Tampa Bay Rays Trade John Jaso To Seattle Mariners For Reliever Josh Lueke

The Tampa Bay Rays have traded catcher John Jaso to the Seattle Mariners for right handed reliever Josh Lueke. The reliever comes to Tampa from Seattle with a 6.06 ERA and 1-1 record in 25 games last year for the Mariners. Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times first broke the news. Topkin also tweeted a quote from the Rays Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations, Andrew Friedman, who talked about what Lueke can bring to the club in 2012.

Rays Friedman on Lueke: "Josh has the stuff to get hitters out in the AL East and began to show that during 2nd half of last season.''

Lueke does have a criminal incident in his recent past revolving around a report that surfaced when he was traded to Seattle from Texas as part of the Cliff Lee deal. Lueke initially faced charges of rape but agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of false imprisonment with violence. Topkin also tweeted that Friedman stated the Rays were aware of the incident and had done their due diligence on his background and character.

"We're satisfied that he is going to be the kind of person and teammate that we look for and we expect him to contribute positively to our group."

For more on the Rays, visit SB Nation's Rays blog, DRaysBay.