Proposed blockbuster Mariners trade sees Seattle cut ties with Randy Arozarena due to "Handshake-Gate" with Cal Raleigh, land multiple top prospects i

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Proposed blockbuster Mariners trade sees Seattle cut ties with Randy Arozarena due to "Handshake-Gate" with Cal Raleigh, land multiple top prospects in return originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Seattle Mariners might be watching their team’s chemistry go down the drain in real time due to "Handshake-Gate", where their superstar Cal Raleigh refused to shake hands with Randy Arozarena, and Josh Naylor during the World Baseball Classic. While both were played off as jokes and trying to be focused on repping his country, the altercation with Arozarena just seemed different.

While Raleigh said it was all love, behind the scenes signals were getting crossed. If the Mariners want to make sure they won’t be a dumpster fire in 2026, they might need to get Arozarena off their team. FanSided’s Mark Powell believes so as well, and proposes the Mariners craft a deal with the Detroit Tigers to do so, just in case.

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The trade would look like this:

Detroit gets: OF Randy Arozarena

Seattle gets: Detroit No. 6 prospect INF Hao-Yu Lee, Detroit No. 9 prospect SS Jordan Yost, Detroit No. 27 prospect OF Nick Dumesnil

“From a value perspective, this could be as good as it gets for the Mariners. If they do choose to trade Arozarena this season, whether it be now or the deadline, they're unlikely to get two top-10 prospects from a solid farm system like Detroit's. However, there's a chance some of this so-called bad blood is overblown…I can argue against Raleigh's merits here quite a bit. Just because he's representing Team USA doesn't mean he has to pretend Arozarena doesn't exist, or that the two aren't friends outside of the context of this tournament. But hopefully all of this can be explained away in a conversation behind closed doors,” Powell wrote.

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This past season, Arozarena slashed .238/.334/.426/.760 with 32 doubles, 27 home runs, 76 RBI, and 32 stolen bases in 160 games. He’s a core part of their offense, but getting those top Detroit prospects could help Seattle in the long run.

Like Powell noted, hopefully this is just a case of critics and fans looking for something that isn’t there. However, if it really is a problem, this is the type of deal Seattle needs in their back pocket to make sure they stay competitive.

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