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One Seattle Mariner “went absolutely mad,” as locker room equipment was destroyed after lights-out closer Kendall Graveman was dealt to the rival Astros on Monday.
“Are you (expletive) kidding me?” an unidentified Mariners player told the Seattle Times following the move that could hurt Seattle’s chances at making the postseason for the first time in two decades. “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.”
Other players were furious and felt “betrayed” by the situation, according to the newspaper.
The Mariners, who hold the longest active drought without a playoff appearance in the four major North American sports leagues (20 seasons), dealt Graveman after Seattle came back from a 7-0 hole to defeat the Astros, 11-8, on Monday.
Graveman, who pitched the eighth inning against the Astros, and reliever Rafael Montero were sent to Houston for infielder Abraham Toro and reliever Joe Smith.
The Mariners are 55-47 and in third place in the AL West, trailing the division-leading Astros by seven games after losing to Houston on Tuesday night.
They are just one game back of a wild-card spot.
“He hasn’t come down here,” another unidentified player said of GM Jerry Dipoto. “He sits up in his suite, playing fantasy baseball and rips apart our team without telling us anything.”
Although Toro fills a need for Seattle as a middle-of-the-field defender and depth piece, and Smith is another bullpen arm, clearly the Mariners players didn’t think the trade made sense.
“It probably doesn’t [make sense] as a stand-alone,” Dipoto said, “but it’s part of a context that I believe is going to be an ongoing story over the next couple of days.
“So as we move toward the trade deadline (July 30). We have been pretty open in sharing the idea that we’re trying to both address present and future, and we remain actively engaged in the market and trying to address upgrades now, that will give us a chance to be as competitive as we can over the next 60 games and hopefully into the postseason.”
Graveman has been having the best season of his career. He has an ERA of 0.82 — he has only allowed three runs all season — 10 saves and 34 strikeouts in 33 innings pitched. He also holds a 4-0 record. That is why Graveman was especially surprised to be traded in the second half of the season from a team that was making a playoff push.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Graveman said in an Astros uniform while tearing up over his former team. “There’s that percent, and this game’s a business. I’m speaking truth and honest. The way I felt, we were nine games over .500 over on that side and playing some pretty good ball when I was there, so it kind of takes away from the last five days, honestly, I think. We’ll see if they bounce back from it.”
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