harmony

The Seattle outburst came on the heels of going 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position in two losses to the Red Sox this week. The Mariners lost the series despite outscoring the Sox 9-5 (just as the Sox lost the earlier series at Fenway Park despite outscoring the M's 16-15).

Let's not forget that last season Cal Raleigh won the Platinum Glove as the best defensive player in the American League at any position. https://www.mlb.com/news/cal-raleigh-brice-turang-win-2024-platinum-glove-awards And who leads all catchers in stolen bases this season ... by a significant margin?

Seattle would be unlikely to trade Mitch Garver for that Red Sox package. BTW Cal Raleigh and Garver combined for four home runs and eight RBI in today's 9-4 win over the first-place Chicago Cubs. With his 28th and 29th roundtrippers, Raleigh now has the most home runs in MLB history for a catcher before the All Star break.

FWIW this year Seattle prospect catcher Harry Ford has posted a .313/.425/.483/.909 line with a wRC+ of 138 and `17.7 percent strikeout rate in 55 games at Triple A Tacoma. The 22-year-old Ford may be the top Mariner trade chip at the July 31 deadline. Or not.

Rafael Devers stood out as the best hitter on mediocre teams the past three seasons.

The Mariners should win many series when they limit their opponents to five runs on nine hits over three games.😏 Gorgeous day at the ballpark, though.

In his start against Seattle earlier this season, Garrett Crochet surrendered four runs on five hits and five walks over five innings in a 4-3 Red Sox loss.

I attended a game in Yokohama on April 9 when Trevor Bauer had been removed from the active BayStars roster for undisclosed reasons. Bauer has since been reinstated.

https://talksox.com/forums/topic/88909-a-realistic-view-of-the-2025-red-sox-part-i/page/46/#comment-2985935 The train to today's Garrett Crochet game awaits.

Last offseason Seattle was highly, highly unlikely to trade five years of Bryan Woo for four years of Triston Casas: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/12/mariners-turned-down-triston-casas-trade-offer-from-red-sox.html Entering Tuesday's game with an ERA+ of 93, the 2025 Mariners may hinge their fate on the recent returns of starters Logan Gilbert and George Kirby from the injured list. The M's were second in the league with an OPS+ of 111.

Thank you for the response,

The article lacks attribution when it reports that "Devers was reassured that he would be the third baseman." Was the author privy to that conversation (or conversations)? How do other parties to those conversations view the exchanges (likely in two languages)? Does any party have anything to gain by going public with the details of those conversations? From the outside we can only speculate that Rafael Devers and the front office experienced a breakdown in communications.

Seattle won't win many games going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox were 1-for-1 with runners in scoring position.

The Red Sox traded Rafael Devers after Devers had posted 24.9 bWAR in 1,059 games with the Sox. The Red Sox traded Mookie Betts after Betts had posted 42.5 bWAR in 794 games with the Sox. The Red Sox traded Nomar Garciaparra after Garciaparra had posted 41.3 bWAR in 966 games with the Sox. Devers is a good but not great player who has never finished in the Top 10 in American League MVP voting since he entered the league in 2017. The Red Sox probably were offered far better returns in trade if the Sox would pay down some of the $235 million remaining on the Devers contract. If word was out that the Sox were unwilling to eat some of the contract, the market for Devers was significantly limited. Baseball Trade Values deemed the Devers trade a decided overpay by the San Francisco Giants: https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades/190454

This will be Logan Gilbert's first MLB start since going on the injured list on April 26.

Perhaps the Red Sox had been shopping Rafael Devers since May 9 when the club's top officials met with Devers in Kansas City. Perhaps after five weeks of testing the market the Sox took the best offer. Or not.

This past week James Tibbs III went 9-for-23 with five walks for the Eugene Emeralds in a six-game series at the Hillsboro Hops: https://www.milb.com/player/james-tibbs-iii-696486?stats=gamelogs-r-hitting-mlb&year=2025 This poster worked guest services at four of those games.😉

When (and how) did Rafael Devers learn of the trade? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pOxpfZ5jXNw

I don't have a paid subscription to many BTV features, but could access these values without paying: Jordan Hicks: negative $18.5 million Kyle Harrison: $10.9 million James Tibbs $9.1 million Jose Bello: $400,000 TOTAL: $1.9 million Rafael Devers: negative $40.3 million

According to Baseball Trade Values, the trade was a heist for the Red Sox: https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades/190454

It should be interesting to see Rafael Devers play against the Red Sox next weekend in San Francisco. This poster will be there on Sunday,

This Mariner fan will see the Red Sox on Wednesday in Seattle and next Sunday in San Francisco. My attendance tends to assure a Red Sox win.☹️

Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu are not the answers to the most pressing needs for the slumping Seattle Mariners. The Mariners rank 12th in the American League with an ERA+ of 91 and third in the league with an OPS+ of 109 (one point behind the Red Sox). This year Randy Arozarena has posted 1.3 WAR and a 119 wRC+ in 65 games. Jarren Duran has posted 1.3 WAR and a 106 wRC+ in 69 games while Wilyer Abreu has posted a 1.2 WAR and a 112 wRC+ in 64 games. FanGraphs projects Arozarena with 1.5 WAR and 117 wRC+ in 89 games the remainder of the season. Duran is projected with 1.6 WAR and 107 wRC+ in 83 games and Abreu with 1.0 WAR and 107 wRC+ in 56 games. Right field remains an issue for Seattle with its injured list housing Victor Robles and Luke Raley, who last year posted 3.1 and 3.2 bWAR for the Mariners. Robles is looking at a September return at the earliest but Raley may begin a rehab assignment soon. Seattle is unlikely to trade from Keith Law's top-ranked farm system to acquire Duran or Abreu. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/randy-arozarena/19290/stats?position=OF https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jarren-duran/24617/stats?position=OF https://www.fangraphs.com/players/wilyer-abreu/23772/stats?position=OF

In four seasons 1996-99 the Seattle Mariners had Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez in the 2-3-4 holes. Rodriguez finished his career with 117.4 bWAR, Griffey 83.8 bWAR, Martinez 68.4 bWAR, Ramirez 69.2 bWAR and Ortiz 55.0 bWAR.

Doesn't help the record in one-run games but it's a great win for the Red Sox.