Headlines and Homers: Week of July 31st

The Vibes are High

Third baseman Eugenio Suarez is on one heck of a heater right now. He tied Mariner legend Edgar Martinez's team record for consecutive games with a run batted in last night by taking Angels' reliever Jose Soriano deep. Suarez has driven in a run in nine straight games, but the past month tells the true story. 

He is also provided Gold Glove-caliber defense at the hot corner with eight outs above average, which ranks in the 96% percentile. 

Glass Half-empty, Glass Half-full

The Mariners did enough with the resources they had, or they didn't. Your viewpoint depends on your faith in the front office, the current roster, and their ability to infuse the big-league club with talent already in the system. The opinions are plenty, even as the team wrapped up another series win over an opponent above them in the wild-card standings.

Seattle's president of baseball operations, Jerry Dipoto, picked up a couple of interesting relievers (Trent Thornton, Eduard Bazardo) and traded closer Paul Sewald for players that raise the floor of the 2023 team and next year's squad. MLB insider Jeff Passan joined Seattle Sports 710-morning show Brock and Salk to offer his thoughts on the return. 

"Yeah, I like the trade," Passan said. "I think it's going to be one of those that we'll know if it was good sooner than most because a lot of times when you're a team that selling, you're doing so for prospects. In this case, Dominic Canzone is a big leaguer, Josh Rojas, we have a pretty decent sense of what Josh Rojas is already, actually. Ryan Bliss is super interesting because he's a guy who physically, he's 5 foot 6 and is 175 pounds. He's not going to intimidate anyone. But he also hit .368 at Double-A this year, so there's some performance there that's really tantalizing."

Jeff Passan, MLB Insider

Canzone is seeing regular playing time already, while Rojas is serving as the strong side of the Mariners' second base platoon (with Dylan Moore and Jose Caballero). 

Big Dumper continues to feast on Sox Pitching 

Backstop Cal Raleigh has a knack for coming through in the moment, especially against the American League East. The 26-year-old slugger continued his onslaught on the Boston Red Sox this past week by launching two more homers. That makes five of his 17 dingers this season.

On the season, he's hitting .399 with seven extra-base hits off Beantown pitching. Maybe they should just walk him next time.

Homer of the Week

Suarez and Raleigh provided most of the power this week until rookie Cade Marlowe stepped up to the plate last night in Anaheim. 

The toolsy outfielder turned on a 100 MPH fastball at the zone's upper rails, turning the game and possibly the Mariners' season. That was Carlos Estevez's first blown save of the season, and the blast is our homer of the week. 

The Mariners continue the four-game-set with the Angels tonight, with Luis Castillo getting the ball. The first pitch is at 6:40. As always, go Mariners!