Good morning! Let's get started with some links for the day:
- The trade deadline has passed and the waiver period has begun. If you find yourself scratching your head about what that means, Bluebird Banter gives a good explanation of the process.
- Michael Saunders is not yet ready for a rehab assignment, but might be by the end of the week.
- The M's have switched up their pitching rotation for the next handful of games.
- Taijuan Walker had a less-than-thrilling outing for Tacoma last night. Mike Curto has the game story.
- Word recently broke that the Yankees had been interested in Dustin Ackley until the Mariners asked for "too much."
- Bernie Pleskoff of MLB.com does a short profile on M's outfield prospect Gabby Guerrero (Vlad's nephew).
- Rick Randall at Seattle Clubhouse looks at three M's prospects whose stock has risen and three whose stock has fallen.
- Here's the latest episode of the U.S.S. Mariner podcast.
- The Rangers have acquired former Mariner Mike Carp.
- Athletics Nation argues that the A's didn't lose too much by trading Yoenis Cespedes to the Red Sox.
- Masahiro Tanaka is taking small steps towards returning to action with the Yanks.
- The Padres are looking closely at Yankees' assistant GM Billy Eppler as a candidate to hire as their new General Manager.
- One of the game's top prospects, Javier Baez, was called up by the Cubs.
- Mike Petriello of Fangraphs takes a look at which pitcher has thrown to the toughest strike zone so far this year.
- Here's a pretty interesting map on the most hated MLB teams in each corner of the world. Believe it or not, someone hates our rival Padres more than Mariners fans (Wait why do we hate them again?).
- Power went out in Tampa during game time, so the stadium crew decided to play some classics on the big screen.