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Seattle Mariners: The four trades Jerry Dipoto actually lost

By Ty Gonzalez

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 04: Chris Taylor #3 in the dugout after scoring a run on a sacrifice fly by Alex Verdugo #27 of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth inning of the game against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on July 4, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 04: Chris Taylor #3 in the dugout after scoring a run on a sacrifice fly by Alex Verdugo #27 of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth inning of the game against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on July 4, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JULY 08: Mark Trumbo #45 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrates hitting a solo home run against the Minnesota Twins during the eighth inning of the game on July 8, 2017 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Orioles defeated the Twins 5-1. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JULY 08: Mark Trumbo #45 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrates hitting a solo home run against the Minnesota Twins during the eighth inning of the game on July 8, 2017 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Orioles defeated the Twins 5-1. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

THE GANG GETS (A) RACIST

In order to free up some payroll in hopes to re-sign Hisashi Iwakuma, Dipoto was determined to dump Mark Trumbo‘s contract at all cost. He found a suitor willing to take on the money and, as expected, didn’t get much back. More on that in a moment.

While Trumbo going on to hit 47 bombs and post a 2.2 fWAR the next season makes the trade bad enough, what makes it even worse is the throw-in the Mariners got in return. That would be Steve Clevenger, a backup catcher with average defensive mechanics and some history of success with the bat… oh, and some pretty trash opinions.

For as much as Clevenger was disappointing on the field, what followed after he broke his hand was even worse. During his rehab, Clevenger showed his true colors with a series of racist tweets that got him released and blacklisted from Major League Baseball later that day.

The unfortunate history of bad Mariners trades had quickly hit a new and unfamiliar low. Even though the organization shouldn’t be held at fault here, this was an embarrassing moment to witness. To make matters worse, Trumbo had been elected to the All-Star Game and was helping lead the Orioles to a wild card berth.

The team chasing them in that postseason race? The Mariners, along with the Tigers. It makes you think how much of a difference Trumbo would have made had he stayed, and whether that would have made up for the three-game gap between Seattle and Baltimore that year, especially given who the M’s ran out to first base on most nights. Speaking of…

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