Late Innings

This trade is causing me to scratch my head:

Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt was traded to Kansas City on Friday, giving the Royals a versatile infielder and Seattle a pair of minor league pitchers.

The 27-year-old Betancourt was hitting .250 with two homers and 22 RBIs in 63 games this season. He’s been on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma after straining his left hamstring, and will continue rehabbing at Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

The main pitcher that the Mariners got from the Royals of interest was pitching prospect Daniel Cortes, whom has been ranked as the team’s top pitching prospect by Baseball America and has third-starter potential. The other arm is a High-A throw-in, who throws hard enough to miss many bats. But why Kansas City has been after him for years has boggled my mind. What’s next, them acquiring Jeff Francoeur?

Betancourt’s .250/.278/.330 line is uninspiring, and his defense has been spotty this year, particularly his range. But as Shyster so cleverly puts it:

The Royals are probably the only team to which Betancourt could have gone and represented an upgrade at short.

I sure as hell hope that the Mariners are throwing the Royals some salary relief, since Betancourt is owed 10MM for the remainder of his contract. Great move by the M’s; Ronny Cedeno finally gets his chance to become the full time #6 spot on the diamond.