Mariners take a bittersweet loss as former breakout prospect joins A's

The MLB offseason has reached that point where teams are mostly focused on finding enough bodies to populate a spring training roster. The Seattle Mariners have been doing a bit of this in their own right, adding Patrick Wisdom on a minor league deal on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the AL West, the Athletics are also at it. And on Wednesday, they picked up a name that will be familiar to Mariners fans: Cade Marlowe.

Mariners take a bittersweet loss as Cade Marlowe joins A's

The transaction was relayed by Darragh McDonald of MLB Trade Rumors, who notes that Marlowe has been assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas. However, this is likely a case where he'll get a shot at reps with the big club in spring training.

Marlowe only has 42 major league games under his belt, 34 of which came with the Mariners in 2023. All the same, he used to be a prospect of note, and unexpectedly so after Seattle made him a 20th-round pick in the 2019 draft.

Along with Nic Enright, Marlowe is one of only two draftees from that round to have seen time in the majors. He even ascended to No. 16 in Baseball America's rankings for the Mariners' top prospects in 2023, with the publication lauding his power, speed, strike-zone discipline and work ethic.

Marlowe apparently planned to medical school before he was drafted, so the fact that he's still getting shots in affiliated ball makes it fair to say he's already beaten the odds. And at this point, he's a classic buy-low move for the A's.

They have a history of taking chances on other teams' former prospects, and Marlowe might still have something to offer. He's only 28, and his minor league career consists of 524 games highlighted by an .839 OPS, 80 home runs and 162 stolen bases. His primary issue in recent seasons has been health, specifically relating to his back.

While you never want to see one of your guys join a division rival, Marlowe simply wasn't in the Mariners' plans. They opened last year by DFA'ing him and outrighting him off the roster. The A's don't have a clear spot for him either, but they can at least offer a fresh start and more of a direct route to a roll on the bench.

Here's hoping things work out for Marlowe. And even if he's now technically a rival, the Mariners can pat themselves on the back for seeing something in him that other teams just plain missed.