The Seattle Mariners sure could use Robbie Ray right now.
Their starting rotation is battling injuries, and their former southpaw is now off with the San Francisco Giants having a monster season.
Making matters worse is that the key return for Ray in the January 2024 trade was Mitch Haniger. The Mariners released Haniger before this season, and he's still a free agent.
How good has Ray been? He's 7-0 with a 2.56 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 69 strikeouts in 63.1 innings pitched.
The big lefty is having an All-Star season.
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The full deal also sent Anthony DeSclafani to Seattle. He's now a Minnesota Twin, so there's nothing for the Mariners to claim as a victory there, either.
It's a bit unlucky for Seattle that it was Haniger who battled the biggest shoulder issues out of the traded players instead of either of the pitchers in the deal. And in a lot of ways, injuries are just an unfortunate part of sports.
But it does make this past trade that looked like just an exchange of veterans end up looking like an absolutely one-sided fleecing about a year and a half after it happened.
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