Written by Mike Axisa at CBS Sports.com
The Seattle Mariners have baseball’s longest postseason drought, and with a wild-card spot within reach, the club has added a big bat for the stretch run.
Sunday afternoon the Mariners acquired All-Star first baseman Yonder Alonso from the Athletics for outfield prospect Boog Powell. Both teams have announced the trade.
Welcome to Seattle, @YonderalonsoU!
The Mariners have acquired the first baseman from Oakland in exchange for Boog Powell. pic.twitter.com/QT6Z8bz4Ey
— Mariners (@Mariners) August 6, 2017
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports the Mariners claimed Alonso on trade waivers, then worked out a deal. Here’s how trade waivers work. The short version: players claimed on trade waivers can only be traded to the claiming team while players who go unclaimed can be traded anywhere.
Alonso, 30, will be a free agent after the season, so he is a rental for the Mariners. They figure to platoon him with Danny Valencia at first base. The left-handed hitting Alonso is hitting .266/.369/.527 with a career high 22 home runs this season, including .286/.391/.557 with 18 of those 22 home runs against righties. Valencia, a righty batter, is hitting .297/.368/.505 with four homers against lefties.
The 24-year-old Powell returns to the team that initially drafted him. He was Oakland’s 20th round pick in 2012, then was traded to the Rays in the big Ben Zobrist/Yunel Escobar deal in January 2015. Tampa Bay then flipped him to the Mariners in the Brad Miller/Logan Morrison trade in November 2015.
Powell, who is not related to former Orioles great Boog Powell, made his MLB debut earlier this season and is hitting .194/.310/.194 in 23 games. He put up a .340/.416/.490 batting line with six home runs in Triple-A before being called up. The A’s figure to plug him right into their lineup down the stretch.
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