The Mariners are listening to offers on certain players on their roster, with Bob Nightengale of USA Today listing Ty France, Teoscar Hernández and Paul Sewald among those being discussed. Their openness on Sewald was reported last week.
The fact that the Mariners are listening to offers isn’t necessarily a shock, as most front offices these days take the approach that no one on the roster is untouchable and it’s worth hearing out all offers as a way to gauge the market. But the Mariners are in a position where dealing major league players might not be an outlandish thought.
Their 54-51 record is solid, but has them in fourth place in a strong American League West. The teams above them in the division have already been some of the most aggressive this week, with the Rangers recently acquiring Max Scherzer, Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton while the Angels grabbed Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk. The Astros haven’t been quite so bold but did get Kendall Graveman from the White Sox, in addition to welcoming Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez back from the injured list.
The Mariners aren’t totally buried, currently sitting 5.5 games back in the division and 4.5 in the Wild Card race. FanGraphs still gives them a 16.9% chance of making the playoffs while Baseball Prospectus puts them at 15.2%. But since their position isn’t strong enough to be firm buyers, they might have to at least consider some selling, something that president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto recently admitted.
Listening on Hernández is understandable, as he’s an impending free agent. This summer’s market is generally considered to be light on impact bats, which could lead to the M’s receiving notable offers that help them in the future. But they would have to weigh those offers against hurting their chances here in 2023.
Acquired from the Blue Jays in the offseason, Hernández isn’t having his best season. His .238/.288/.408 batting line amounts to a wRC+ of 93, or seven percent below league average. But he hit .283/.333/.519 with the Jays from 2020 to 2022 for a 132 wRC+. The M’s were undoubtedly hoping for something more when they gave up Erik Swanson and Adam Macko for Hernández, especially considering his $14MM salary, but perhaps they can still recoup something before the deadline. Despite his diminished production, perhaps some club is willing to bank on his track record, especially with the aforementioned market conditions.
France would be a very different situation, as he can still be retained via arbitration for two more seasons beyond this one. Like Hernández, he’s having a down year relative to his own previous production, having hit .285/.355/.443 from 2020 to 2022 for a 128 wRC+ but just .253/.324/.367 this year for a 100 wRC+. That means that trading him now would be selling low and also punting on a player who could still help in the seasons to come. He’s making $4.1MM this year and will be due raises in the next two years before reaching free agency after 2025.
The Mariners have received a tremendous showing from Mike Ford recently, who was added to their roster at the start of June and has hit 11 home runs since then, serving primarily as the club’s designated hitter. His .238/.302/.540 batting line amounts to a wRC+ of 131. He comes with three further seasons of arbitration control, so perhaps the M’s might have some willingness to cash in France and try to put Ford at first base, but that would be a risky path. Ford’s breakout this year has come in just 139 plate appearances while he’s continued to strike out at a 35.3% clip and see 30.6% of his fly balls clear the fence. Since he hit .201/.301/.387 in 468 plate appearances prior to this year, he seems ripe for some regression.
The M’s might have to make some difficult decisions between now and the deadline, given the spot they’re in. They’re not totally out of it but would have to leapfrog teams like the Angels, Yankees and Red Sox before they’re even on the edge of a playoff spot. They could decide to make some moves that help them next year, though it might involve further limiting their chances here in 2023. It might also require them to sell low on players like Hernández and France. But the trade market was already light on impact bats, even before the Cubs pulled Cody Bellinger off the market. It’s understandable why the M’s might want to assess their options and see what a light selloff can do for them, but it would surely be a tough pill to swallow after they made the postseason last year for the first time since 2001.
Teo always a good rbi man second half of seasons. Had a good July.
Teo had a very good June (18 RBI’s), but put up an awful .535 OPS for July, with 12 RBI’s.
My bad. Yes he slowed down in July. Thanks. Still can get red hot especially RBI situations.
His slow start didn’t help. I read somewhere that he’s a notorious slow starter. M’s don’t need that. They need just the opposite. Plus he’s average defender at best.
I know Teoscar Hernandez is not a great defender no disrespect to him, but the Phillies could acquire him if they are not able to acquire Adam Duvall. They could consider acquiring Teoscar Hernández and Paul Sewald from the Mariners.
Sewald yes, Teoscar no. His league leading strikeout total and below .300 on base percentage won’t help the Phillies much.
Gonna be an interesting couple of days. I’ll be in the Terrace Club tonight and tomorrow night pacing around and muttering expletives about Stanton and the ownership
Mutter a few for me, SODOMOJO.
I’m too old and beat up to attend games anymore.
I will be there too, muttering as always.
Now that Angels and Brewers have added 1B, perfect time to let teams know you had a 1B available all along. Its all in the timing.
The Brewers are so terrible at 1B and DH that they could still use France.
Nobody needs a 1B with a .690 OPS. France’s value now is his deteriorating skills as a 2B/3B.
Um, he’s been the primary 1B for two years, and over 100 games there in ’21. He is carry a .990 FP. You’re a few years behind.
You’re a few decades behind when you use FP as a measure of fielding competency.
Anyways, my point is not whether France is a 1B or not. It’s that his bat no longer justifies him being one.
I am in favor of Padres getting him back for the right price. That said his stat line has slowly deteriorated each and every year since the trade.
That is 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 – starting to look like not just a down year.
His value isn’t what people might think it is considering his limited defense – he is NOT taking 1b from Crone but, he could be a very solid DH which I wouldn’t mind seeing.
Not a surprise, after Dipoto’s comments yesterday.
I expect the addition of some newbie younger guys maybe, if any, such as Thornton and other recent aquisitions. It’s all for next year or later, the way I see it.
That BS is exactly what GQJerry spewed last year.
As an M’s fan, impressed by them the past two seasons. However, I want them to sell all the one year rental type guys, build for 2024. I believe the race is too competitive this year, save for next and get shohei, ws run for mariners 2024
It’s going to be “competitive” every year with the extra wild card spot.
It can’t always be get em next year
NO OHTANI…
Some teams should definitely make the push and some shouldn’t. The M’s have a lot of controllable talent. Best to wait and get Dealin Dipoto dealin in the off-season.
I’d trade Teoscar for just about any two pitchers under 22 years old.
Time for a FO shake up in Seattle. I’m 44 years old. Been watching the M’s since I was 8. I feel like I’m never going to see a championship. Dipoto and scott servais just can’t get it done.
It’s taken you over 35yrs to figure that one out? Good night nurse, Ahahaha!
I’m shocked by the lack of moves by Mariners this offseason. Make playoffs for first time in a couple of decades, then largely silent other than a couple of trades. Teoscar was a decent sized trade and Winker for Wong had some appeal, especially since Winker hadn’t performed year before. But I really expected them to target a top FA or two. Maybe they are saving money to go all in for Ohtani and that’s the only thing I can make sense of. Reminds me of A’s a couple of years ago letting Semien and Hendriks walk without even a QO… and eventually leading to their sell off when they had a playoff caliber team that you’d think a FO would want to build off of.
Blame ownership. The main reason Dipoto and Servais still have jobs is that they’re able to make a .500ish team that sometimes competes for the playoffs without cutting into John Stanton’s profit margin. Until someone with a zillion dollars buys the team and wants to win at all costs, they’re going to be middle of the pack for a loooonnnngggg time.
FO shake up in Seattle? Why on Earth would you do that. It’s not like there has been a ton out there that DiPoto missed out on, and the Mariners have been a 90 win team both of the last two years while making the playoffs last year for the first time since 2001. He has also helped create a young core with our rotation being what it is while having young, talented players to go along with them.
The team underperformed this year, simply put. It was a team that was expected to be in the running for the AL West. But “underperforming” has still meant the 6th fewest runs allowed in all of baseball with a positive run differential.
You’d be insane to fire them. He has built a team set to compete for the next 5 years.
Ford has had a little help from the needle
Pretty strong accusation. What’s that based on?
I think he meant the Space Needle
Unless you’re talking about Space Needle, then just this one out if you’re throwing around baseless accusations.Otherwise, say it to him directly and see how that turns out.
He probably got needled so much about his weight , said f it, and he’s gotten in the best shape of his pro career. Respect. Almost cut out of baseball. Resurrecting his career.
Yeah. That’s what a stereotypical steroid bod looks like.
lol
That’s why I’m a Chevy man
“Help from the needle”…Maligning a guy with ZERO proof is the height of fascism and labeling, my little “friend”.
I feel like we’re going to get some weird Preller/Dipoto trade out of this that isn’t a straight buy or sell for either side.
Mariners made out huge on the first Ty France trade, maybe they run it back.
Exactly my thoughts. Padres could use both France and Teoscar. Maybe Sewald too. Question is, what would the mariners be seeking for such package?
Ty France 2023 OPS+ = 96. WAR = 0.3 (one of only a couple of 1Bmen lower WAR than Cronenworth)
@brew88 of course Ty is having a down year. But you’re telling me you’d rather have Jake at 1B vs LHP than Ty?
I do, however, think the order of interest the padres would have would be: Teoscar, Sewald, France. I also don’t think AJ would give up pieces to reacquire Ty due to the optics.
He’s saying their is not enough difference to bother with. Why give up assets for that?
Put France and Teo in Milwaukee’s park and they might turn the corner. Can’t be worse than some of the current Brewer bats, and it probably won’t take much to get them.
For me it’s more about replacing Carpenter in the DH role even though he’s somewhat surrendered that to Sanchez/Campy at this point. Although I’m not sure how long they can sustain using their other catcher as DH.
I know Hernandez and France are RH and he’s LH, but setting handedness aside even a mediocre OPS+ of 96 for France and 94 for Hernandez blows Carp’s OPS+ of 69 out of the water. If you trade for one of those guys you’re upgrading your depth and DH situation, not replacing Crone.
But what would it cost to get France, If it’s 2021-22 France value instead of 2023 France value, then I’m not sure it’s worth it, I’d hate to lose that trade twice! Glad I’m not a GM
France for Eric Brown Jr? I would do that if I am the Brew Crew.
I’m going all on in on France with a package of Austin Nola, Tim Hill and Luis Garcia (closest I could get to Williams and Adams)!
@its happening. I’m not a Brewer fan, I brew beer, cheers!
LOL That I would do in a heartbeat
As down as I’ve been on Jacob C, I think it’s a toss up between him and Ty. Cronie is better defensively, France offensively. Would be cool to have them both I guess
Trade them all!
Gilbert
Sewald
For
Kjerstad
Westburg
Mayo
From the Mariners perspective that’s your replacement for Teoscar who of course is much cheaper. Westburg takes over 2b for Wong and Mayo can either play 3b or 1b so he’s either the replacement for France or he’s the replacement for Suarez
I think both teams would do that deal.
Absolutely not. Talk about an overpay. Please stop.
Who’s overpaying here?
Dude get out of here with that, the M’s are not trading Logan Gilbert
You don’t want Kjerstad? That guy is going to be a STUD. Take 5 minutes watch some tape on him. Do it.
Will be Os best hitter for a decade.
Said so since he was drafted.
Heston has done nothing since he was born but …. Hit
King of Cards. As usual, you’re DRASTICALLY undervaluing controllable young pitching. Gilbert is a unicorn, and unicorns are very expensive. You have Champaign taste on a Bud Light budget.
These aren’t my teams fella
Have you ever seen Heston Kjerstad play?
It’s a rhetorical question I know you haven’t.
The trade is fair.
No one claimed these were your teams. You just keep undervaluing the M’s controllable young pitching.
Kjerstad is a very good prospect, but the trade offer is light.
Gilbert has a lot of value but that is still a massive overpay for the Orioles and no chance they would do that. You need to stop thinking btv is gospel. As for the M’s, they would be complete fools not to say yes to a trade like that LMAO
So one guy is saying it’s an overpay by the Orioles. The other guy says it’s an overpay by the Mariners.
Lol. Sounds fair to me. I have no bias these aren’t my teams I root for neither of them.
All these Gilbert trade proposals are silly. Premium Starting pitching with 4 controllable years gets you 2 Top 100 prospects and change, and one of those prospects HAS to be in the Top 25, period!
Dude Westburg, Mayo and Kjerstad are all top 100 guys. Westburg is 30. Kjerstad isn’t far behind him. Feel free to look this up if you want. And Kjerstads ranking is going up when they update the list he’s a STUD.
It’s not enough. Either Baltimore doesn’t want to cough that up, or Seattle isn’t interested in trading Gilbert short of Juan Soto, which they did offer to the Nats! That’s been confirmed.
So neither year would do it??
Nonsense
The trade is fair. It benefits both teams it makes both teams better. The Orioles can afford to lose some depth and they need an ace worse than just about any team out there. The Mariners need help on offense and Kjerstad could be that middle of the order bat they thought Henrandez would be and he sunder control for years to come.
Trade is fair. Your reply is nonsense you just want to argue.
If I was a Mariners fan I sure as heck wouldn’t be cheering for no moves.
@Ben10 don’t bother engaging with this clown, just isn’t worth it.
There is zero brain activity worth a damn in there.
I can already tell by the absurd amount of posts I’ve seen. But I appreciate the heads up all the same.
I’d rather trade Luis Castillo alone for the three of them and trade Sewald for another package elsewhere.
I liked the trade for both teams, King Of Cards.
Feel free to like my post dude. That’s how this stuff works.
It’s a fair trade that gives both teams what they want and need.
@King… I see you’ve come around with a variation of my proposal, however, I left off Sewald and swapped Ortiz/Norby for Westburg as a result.
I see you’ve gotten blasted on it for saying it here, but I do agree more so with mine, but the foundation is there. I don’t think the Mariners should trade Sewald, just as I thought they shouldn’t trade Swanson for Teoscar last year.
I think the trade is:
Gilbert
For
Kjerstad
Mayo
Ortiz/Norby
Not sure who the others are saying is overpaying, but I am 100% a Mariners fan, and I would do this one for sure. I wouldn’t deal Sewald though. Teoscar and France I would be open to.
After seeing what Cleveland just got for Aaron Civale from Tampa, I might be on-board to trading Logan. The package would be insane!! Wow! Huge Win for the Guardians!
Manzardo has an OPS in the 780s at AAA. He’s not all that exciting. His prospect ranking will absolutely be dropping once they update the list.
They have him 1 spot behind Kjerstad. Kjerstad is a far far better player.
You can sign a guy like Sewald in the offseason. I think both offers make sense. Again we have a like button here. Feel free to use it.
Absolutely not. Westburg and Kjerstad are two of Baltimore’s future full-time infielders and you are off your rocker if you think BAL is trading BOTH of them PLUS Mayo for a starter. Get a clue. Elias is wayyyyy too smart to pay that high a price right now for anything less than an ace, and Gilbert ain’t an ace.
Gilbert is at least a really good number 2.
Where else are you getting someone better?
If the Cubs aren’t gonna sell, are they gonna buy, or just stand pat? They could use both of these guys if the price is right.
If France was a lefty, sure. Not sure they need a righty bat unless it’s highly productive. France is kinda replacement level. No to Hernandez. Already have a logjam in the outfield. Between Morel and Wisdom, they have the righty DH with 33%K rate covered.
Sewald, yes, and I’d be willing to pay with 2-3 prospects depending on what Seattle needs.
@Spotswood What’s your opinion on the Sewald trade? Would you have been okay with your Cubs giving up equivalent value to what the DBacks gave for him?
Guilerc – not familiar with the D-Backs prospects, or exactly what Seattle needs, but I certainly would have been willing to give up similar to what the Cubs just dealt to Washington. Cubs have a ton of quality depth across the system. So, yeah… I would have been willing to find the players Seattle wanted.
Padres will give Austin Nola for Ty France
I remember when some thought Seattle was winning the west. Lol
I mean, I don’t think it’s happening, but it’s definitely not out of question yet. Texas has dropped 7 of their last 10 and the Mariners have made up 4.5 games on them since the break. Their solution to their pitching injuries was also to get what are essentially two #4 pitchers in the Scherzer of today and Montgomery, and their rotation is still worse after the moves than the Mariners is now. The Mariners also have 10 games remaining against the Rangers and Astros.
Angels have a rough stretch here too after getting some false confidence by beating the Pirates and Tigers and a beat up Yankees team. Now, they dropped 2 of 3 to Toronto and go into what could be a rough August schedule featuring the Braves, Mariners, Giants, Astros, Rangers, Rays, Reds, Mets, and Phillies.
Mariners have:
3 against Boston
4 against the Angels
2 against the Padres
3 against the Orioles
3 against the Astros
7 against the Royals
3 against the White Sox
3 against the Athletics
Very winnable schedule for the month. What they do with that is anyone’s guess… Mariners seem to not like to beat sub .500 teams for some reason, so we’ll see.
Teoscar Hernandez back to the Blue Jays for Mitch White!!
Teoscar for Adam Macko.
Teoscar for a PTBNL is more likely to happen 5 minutes before the deadline
Adam Macko is a PTBNL candidate as he is hot garbage.
LOL no one wants broken bats. I highly doubt any team will want to trade for either of those guys. Seawald maybe
@ Seattle fans. Any info on what’s up with France? He’s sputtering this year.
I think he’s still lingering from that injury last year. But that’s just a guess.
He is not focused, always goofing off in the dugout. He clearly took the offseason off. His lack of focus is also rubbing off on the rest of the team, which would explain why the mariners are underachieving this year.
There is no market for Ty France as a 1B, unless teams are willing to give him reps at 2B and 3B like Justin Turner. France is a non-tender candidate this winter if the Mariners wish to improve their .390 team wide slugging for next year.
Go get verdugo. France/Teo for verdugo
How about Kevin. Alcantara for France. Show us u are not gonna waste not trading Belli and Stroman Jed
How about Suzuki instead.
I don’t think they are ready to throw in the towel on him just yet
I don’t think France gets anywhere close to a top-100 prospect.
How about Nelson Velazquez.
And actually, I said elsewhere, I don’t think France moves the needle for the Cubs. I don’t think they need a replacement level righty bat that plays average to below average defense.
Would like Verdugo, but what’s the asking price?
Teoscar to Cleveland for Freeman & a B prospect sounds about right
Teams should be willing to listen to all trade offers. We need more trades and movement throughout the season and postseason.
Mariners might be able to trade Gilbert for an entire farm system if this is the going rate for starters lol
Mariners should definitely move Sewald: he’s great, I love him, but the Mariners have shown that their superpower is finding scrap heap arms and turning them into monsters. They can build another Sewald, they have the technology.
Turn him into the bat that they’ve shown they have trouble building themselves.
Teo and France don’t sound like they will get much return, unless the M’s secretly know how to fix up some team’s 20th ranked prospect.
It’s ok to be quiet and see if we get a little magic down the stretch. It’s baseball. let’s go mariners!
Agreed. I can see Canzone getting AB’s for Teo. Get a relief pitcher with tools that Seattle thinks that they can develop for France or Teoscar. Hernandez probably won’t be worth offering a QO for, so see what you can get for him now.