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The Astros have made a move to acquire one of 2021’s best relievers:
The Houston Astros have acquired relievers Kendall Graveman and Rafael Montero from the Seattle Mariners for third baseman Abraham Toro and reliever Joe Smith, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 27, 2021
An intra-division deal that lands Houston one of the best relievers in MLB this year in Graveman.
The Mariners snag Toro, who was likely doomed to lose at-bats to Alex Bregman pretty soon. With Seattle, he’ll have a better chance at playing time. Toro has a pitiful .211 BA, but six homers and three steals in limited duty is intriguing if his .205 BABIP can normalize. Still, he’s probably a bench bat to begin with for Seattle.
Paul Sewald should see the save chances for Seattle moving forward, and is a priority add in leagues of any size if you need saves help.
Graveman is going to lose his chances at saves, besides maybe a stray chance here and there when Ryan Pressly needs a breather. He’s a clear drop in your typical redraft leagues.
Smith hasn’t pitched well and would really need to right the ship with his change of scenery in order to challenge Sewald or any other Seattle reliever for save opportunities.
What say you all? How do we feel about this intra-division trade? My cheap (early) shares of Graveman at the NFBC are pretty flipping bummed out!