Mariners' worst mistake of 2025 has found a new home in Baltimore

You could feel the contradiction in real time: a front office desperate for outfield oxygen, and a move that bled away what many believed were the last drops of the Seattle Mariners' spending flexibility. Leody Taveras was the classic midseason triage, costly enough to matter, hopeful enough to talk yourself into, brief enough to become lore.

Seattle didn’t just take a flier; they absorbed millions to plug a right-field leak, betting the glove and switch-hit profile would stabilize the floor while the bat found daylight. Instead, the floor gave way, the bat never arrived, and the accounting note lingered over every rumor mill whisper that followed. 

Mariners’ oddest 2025 chapter closes as Orioles scoop up Leody Taveras

Now Taveras has landed in Baltimore on a short, tidy pact, and the juxtaposition is impossible to miss. The Orioles, retooling after a last-place pratfall, are adding a versatile depth piece on a one-year, $2 million deal while Seattle is left with the memory of a month that warped the deadline math and a season storyline that got weirder by the day. Sometimes the same player is a clean fit in one city and a cautionary tale in another. This is that story. 

The origin point felt defensible. With Victor Robles out and the outfield bleeding innings, the Mariners claimed Taveras off waivers on May 7, fully swallowing the remaining $3.5 million on his $4.75 million 2025 salary. The defense graded out well, the arm is a Statcast staple, and the hope was that a change of scenery could coax his swing decisions back to the 2023 version of himself.

There were flickers. Taveras delivered a big one on May 21 in Chicago against the White Sox, turning around a first-pitch changeup for a go-ahead, two-run homer that sealed a series. It was the kind of moment you circle in pen when you’re trying to justify the outlay: that’s the player we imagined, right there, in leverage. But it was a postcard, not a pattern. The broader line never stabilized. 

Less than a month after the claim, Seattle cut bait. On June 10, they designated Taveras for assignment after a 28-game, .174 stretch (37 OPS+), a move that stung twice: on performance and on sunk cost. He cleared and was outrighted to Tacoma, where the bat actually played, but the big-league chapter was over.

If you’re looking for the frustration, it wasn’t just the box score — it was the opportunity cost. In June, Seattle needed thump and on-base help, and dollars tied to a non-contributor narrowed the early menu. To their credit, the Mariners later widened the wallet to land Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez, refusing to let the Taveras miss derail a playoff push. But the detour still made the path to July upgrades steeper than it had to be.

In a season full of what-ifs, Taveras became the weirdest one because he touched both sides of the ledger — roster and budget — without fixing either. The Mariners were right about the need; they were wrong about the patch. The Orioles now get the cleaner version of the bet, while Seattle gets the lesson: in tight windows, even “small” moves echo into July. The trick isn’t avoiding mistakes; it’s avoiding the kind that narrow your best options when you need them most.