[jaa36]

A funny thing happened in June, in which the Mariners suddenly became good at the end of the month? The club won the last five games, including a sweep of the first-place Astros, and eight of the last nine, and had a 17-11 record in June overall. The high point of the season (and almost the low point) was a game against Houston in which we jumped out to a 9-2 lead, frittered away the whole advantage and went down 10-9 heading into the ninth, then roaring back in front on Mallex Smith's first home run of the year and ultimately taking the game 13-10.

Yusei Kikuchi pitched well, striking out 19 against just two walks, and Connor Sadzeck and Brandon Brennan provided some unexpectedly good innings at the back end of the bullpen. Omar Narvaez hit .414 to turn around what had been a dismal season. Daniel Vogelbach had a torrid month, going on a 13-game hitting streak and hitting .327 with seven home runs, and Mitch Haniger and Asdrubal Cabrera continued good seasons. On the not-so-good side, Mike Leake went 0-4 with an excruciating 11.32 ERA.

Before all the winning, Edwin Encarnacion demanded a trade, and he was sent to the Phillies (who had lost Rhys Hoskins to injury) with two low-level minor leaguers for three prospects, outfielder Adam Haseley, pitcher Ranger Suarez and catcher Deivi Grullon. We retain 60% of Encarnacion's salary, and none of the prospects are all that impressive, but Edwin wasn't a part of the club's future. We also successfully arbitraged Craig Kimbrel off to the Twins for three prospects, shortstop Nick Gordon, first baseman Brent Rooker and pitcher Jorge Alcala. Rooker was rated the league's #104 overall prospect, and Gordon #152, so this wasn't a terrible haul.

There were a few other minor moves, including trading away Tim Beckham (upon Kyle Seager's return) for pitcher Ian Hamilton, and slightly upgrading the backup catcher position by getting 26-year-old Jamie Ritchie for Wade LeBlanc, who was a disappointment after a promising season last year. Outfielder Jake Fraley impressed in a few games filling in for Domingo Santana, who got suspended after charging the mound recently. All the wheeling and dealing means the club has already used 50 players- with the season just half over! And more is to come this month, with Felix Hernandez, Leake, Cabrera, Seager, Dee Gordon and Jay Bruce all available to anyone who wants them.

The club had the 20th overall pick in the draft and selected college infielder Ryan Wetzel- he could be a fast riser who appears most likely to play second base. The M's also had the #48 overall pick and got another collegiate infielder there in Jose Marcano.

We're still 9 1/2 games out of the second Wild Card, and I have no illusions of contending this year, but suddenly, .500 seems like a realistic possibility. We'll see if the M's can keep up the pace while continuing to shed spare parts and looking towards the future.