SEATTLE — With shortstop Carlos Guillen hobbled with a groin injury, the Seattle Mariners acquired infielder Rey Sanchez in a trade with the New York Mets on Tuesday.
The AL West-leading Mariners sent minor league outfielder Kenny Kelly, the starting quarterback for University of Miami in 1999, to the Mets and received cash considerations in the deal.
Guillen had to come out of Monday night's game because of his sore right groin.
The Mariners expect Sanchez, 35, to be in Seattle for Wednesday night's game with the Detroit Tigers. He was hitting .207 with no homers and 12 RBIs in 56 games with the Mets this season. He played 42 games at shortstop and 12 at second base for the Mets.
The Mariners felt they needed to fill the void for the ailing Guillen.
"It's been frustrating for us," manager Bob Melvin said. "He's been trying to go out there and play. When Carlos hasn't been playing out there, we've been putting someone out there who's not a natural shortstop."
The Mariners have been using veteran Mark McLemore and rookie Willie Bloomquist at shortstop. McLemore was in the lineup for Seattle at shortstop Tuesday night.
"We needed a guy that we felt like could play the position of shortstop," Melvin said.
The Mariners think they might have to put Guillen on the disabled list.
"It's not good," Melvin said. "We sat him for nine days one time and a couple days later, he's hurt again. It really came to a head last night when he went down again and we knew we'd need somebody because Carlos is at the very best going to be out for several days."
Sanchez was with the Boston Red Sox in 2002 and hit .286 with one homer and 38 RBIs in 107 games. He has a .290 career batting average in 522 AL games.
In addition to shortstop and second, Sanchez also can play third.
Kelly, 24, was hitting .246 with 13 homers and 37 RBIs in 96 games at Triple-A Tacoma this season. The Mariners designated him for assignment and removed him from their 40-man roster this season before re-signing him as a minor league free agent.
Acquired by the Mariners from Tampa Bay for cash considerations in April 2001, Kelly spent last season in Tacoma, too, hitting .262 in 121 games.