Lost somewhat in the shuffle of the Mariners signing AJ Pollock to a one-year deal is a quieter deal that went down just hours before, when the Mariners traded away pitching prospect Joseph Hernández, the anchor of the 2022 Modesto Nuts rotation, to acquire the services of Justin Topa from Milwaukee.
If your first reaction was “who?” despite considering yourself a true roster-trawling baseball sicko, don’t be too hard on yourself. Because of a series of elbow injuries—in addition to a pair of TJ surgeries that held him up on his way to the bigs—Topa has an incredibly limited track record.