Mariners acquire Raley from Rays for Caballero

The Seattle Mariners acquired outfielder/first baseman Luke Raley from the Tampa Bay Rays for infielder José Caballero, both teams announced Friday.

Raley is coming off a breakout 2023 season with the Rays. In his first full big-league campaign, the 29-year-old hit .249/.333/.490 with 19 homers, 49 RBIs, and 14 stolen bases while splitting time between all three outfield spots, first base, and designated hitter.

"We're thrilled to add Luke Raley to the middle of our lineup as a left-handed bat with positional versatility," Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said. "Offensively, Luke brings power paired with game-changing baserunning and instincts. He's also a solid defender across multiple positions, adding further flexibility to our lineup on a nightly basis."

Most of Raley's damage last year came against right-handed pitching. He mashed righties to the tune of a .834 OPS with 17 homers and 47 RBIs, compared to .741 and two homers in only 43 plate appearances against southpaws. In Seattle, he'll continue to primarily be the right-handed half of an outfield platoon, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said, according to Shannon Drayer of MyNorthwest.com.

Raley is the second outfielder Seattle acquired Friday. The team made a trade with the San Francisco Giants for Mitch Haniger earlier in the day.

Caballero, meanwhile, hit .221/.343/.320 with four homers, 26 RBIs, and 26 stolen bases as a rookie with Seattle last year. The 27-year-old also played excellent middle-infield defense, tallying seven defensive runs saved in 64 games at second base and four in 21 appearances at shortstop.

Caballero's versatility allows the Rays to potentially utilize him as either a starting shortstop or a second-base platoon partner for Brandon Lowe against lefties. The Panama native also has three minor-league options remaining, affording the team some additional roster flexibility.

This is the 13th trade between the Mariners and Rays since 2015, when Dipoto took over as Seattle's head of baseball operations.