Contending M’s trade for Perez

SEATTLE – The acquisition of Eduardo Perez from Cleveland on Friday not only means the Seattle Mariners will have a platoon at designated hitter, it also shows the team is getting serious about its chances in the American League West.

“This is kind of a trade, I guess you can say, that our players made,” Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said. “They’ve played well enough where we really have to get behind them and we have to try and get behind them each and every way we can. It’s nice to get a good quality piece like this well ahead of the trade deadline.”

Adding Perez, who’s hitting .330 with eight homers against left-handers this year, shores up one of the team’s most glaring weaknesses. The Mariners have a 7-16 record against left-handed starters. Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said Perez, 36, will split time with Carl Everett at DH and back up first base and third base.

Everett, a switch hitter, had lost at-bats against lefties after hitting .169 in 59 at-bats. Mike Morse got a lot of those at-bats, and the second-year player is likely headed back to Triple-A Tacoma today when Perez joins the Mariners.

Perez hit .303 in 37 games with 22 RBIs for the Indians with all eight of his homers coming against lefties. That total is tied for the third most in the A.L. despite Perez being limited to 99 at-bats.

Going to Cleveland is slick-fielding shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who hit .236 in 60 games with the Rainiers. Cabrera, 20, leads Pacific Coast League shortstops in fielding percentage (.986) and had a 36-game errorless streak this season.

Bavasi said shortstop is a deep position in the system, which is why he was willing to part with Cabrera. Michael Garciaparra, who was playing second for Tacoma and hitting .333, will move to short.