Randy Arozarena trade grades: Mariners receive 'A' for much needed offensive boost in swap with Rays

The Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays agreed to the first big trade of the month early Friday morning : a multi-player swap sending All-Star outfielder Randy Arozarena to the Pacific Northwest in exchange for two minor-league prospects (right-hander Brody Hopkins and outfielder Aidan Smith) and a player to be named later.

We here at CBS Sports are the judgemental kind. So, in keeping with tradition, we've decided to once again bring back our trade grades series. For those new to the ride, it's in these pieces that we offer instant analysis on the league's latest notable deals -- even assigning a letter grade to both teams to satisfy everyone's lizard brain.

Before we get to the good stuff, let's recap the trade in whole:

• Mariners receive : OF Randy Arozarena
• Rays receive : RHP Brody Hopkins, OF, Aidan Smith, and a player to be named later

Now, it's grading time.

Mariners grade: A

Finding a more lopsided team than these Mariners is a tough assignment. They entered Friday ranked in the majors in ERA, third in strikeout-minus-walk percentage, and third in FIP … as well as 28th in runs scored, 28th in OPS, and 23rd in wRC+ (a catch-all measure that adjusts for ballpark). Rather than refer to the Mariners offense using a threadbare nautical term, we'll just quip that even members of those Jack Zduriencik-Tony Blengino squads must find themselves thinking: "Ebert and Siskel, guys, score some dang runs."

The Mariners have had a particularly rough week. They not only lost hold on first place in the American League West, they also placed star outfielder Julio Rodríguez and starting shortstop J.P. Crawford on the injured list. The bar being so low for offensive upgrades (their lineup on Wednesday featured three players with an OPS+ above 100 in any kind of meaningful playing time), they had to do something to improve their run-scoring chances.

That something , or at least the start of it, involved going back to their common trading partners in St. Petersburg for Arozarena.

Arozarena, 29, has recovered from an abysmal start, the product of an ill-advised offseason swing change that saw him enter June with a .568 OPS. He's performed more like his usual self as of late, hitting .275/.363/.551 with four home runs and seven doubles in 19 games during July. He's still in danger of finishing with a career-worst OPS+ (he'll join the Mariners with a 105 seasonal mark), but it speaks well of his recent work that he's a lot closer to his career figure (123) than it looked like he would be coming into the summer.

Arozarena is a well-rounded hitter who will become the Mariners' best offensive player the moment he takes his first at-bat. He has a disciplined approach, seldom chasing outside of the zone, and a good enough feel for the barrel to regularly square up pitches. Arozarena's power will be challenged in Seattle's ballpark -- statistically the worst for righty hitters in all the majors -- but he has the juice to clear the fence 20 or so times a season. If there's an obvious downside to his offensive profile, it's the 25% strikeout rate borne from his tendencies to 1) work deep counts and 2) whiff at higher-than-average rates.

Arozarena has slowed down a step, and he's not going to remind anyone seated in "lookout landing" of Endy Chávez out there. He's also not going to remind them of Chávez when he's in the batter's box, which is the point here. The Mariners have added a much-needed middle-of-the-order threat -- not just for this season, but possibly two more as well -- without having to part with anyone from the top of their farm system. It's a good start to the deadline season, even if it shouldn't be the final addition Seattle makes.

Rays grade: B

Say this of the Rays: they're the only front office in the sport who would dare to trade their biggest star hitter to the team they're trailing by a half game in the wild-card race. Is it a good thing that public (and perhaps clubhouse) sentiment means so little? Not in the slightest, but we do agree with their assessment that this team is worse than its record.

The Rays entered Friday with a minus-54 run differential. For perspective, here's a list of American League teams with worse marks: Oakland Athletics , Toronto Blue Jays , Los Angeles Angels , and Chicago White Sox . That's not the kind of company you want to keep if your intention is to reach October. Funky things can happen in this game, but this Rays team feels like the type to have a bad week sometime soon and fall to the race's outskirts.

So, again, this is a terrible move optically for a franchise guzzling an exorbitant amount of public funding for a new ballpark . Even so, we get it if we force ourselves to look at it from the Rays' cold, calculated perspective. Arozarena was getting costly (by St. Pete standards) and was nearing the end of his statistical prime. He wasn't going to be on the 2025 roster no matter what. Handing him over to the team you're chasing (or pretending to chase, now) isn't going to win you points with your fan base or your clubhouse, but that's what you do when you're the Rays and said team has a pretty nice crop of prospects.

The two known members of Tampa Bay's return are Hopkins and Smith. They're not names you've seen at the top of Seattle's prospect rankings. That's no insult to them: the Mariners have an abundance of prospect riches, particularly hitters.

Hopkins, 22, was Seattle's sixth-round pick in 2023. Tip your cap to the Mariners for a nice piece of scouting and developing: Hopkins mostly played outfield in college, and he was selected after a season that saw him post a 5.83 ERA and walk more than seven batters per nine for Winthrop. Generally speaking, that's not a path associated with pro glory.

Hopkins very much has deception on his side; if he were a lefty, his delivery would have been compared to Chris Sale 's by now. It's not a perfect match despite similar crossfire action from a low slot, mind you, but it mostly does the job. The main difference is that Hopkins' arm gets up early and stays there until late. Watch the video of him below, and you'll understand why the biggest knock here is his command. Otherwise? Hopkins has the goods. His arsenal is led by a rising mid-90s fastball and a devastating slider. He's shown an aptitude for generating strikeouts and ground balls, and that's a good formula for success.

If this were 1994 or 2004 or 2014, we'd probably conclude that Hopkins is an elite setup man in the making. It's 2024 and times have changed. Attitudes and expectations with starting pitchers have changed. These days, Hopkins looks like someone who could be an above-average starter with further refinement and a little luck. The fact that the Rays, always down to experiment with their pitcher usage, now employ him makes a lot of sense.

Smith, who just turned 20, was Seattle's fourth-round pick last summer. He's a good athlete with the potential to thrive in center field for the long haul. Smith's offensive future is less certain. He has strength (and he should grow into more as his 6-foot-3 frame fills out) and he's certainly capable of pulling the ball to maximize his slugging output, but he's prone to striking out and getting too far underneath the ball. The Rays are almost certainly banking on his athleticism and ability to impact the ball winning out. Fair enough. There's a non-zero chance a mature Smith's game resembles current Rays center fielder Jose Siri .

Overall, it's a reasonable return on Arozarena, albeit one that might be tainted by the larger circumstances around it.