I am crawling into Friday with the vigor of a invalid marmot, but nonetheless links are here for consumption. Just don’t be too loud, please, I hope that’s not too much to ask. Thanks.

In Mariners news...

• We of course covered this yesterday, but in case you missed it, the Mariners acquired Edwin Encarnación and the 77th pick in next year’s draft in exchange for Carlos Santana.

• While it’s tough to imagine Encarnación making it to Opening Day with the M’s, he’s really had an exceptional career already.

• Shannon Drayer takes an in-depth and must-read look at the player development strategies the Mariners have in place now, which will make or break the success of their rebuild.
• The Mariners made a selection in the Rule-5 Draft, taking 27-year-old RHP Brandon Brennan from the White Sox system.
• John Sickels of Minor League Ball offered his appraisal:

• Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto is hopefully on the mend after being diagnosed with multiple blood clots in his lungs this week. It sounds like he should be trending positively, but having already survived thyroid cancer earlier in his playing career, it’s no doubt a frightening time.

• Assistant General Manager Justin Hollander took many of the media duties in Dipoto’s stead today, offering a relatively candid appraisal of the future of their new acquisition.

• Jeff Sullivan appraised the deal of the day by an infirmed Jerry Dipoto.
• The trade itself was hectic from many angles. For The Athletic ($) there was a remarkable bit of intrigue behind the scenes on the Cleveland side.
• Not wanting to make the second part of their trade feel unappreciated, the Mariners were considerate enough to welcome their new pick in the draft.

• The Mariners’ new catcher Omar Narvaez hit the weights today, and perhaps they hit back?

• Seattle somewhat surprisingly lost three players in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft: OF Chuck Taylor to the Nationals, RHP Adonis De La Cruz to the Yankees, and RHP Chris Mazza to the Mets. For a full list of the results, click here for Baseball America’s tracker.
• Luke Arkins at checked on whether the Mariners REALLY get fleeced when they deal with the Yankees.

Around baseball...

• The run on relief pitchers appears underway, as former Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly agreed to a deal with the Dodgers.

• The former Rangers closer Alex Claudio and changeup aficionado moves to the National League in exchange for a competitive balance pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds.

• The details on former Mariners great JA Happ and his deal with the Yankees were clarified.

• Robinson Canó’s new double play partner met him once before, long ago.

• 14 players were taken in the MLB portion of the Rule-5 Draft, and FanGraphs has both scouting appraisals and ZiPS projections for them.

• Maybe everyone should step away from the Star Wars analogies for a bit.

• Jerry Dipoto’s deal reminded several of a famous negotiation from the past.

• Something the Mariners will experience first-hand when they open the season in Japan? The country’s tradition of cheering sections.

John’s pick...

I have been sick this entire week, but you can be sure this woke me right up (Music & Cursing, if you’re watching w/o headphones at work)