The Mariners got a much-needed roster upgrade Thursday night. Seattle announced the acquisition of Randy Arozarena from the Rays in exchange for two prospects – an outfielder Aidan Smith and the right hand Brody Hopkins — and a player to be named later. Seattle had an opening on their 40-man roster after the pick France with the assignment earlier this week, so no additional transport is necessary.
Arozarena had a great four-year run in Tampa Bay. The Rays acquired him from the Cardinals in the 2019-2020 offseason in a deal that sends a top prospect. Matthew Liberatore in St. Arozarena made a brief MLB debut last season, but the 2020 postseason represents his true emergence as a star. He hit 10 home runs in 20 games, won ALCS MVP honors and helped the Rays reach the World Series.
Despite that play-off appearance, Arozarena retained rookie eligibility until 2021. He walked away with Rookie of the Year following a .274/.356/.459 slash with 20 homers and total stolen bases. This was the first of three straight 20-20 campaigns for the Cuban player. He swiped a career-high 32 bases in ’22 and hit 23 long balls in his first All-Star season last year.
Arozarena appeared in 445 matches between 2021-23. He hit .264/.349/.443 with 63 homers in just over 1900 plate appearances. That production was 26 percent above league average, as measured by wRC+, which ranks him among the top left fielders in the game. Arozarena’s popularity and consistency led to a rapid increase in referee salaries. That conversation fueled the Rays’ low-wage deal with him last season.
Tampa Bay apparently rejected any trade they received over the winter. They were certainly hoping that Arozarena would strengthen their lineup and help them to a sixth consecutive berth. He and the team got off to a cold start, however, which put them in a hole from which they never recovered.
Arozarena hit .158/.257/.312 at the end of May. Some of it was the result of an unbearably bad .186 average on balls in play, but his strikeout rate was up around 29%. Arozarena turned things around following that fateful incident. He’s hitting a .290/.402/.517 clip over the past two months. He dramatically reduced his swings and misses (down to 19.5%) and slightly increased his walk percentage. The results have been very consistent with his career record.
Overall the numbers for the Arozarena season are pretty pedestrian. He is hitting .211/.318/.394 with 15 homers in 409 plate appearances. That’s slightly better than average and would be the worst numbers of his career. Given his overall record and recent form, it seems fair to view his early season struggles as an anomaly rather than a worrying trend. Getting anything close to the 29-year-old’s productive career would be a huge boost for a Seattle lineup that hit .216/.298/.362 on the year. Only the White Sox have scored fewer runs this month, a big reason the M’s have watched their 10-game cushion in the AL West evaporate.
The Mariners are a half-game ahead of the Rays in the American League standings. It’s rare to see a team trade an influential player to another club that is close to them in the playoff picture. Seattle is in a better position than Tampa Bay in terms of clinching a playoff berth, however. The Rays need to overcome three teams and erase a four-game deficit in the Wild Card mix. Seattle has the most logical path to the division title, as they are only one game behind the Astros and hold a 1.5-game edge over the third-place Rangers.
While Tampa Bay won’t completely tear things down, they could hang on to a handful of veteran players over the next few days. The Rays had moved it Aaron Civale again Phil Maton. A partnership with Arozarena seems to increase the chances of them moving the popularity of Brandon Lowe, Yandy Diaz, Zach Eflin again Zack Littell. The Rays could also try to get some quality kids or MLB-ready talent to help their playoff push this season and help them get back into contention next year.
Seattle is in very traditional consumer mode. Their offense was rocking before they lost Julio Rodríguez again JP Crawford to injury this week. Arozarena is one of the most likely upgrades to their lineup as they try to capitalize on MLB’s best starting rotation. M’s relied on another former Ray, Luke Raley, as their main left winger. Raley has hit average on the season overall, but has struck out 22 times with a .119/.224/.254 slash in 67 plate appearances this month.
Arozarena is playing this season with a salary of $8.1MM. The M’s are taking in about $2.83MM from this game, which will push their estimated player salary to about $143MM (as calculated by RosterResource). Managing partner John Sherman said last month that the front office has the ability to spend money to add players at the deadline. They used that here and they can do it again before Tuesday. Seattle controls Arozarena through arbitration for two more seasons. He will likely earn in the $12-14MM range next year and could earn a salary of $20MM for the ’26 campaign.
The Rays, a team that entered the season with less than $100MM in payroll, likely weren’t willing to commit to those 2025-26 salaries. A trade for the following season seemed likely. They were impressed enough by the prospect package to make a move a few months in advance, even if it significantly affects their already slim playoff chances.
Smith and Hopkins each rank in the middle tiers of Seattle’s farm system which is arguably the best in the league. They ranked 14th and 15th respectively in Baseball America’s most recent league rankings. Smith, 20, was a fourth-round pick out of Texas last summer. Signed a $1.2MM overslot bonus.
The right-hitter posted big numbers for Low-A Modesto. Smith is hitting .284/.402/.470 with 26 doubles, three triples and nine homers in 358 plate appearances. He is striking out at a 14.5% clip against a 24.3% strikeout rate. BA praises Smith’s athleticism and defensive instincts in the center position. He has significant power with a 6’3″ frame, though there are still questions about his pure hitting ability.
Hopkins was a sixth-round pick out of Winthrop last year. The 6’4″ righty has been one of the biggest increases in the program this year. He owns a 2.90 ERA over 83 2/3 innings with Modesto. Hopkins struck out 26.5% of the batters he faced while issuing walks at an 11.1% clip. He’s had a hard time throwing strikes since his time in college, but Baseball America praises him for his fastball/slider combination from a lower arm position that’s especially strong for same-handed hitters. He can produce for the future of the bullpen but should continue to start for now.
Neither Smith nor Hopkins are close to the majors or Rule 5 eligibility. Pending the PTBNL reveal (which won’t be on Seattle’s 40-man roster or any of this year’s draft picks), it’s a package focused on Tampa Bay’s future. The next few days should reveal whether the Rays are focusing their deadline haul on minor league prospects or whether they like Smith and Hopkins enough to overlook their distance to the big leagues.
Franchys Romero first reported that the Rays were trading Arozarena to Seattle. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported that the Rays received two prospects and a player to be named later. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times had first reported that Smith and Hopkins were prospects.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
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