Seattle and San Francisco, also-rans in the playoff picture last fall, traded pitching for power in a weekend swap.
Desperate to beef up their beleaguered pitching staff for the coming season, the San Francisco Giants acquired a former Cy Young Award winner in a surprise Friday trade with the Seattle Mariners.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Giants will get the left-handed Robbie Ray in exchange for fellow starter Anthony DeSclafani, a right-hander, and slugging outfielder Mitch Haniger, who previously spent five seasons in Seattle.
Ray, 32, is a 10-year veteran who led the American League in starts, innings pitched, strikeouts, and earned run average en route to the AL’s Cy Young Award while pitching for Toronto in 2021. After a single season north of the border, he came to Seattle as a free agent that fall.
Although he has averaged more strikeouts than innings pitched in his career, Ray has a modest career record of 74-71 and a 3.96 earned run average.
He missed most of the 2023 season after suffering a left flexor tendon injury in his Opening Day start March 31 but the Giants are counting on his return to form as one of the game’s most durable starters. He has topped 170 innings pitched in four different seasons.
