Faced with a tight market in acquiring much-needed rotation help, the Seattle Mariners chose instead Sunday to bolster their lineup while also adding to the bullpen and building their organizational catching depth.
All before they played a doubleheader at Kansas City.
The Mariners started the day by adding All-Star first baseman Yonder Alonso from Oakland in a trade for outfielder Boog Powell.
Shortly thereafter, they obtained right-handed reliever Ryan Garton and catcher Mike Marjama from Tampa Bay in a trade for two minor-league players, pitcher Anthony Misiewicz and infielder Luis Rengifo, and a player to be named later.
Garton and Marjama will each report to Triple-A Tacoma.
To clear space for Garton on the 40-man roster, the Mariners designated catcher Tuffy Gosewisch for assignment. Gosewisch, 33, was batting .219 in 65 games at Tacoma and was 2-for-28 earlier this season in 11 big-league games.
“Yonder fits us well,” general manager Jerry Dipoto said. “He’s in the midst of a strong season, and he complements our lineup well.
“He pairs nicely with (Danny) Valencia at first base and adds depth to our offense, particularly with so many right-handed starters on the horizon.”
The move seems to represent an effort at a postseason push since Alonso, 30, will be eligible for free agent after the season.
It’s also uncertain how Alonso will fit. He is primarily a first baseman, which suggests Valencia, another pending free agent, will either shift to other duties and/or share time with Alonso in a platoon arrangement.
Alonso is a left-handed hitter who batted .266 with 20 homers and 49 RBI in 100 games for the Athletics. He is an eight-year veteran who was selected this season to the All-Star Game for the first time in his career.
Valencia, 32, is a right-handed hitter who entered Sunday’s doubleheader with a .266 average, 12 homers and 56 RBI in 102 games.
Garton, 27, spent most of this season at Triple-A Durham, where he was 2-0 with four saves and a 1.64 ERA in 24 games. He is 1-3 with a 5.26 ERA in 44 big-league games over the past two seasons.
“He creates another layer to our bullpen depth now and moving forward,” Dipoto said. “He’s 92-94 (mph) with a quality cutter and a history of missing bats.”
Marjama, 28, batted .274 with nine homers and 51 RBI in 72 games at Durham. He played recently in the Triple-A All-Star Game at Cheney Stadium as a member of the International League team.
“He is a guy we’ve had on our radar for some time now,” Dipoto said. “He’s been quietly very good at each step of his minor-league development.
“He’s a good athlete with solid catch-and-throw tools and a track record of producing with the bat. He fits us now and moving forward.”
The Mariners claimed Alonso after the Athletics sent him through revocable waivers, which meant the two clubs had 48 hours to work out a deal.
If the two sides failed to reach a deal, Oakland had the choice of either revoking the waivers or allowing him to go to the Mariners for $20,000 and the remaining value on the contract.
Had the Athletics revoked their waivers, they could not have sent Alonso through waivers again before the end of the season. That means they would have likely lost him after the season for no compensation.
Powell, 24, split time this season with the Mariners and Tacoma but appeared blocked for the foreseeable future at the major-league level due to the emergence of three rookies: Ben Gamel, Mitch Haniger and Guillermo Heredia.
For Powell, the trade represents a trade back to his first organization. The Athletics chose him in the 20th round of the 2012 MLB Draft but traded him to Tampa Bay in January 2015.
The Mariners acquired Powell in Nov. 5, 2015 trade.
Powell batted .340 with a .416 on-base percentage this season in 58 games at Tacoma, but only .194 with a .310 OBP in 23 big-league games.
Misiewicz, 22, was an 18th-round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft who was a combined 8-5 with a 4.75 ERA this season in 23 starts at Double-A Arkansas and Hi-A Modesto.
Rengifo, 20, is a Venezuelan native who was signed in 2013 as a non-drafted free agent. He batted .250 with a .318 on-base percentage in 102 games at Lo-A Clinton.
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