Mariners Trade Seth Smith To Baltimore For Yovani Gallardo

A little after 10 a.m. Friday morning, the Mariners announced they had traded Seth Smith to the Orioles for RHP Yovani Gallardo.

This move isn’t very surprising.

After the Mariners had picked up Smith’s club option for 2017, reports started to fill social media saying the 10-year veteran was being shopped.

Other reports came out that he was almost traded to the Boston Red Sox for a starting pitcher, but those rumors died out quickly after they traded Clay Bucholz to the Philadelphia Phillies.

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Seth Smith was solid for the Mariners. “Dad’, as Mariner fans liked to call him, had a slash line of .248/.336/.429 with 28 home runs and 105 RBI over a 2-year stint with Seattle.

Yovani Gallardo was drafted out of Trimble Technical HS in Fort Worth, Texas, but is originally from Penjamillo, Michoacan, Mexico. The

The 30-year-old veteran spent most of his time in Milwaukee where he earned his lone all-star selection before spending brief 1-year stints with Texas and Baltimore.

Gallardo has a career 108-83 record with a 3.79 ERA. He has 139 quality starts since 2009.

“Gallardo gives the Mariners a veteran presence that they’ve been searching for,” Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto said. “He has a track record of durability and success as a starting pitcher. After examining the free-agent and trade market, Yovani is the best fit for our club as we move forward this offseason.”

Gallardo missed almost two months last season with tendinitis in his right shoulder which limited him to only 118 innings last year, but other than that, his track record averaging 202 innings per season is something that speaks for itself.

He has one year left on his deal worth $11 million and has a team option for $13 million for 2018 with a $2 million buyout.

Since the blockbuster trade that sent Taijuan Walker and Ketel Marte to the Diamondbacks for Jean Segura, Mitch Haniger, and Zac Curtis, there has been a hole left in the M’s starting rotation.

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Since then, a goal of Dipoto’s was to fill it with a veteran starter behind Hernandez, Iwakuma and Paxton. Yovani Gallardo will do just that.