The Seattle Mariners acquired slugger Teoscar Hernandez in an alternate with the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, fortifying a lineup in want of some other massive bat as they are trying to trap the Houston Astros, their division rival and the arena collection champions.
Proper-passed reliever Erik Swanson and left-passed pitching prospect Adam Macko went to the Blue Jays, whose bullpen troubles last season had been most apparent in a ten-nine wild-card series loss to the Mariners that ended their season.
Hernandez, 30, hit a couple of home runs in that game and is a -time Silver Slugger winner whose electricity in the right area is unimpeachable. He hit .267/.316/.491 ultimate season with 25 domestic runs and 77 RBIs in 131 games and need to man proper subject alongside the American League Rookie of the yr, middle fielder Julio Rodriguez.
Toronto’s willingness to deal with Hernandez has extra to do with his agreement status than the great of his play. He is because of hit free agency after the 2023 season and is anticipated to make around $14 million in arbitration. The Blue Jays, sources stated, plan to collect some other outfielder this offseason.
In Swanson and Macko, they delivered one arm predicted to help their bullpen this 12 months and another with excessive-stop-starter ability.
Swanson, 29, had a breakout 2022 season, putting up a 1. Sixty eight technology with 70 strikeouts in fifty three⅔ innings. With a 4-seam fastball that has close to-best backspin and a cut up-fingered fastball that advanced right into a strikeout weapon this 12 months, Swanson become a vital part of the Mariners’ bullpen — and could be part of nearer Jordan Romano, Anthony Bass, Adam Cimber, Yimi Garcia, Zach Pop and Tim Mayza in a bullpen that is electricity for Toronto.
Macko, who turns 22 in December, struck out 60 over 38⅓ innings in high-A this year and capabilities a mid-90s fastball and a pair of breaking balls that deliver him sizeable upside. Born in Slovakia, he graduated from excessive school in Vauxhall, a small town within the Canadian province of Alberta, in 2019. The Mariners decided on him inside the seventh spherical of the 2019 draft.
The Mariners may want to reap a further gain supplied Hernandez has a normal season: if they soft he a qualifying provide after 2023 and he signs and symptoms elsewhere, Seattle would receive a draft preference around the seventy-fifth pick out, with a slot cost of around $850,000.
