Rangers AL West Rival Mariners to Acquire Josh Naylor from Diamondbacks

The Texas Rangers will face the Seattle Mariners next week at the trade deadline on July 31. The Mariners will have a new toy.

On Thursday, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal on X (formerly Twitter) reported that the Mariners had acquired Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Josh Naylor in a trade for two pitching prospects — Ashton Izzi and Brandyn Garcia.

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Both are considered Top 30 prospects in the Mariners’ organization by The Athletic’s Keith Law.

The Rangers have issues at first base, but it’s about the health of their slugger, Jake Burger, who is on the injured list with a left quad issue.

The Mariners have had long-standing issues at first base, even with new Rangers first baseman Rowdy Tellez there to start the season. Seattle designated him for assignment in June and then released him when no one wanted to trade for him.

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He landed with Texas on a minor-league deal in July and was called up after the All-Star break.

Naylor would seem to fit what the Mariners are looking for. The 28-year-old left-handed hitter was the Miami Marlins’ first-round pick in 2015 out of Canada.

He’s put together a solid season, with a slash of 292/.360/.447 with 11 home runs and 59 RBI. He also has 19 doubles and a triple. He’s hit at least 17 home runs in each of his previous three seasons, including a high of 31 last year with the Cleveland Guardians.

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He was acquired by Arizona in a trade last offseason.

The Rangers are inching toward being sellers at the trade deadline, now that they’ve won five of their last six games since the second half of the season began. A more formidable Mariners lineup certainly impacts Texas next week. But it is also the last time the two teams will meet this season.

The Rangers could get an unexpected benefit from the deal, especially if Arizona sells more talent by the deadline. The Rangers play the Diamondbacks six times this season, with three games in Arlington in August and three games in Phoenix in December.

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