Mariners trade J.A. Happ to the Pirates for RHP Adrian Sampson

SORRY this is late, ok? It was 1:20 PM and I was told the Mariners were done so I went to lunch. That is my fault. Anyways:

#Mariners trade JA Happ to Pittsburgh.

— Bob Dutton (@TNT_Mariners) July 31, 2015

#Mariners get RHP Adrian Sampson from Pirates.

— Bob Dutton (@TNT_Mariners) July 31, 2015

So there's that. Adrian Sampson is a 23 year old left right handed pitcher who previously was pitching in AAA Indianapolis. His profile is a low 90's fastball from a 3/4 arm slot, a curve and a change. The scouting reports I've seen label him as a back of the rotation pitcher in the major leagues.

Which, that's fine. J.A. Happ hasn't been a back of the rotation pitcher in the major leagues for weeks now and Sampson come with the benefit of youth and club control.

If this was Jack's final day making significant decisions as the Mariners General Manager I can only say that, while I would love to have known what Hisashi Iwakuma and Austin Jackson could have returned, this was a perfectly reasonable and well executed trade deadline. The Mariners jettisoned fungible, older talent for quantities of younger players of varying upside. Baseball is a weird game with unpredictable developmental patterns and you never know when a player will make a jump, especially at a young age.

Also, since the Mariners have to play baseball in 2 hours and the 25 man is in utter shambles it sounds like two of the new acquisitions are headed straight to Minnesota to join the big league team:

Trade additions Jose Ramirez and Rob Rasmussen headed straight to MIN and the big leagues, joining Seattle's pen.

— Rick Randall (@randallball) July 31, 2015

It's my expectation and hope that by the time we know how Zduriencik's front office did today someone else will be well into running this organization. But Jack probably made that person's job a little easier today.