Infamous Mariners bust finally leaves AL West for new venture with Braves

The Houston Astros are currently in Seattle for a three-game series against the Mariners, but it's almost certainly a coincidence that they have marked the occasion by trading a one-time Mariner.

As the Astros announced via X on Tuesday night, they're sending right-handed reliever Rafael Montero to the Atlanta Braves for a player to be named later. The Braves are also getting cash considerations, meaning that Houston is paying down some portion of Montero's $11.5 million salary.

With this move, Montero is finally leaving the American League West after seven seasons of continuous residency within the division. This included time with the Mariners in 2021, which fans probably don't remember very fondly.

Rafael Montero was a bad Mariners pitcher who left town in a notoriously bad trade

Montero was a top prospect for the New York Mets once, but that was a long time ago even when the Mariners acquired him in a trade with the Texas Rangers in December of 2020. At that point, he was a 30-year-old without much success to show for his time in the majors.

Montero did still have a live arm, however, as he had placed in the 82nd percentile with an average heater of 95.4 mph in 2020. Seattle deemed said arm worthy of an upside play in a deal that only saw them give up two minor leaguers — both of whom are now out of affiliated ball.

Yet to call Montero's Mariners legacy a disaster would be to sugarcoat it, and not just because he pitched poorly while wearing Seattle threads.

In 40 appearances in 2021, he made a run at club records (the bad kind, mind you) with a 7.27 ERA and -1.8 WAR. The M's designated him for assignment in July, which in itself might have been a harmless end to his Mariners story.

Instead, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto wrote an epilogue that ticked off pretty much everyone. He packaged Montero with then-closer Kendall Graveman in a trade that sent the two to Houston, and this at a time when the Mariners were nine games over .500 and in the hunt for a playoff spot.

“Are you [expletive] kidding me?” said one Mariner to Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. “It never changes. They don’t care about winning. How do you trade him and say you care about winning? And you trade him to Houston? It never changes.”

It felt like destiny that insult would eventually be added to injury. And in this case, the insult came in two waves.

First, by way of Graveman posting a 1.64 ERA in the playoffs amid the Astros' run to the World Series in 2021. And then, by way of Montero putting up a 2.37 ERA in 2022 and likewise mustering an ERA in the 1.00s in the 2022 playoffs. This run saw the Astros win it all after falling short in '21.

Perhaps there's some comfort for Mariners fans in what has befallen Montero since 2022. After that season, Astros owner Jim Crane took the lead in signing him to a three-year, $34.5 million contract that was frankly a mistake waiting to happen. And that's how it has panned out, as Montero returned a 4.92 ERA and -0.4 rWAR in 112 appearances leading up to Tuesday's trade.

The Braves are clearly hoping that the 34-year-old righty still has something to give, but it's basically a bet against Father Time. Since 2022, Montero's average fastball is down 1.0 mph and he's walked 4.1 batters per nine innings over the last three seasons.

Then again, perhaps a change in scenery from the AL West to the NL East will help. And whatever the case, here's thinking Mariners fans will miss Montero about as much now as they did before, which is to say not at all.