Angels’ Bizarre Logan O’Hoppe Trade With Rangers Puts Mariners on Notice

The Texas Rangers are sitting atop the AL West with their wallet gasping for air, and they found a way to get better anyway. Texas acquired right-hander Chase Silseth and catcher Logan O’Hoppe from the Los Angeles Angels for 19-year-old infielder Angel Arredondo. Silseth gives the Rangers needed bullpen help after producing a 2.72 ERA and 3.42 FIP this season. O’Hoppe, who was optioned to Triple-A after the trade, is a buy-low project with past power production and multiple years of club control.

The Rangers surrendered a teenager in Single-A who was not ranked among their top 30 prospects by MLB Pipeline. Arredondo was hitting .243 with a .763 OPS, so he’s not without promise. He also was nowhere near the top of Texas’ farm system.

Call it what it is: good work by the Rangers, and who knows what the Angels are actually up to. It wasn’t a blockbuster, however, the Rangers looked like they found a way to exploit the beginning of the Angels aimless rebuild. It was exactly the kind of trade a financially constrained contender needed to make, cheap in salary, light in prospect cost and built around upside rather than certainty.

Turns out the clearance aisle had something worth buying. The Mariners should not respond by rummaging through the same rack. They should shop where Texas cannot.

According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Rangers lack the financial flexibility to make significant additions before the Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline. They may need to target inexpensive players, persuade another club to cover salary or rearrange money already on the roster.

The Silseth trade illustrates that point. Texas can still make smart trades around the margins, and Seattle can no longer expect the Rangers’ payroll limitations to keep them quiet.

Seattle’s MLB Trade Deadline Priority Hasn’t Changed

There is no mystery here. We know what the Mariners need. It’s been a right-handed bat and a reliever on repeat over and over again. The bullpen has talent, but waiting for Matt Brash and others to return from lengthy injury absences cannot be the plan.

This team struggles to produce consistent offense, especially against left-handed pitching. Those are deadline problems, and they have an opportunity to fix them.

Seattle also has the resources. The organization possesses six players in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 and a farm system ranked among the best in baseball. It has a deep major-league rotation that could anchor a creative baseball trade. Most importantly, it can use money as a weapon against a division rival that apparently cannot.

Absorbing salary can lower the prospect price in a trade. That’s one opening. The Mariners can preserve more of their premium young talent by taking on a contract that Texas cannot touch.

Mariners Ownership Must Deliver at the MLB Trade Deadline

We have heard plenty about the difficult trade market. There are too many buyers, too few sellers and no neat place to plug another hitter into Seattle’s lineup. Jerry Dipoto has discussed the possibility of contender-to-contender trades because the traditional market is so thin. Sounds good. Go get creative Jerry.

Front offices are paid to find the deal that other clubs cannot. Seattle is coming off an ALCS appearance. It brought back the core of a team that came within eight outs of reaching the World Series. Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryan Woo are not theoretical building blocks. They are the foundation of a team whose competitive window is wide open. That makes a conservative deadline unacceptable.

Texas’ inability to spend has created a rare opportunity. Seattle doesn’t need to match a blockbuster from the division leader. It just needs to make the move that the division leader cannot afford.

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