'I got out of the pool ... and I had already been traded'

January 9th, 2024

As it turned out, new Mariners outfielder was one of the last in his circle to know he had been traded from the Rays.

But it's hard to blame Raley. After all, he was busy playing pool volleyball on his honeymoon in St. Lucia when the deal was made on Friday.

"I get out and have like 20 missed calls and a bunch of text messages," Raley said on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM. "And I'm like, 'Something happened.'"

Raley quickly called his agent, who informed the outfielder that he had been traded from Tampa Bay to Seattle in exchange for infielder José Caballero. At that point, Raley told his wife the surprising news, and the two returned to their room to process everything.

"It was a little bit crazy, but it didn't put a damper on the honeymoon at all," Raley said. "We had a great time."

Oh, and it turns out Raley is quite the volleyball player.

"I got out of the pool, MVP of the volleyball game," Raley said, "and then I had already been traded to the Mariners."

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