Seattle Mariners Trade Retrospective: Jose Cruz to Toronto

The Seattle Mariners have made some weird trades in their 43 years of existence, but some are so odd you have no choice but to wonder: what were they thinking?

In 1997, the Seattle Mariners were in the hunt for their second AL West title in 3 years and were looking to improve their biggest weakness, the bullpen. So when the Mariners acquired Mike Timlin and Paul Spoljaric from the Toronto Blue Jays, it didn’t come as a major surprise to many.

But the shocking bit of news came in what the Mariners would end up giving up to acquire a couple of above-average relievers. Seattle agreed to send the Blue Jays their 1995 first-round pick, Jose Cruz.

At the time, Cruz was one of the best and most…