at a low price.

And it’s that low price — Hopkins and Smith aren’t big names in their system — that has me giving them a solid grade. We’ll see who the player to be named is, but ultimately, bringing in a guy like Arozarena means Seattle is going to go for it and that’s good!

GRADE: A-minus

Tampa Bay Rays grade

I guess we’ll see who the PTBNL is, but when you have a player on a roster that is struggling, who has a contract that runs out at the end of the year, and you’re the Rays with a small payroll, you have to make this trade. I trust the front office more than I do others, so my feeling is they’re getting what they can for Arozarena.