Traded relievers encounter one another in airport bathroom

The beauty of trades — if there is beauty — is that for those involved, rarely does an interaction take place after the transaction is made.

Unless of course, you’re Ernesto Frieri and Jason Grili.

The Los Angeles Angels and Pittsburgh Pirates swapped the two struggling relievers last week, and while both were trying to hook up with their new team, paths crossed.

In of all places, a bathroom.

Not just any bathroom, but one of the 100-plus located in one of the country’s busiest airports, Chicago O’Hare.

Frieri recapped the encounter for MLB.com’s Tom Singer:

“I’m waiting for my next flight, so I just went to a bathroom to wash my face. First thing, I look at this guy washing his hands next to me,” said Frieri, “and I thought, ‘I think I know this guy.’

“I looked again, and he’s looking at me and goes, ‘Really? Well, I guess this is when we get to meet each other.'”

“This is baseball. Life is crazy. That’s a huge airport, and we just got traded for each other and that’s how we meet,” said Frieri, who had never before exchanged a word with Grilli.

“I just said, ‘Wish you luck over there, lot of good people, you’ve got a lot of good friends; make the most of it,'” Grilli recalled. “For me, it was difficult leaving good friends. That’s always the hard part, and it sounded like that’s what it was for him.”

Well it seems both, a clean start is in order.

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