So, since you alluded to the M's' disastrous 1997 trading deadline- I thought I'd provide some historical color, as wellas a slight correction.
In the days (weeks? months!) leading up the TD, we understand Sweet Lou Pieiella was beseeching/imploring/berating GM Woody Woodwood to find him some @#$%^& relief pitching! The Mariners had a good-looking young rookie left fielder named Jose Cruz- whose father had patroilled the OF for Houston for many years. My son and I were watching the M's play in Fenway Park on July 27th (Randy Johnson vs. Tim Wakefield, an extraordinary pitching matchup) when Cruz was inexplicably pulled from the game in the 6th inning. ("Inexplicably", except I said to my son "I think I know what this means... and it's NOT GOOD!) Sure enough- the next day we read in the papers that the aforementioned trade had more or less b een puled off: Cruz for Timlin and Spoljaric, arguably the Blue Jays' two most effective relievers (who seemed to become rather less effective once they donned teal.) Btw: that game went to the Sox 4-0, but featured an 8th-inning catch by Jay Buhner (thank goodness HE didn't get traded!)- that many Red Sox fans call the greatest defensive play in Fenway history. He went up and over the low fence in right-center field to take a home run away from that great former Coug, Scott Hatteberg, somersaulting on the way down but coming up showing the ball in his glove.
Unwilling to leave not-so-well-enough alone, however, Woodwood spent the night patrolling the phones, looking for someone who would take more of his rookies off his hands. The following day he announced he had swapped the future Red Sox captain, Jason Varitek, and their 20-game winner Derek Lowe, for a broken-down relief pitcher name Heathcliff Slocumb (affectionately referred to already in the Boston 'papers as "Slothcliff Hokum"). If Hokum, or Slocumb, recorded as many as ten saves in a Mariners' uniform, I'll... be surprised.
Woodwood, of course, was a great provider of talent for the Red Sox: later in his Mariners-GM tenure he traded a young Dominican hitter named David Arias to the Twins for a two-month third-baseman, Dave Hansen. Arias, of course, changed his name to "Ortiz", was claimed off waivers by the Sox in 2003, and went on to become perhaps the greatest Boston icon of his era (and definitely the second-greatest DH of all time!)
Thanks, Doc, for the excursion down memory lane!