The Mariners are up next in our team-by-team Trade Deadline Outlook series. Seattle last made the postseason in 2022 and has had numerous near misses in recent years under president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander. The Mariners' vaunted young rotation has long been the talk of baseball, but the M's also have an excellent farm system they can leverage to improve the roster over the next three weeks.
Record: 49-45 (Playoff probability 61.4%, per FanGraphs)
Other series entries: Rockies, Giants, Phillies, Pirates, Astros, Marlins, Athletics, Orioles, White Sox, Nationals, Cubs, Rays, Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, Angels, Mets, Blue Jays
Buy Mode
Potential Needs: First base, third base, late-inning reliever
The Mariners needed offense throughout the winter but were afforded little to no financial resources to make it happen. Dipoto and Hollander dealt with substantial payroll restrictions for a second straight winter, reportedly trying to stretch a budget of about $15-16MM to acquire as many as three different bats. The resulting additions -- Jorge Polanco, Rowdy Tellez, Donovan Solano -- haven't paid off much. Polanco has been quite productive but has been relegated to DH duty for much of the season due to injuries. Tellez was released last month. Solano has hit better over the past five weeks or so but has been a liability for most of the year.
On top of those underwhelming additions, the M's have been plagued by injuries. Victor Robles suffered a shoulder injury that'll cost him more than half the season. Luke Raley missed more than a month with an oblique injury. Second baseman Ryan Bliss ruptured his biceps in April and will likely miss the remainder of the season.
Fortunately for the Mariners' baseball operations staff, it seems ownership has come around on spending to further bolster the lineup. It's not clear just how far north they're willing to take payroll, but even a relatively modest increase could be a boon for a club that could clearly use help at two corner spots. So, where can the Mariners turn?
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I would finally trade 3-4 top 100 prospects (except Ford) plus either major league ready pitchers Hancock or Evans included. Polanco a must to be included FOR
Suarez & J Naylor.
You would trade that much for 2 rentals..thank god you aren’t the gm
I admit I made a mistake. I thought Naylor was under contract for 26 & 27.
I would give up Ford for Suarez and Naylor along with Hancock and 1 or 2 lower end prospects. Ford is blocked by Cal. I know that after this season Garver is gone and Ford will replace him but I don’t think Ford wants to play backup to Cal for 4 years..
Well it’s not like Ford is meaningfully less blocked in Arizona behind Gabby Moreno.
At the end of the day, Geno + Naylor should be like a Locklear, Peete and McGraw type deal (maybe you could justify swapping Peete and Celesten). Neither Geno or Naylor are clear cut QO candidates and both would be more likely to be post 2nd round compensation (below $50M contract), rather than 1st round compensation. Therefore, getting 3 2nd round caliber talents is a reasonable return.
Probably locklear and maybe Ben Williamson too with Emerson Hancock could get a deal done
I’d be sad to let Ben go, unless we know 100% we are going to bring Geno back next year.
I don’t think Hancock is more than a throw in in terms of value at this point. I think he has more value to as someone familiar with our system and willing to be a 6th man than going to a new team.
We would be outbid by Yankees, Cubs or dodgers for Suarez. Ben should be the 3B in 26-forwards
Ford wouldn’t have a choice plus he could catch 2 games weekly, maybe even half of games. Plus DH remainder
Geno is the only 3B option who would make sense. McMahon is just a more expensive Williamson (if we weren’t willing to pay Geno’s contract there is no world they take on even half of the $38M owed to McMahon).
However, I expect him to be traded to the Yankees or Tigers if he gets moved. The Mariners have the prospects to win a bidding war, but they don’t have the team to justify it for a half season rental (in particular, when the division is all but out of reach).
1B and/or DH (Polo hasn’t been very good since May 1st) are the prime options and most of the options there should be had for lesser prospects.
Did the author really just write that management was “dealt with substantial payroll restrictions for the second straight year”??? How about 10 straight years. How about “consistently dealing with substantial payroll restrictions” for like… EVER! This wimpy ownership ALWAYS fails to do their part when this team needs upgrades to truly take advantage of their window of opportunity. %£€¥ or get off the pot!
“second straight year”… freakin kidding me.
The franchise is a cash cow run like a business. On average, MLB franchises appreciate 12% every year. Only 1/3 teams spend to win. Casual M’s fans won’t stay away so NOTHING will change. Get used to it, or switch to a team that spends to your liking. Even if ownership sold, odds are another business person would run the franchise to to maximize profits.
Every franchise trys to maximize profits. Groups or individuals buying these teams did not generate the billions necessary to aquire one without having business acumen.
The value of the franchises are important, but not due as much to when its one day sold as people often allude to. The ability to leverage the value of the franchise borrowing against as well as abusing our complex tax code is what makes pro sports teams so lucrative. Owners can claim little income borrow against value for capital and avoid income tax. The interest paid on the loan far less then would be paid on federal, state, and local income taxes and the interest can be wrote off to further offset tax burden. Bezos has been doing this with Amazon for years.
Jerry sucks at spending money. Always has. His bad contracts would give me pause to offer him more resources too, quite honestly.
ESPN said we are the front runners to acquire Ronald acuna Jr! Let’s give the braves the entire farm system so they can become the nationals and we can have Mr shaky knees
I’d do it. It’s the only way we are going to acquire an MVP level player, unless Emerson or Montes can get to that level.
Atlanta would not even consider trading him unless his contract runs out, and the Soto trade is an example of why teams should not burn down the farm system
You don’t think Raleigh is an MVP level player?
He is, but that’s not a recent acquisition or promotion.
I’d trade Julio Rodriguez for him straight up.
Rodriguez isn’t worth a handful of beans
Says someone who hasn’t a clue !!
I read that. Whoever wrote that should be laughed out of the industry
All the discussions and comments about Mariners trading WILL BE dead in the water because the Mariners will be sellers instead. All RPs suck, besides Munoz and Brash. Hitting still sucks, except JP and Cal. SPs are not like last year. Defense sucks, except J-Rod, Cal and Williamson.
This needs a downvote button.
Randy has been excellent as a bat. Speier has been elite in the bullpen.
The SPs are finally getting healthy as a group. Only Woo and Castillo haven’t dealt with injuries and they’ve been great. A healthy Kirby and Gilbert down the stretch is transformative.
the M’s still seem on track to miss the playoffs by a game. Again
That is definitely a real possibility. However, you don’t pivot to selling if you are that close.
This year I do think there’s an opening for the mariners in the playoffs, since Tampa bay and Toronto should regress and we will be getting a lot of people back from injury and from the trade deadline
I hope I don’t jinx myself again (for the millionth time)
It’s like you haven’t seen the past 40 years of Mariner baseball. No wait, let me guess, this is the season!!
Entering Sunday’s games the Seattle Mariners were second in the American League with a team OPS+ of 115 and 12th in the league with a team ERA+ of 94.
Every team looks to improve in several areas but the Mariners have greater needs with pitching than with hitting.
Laz has hit better than Yordan did at the same age and has Cal level power.
Ford’s OF experiment lasted 10 games after he was recovering from a concussion. I firmly expect him to be able to pick up another position or two (likely RF, LF and 1B based on his athleticism and arm strength).
He is a great athlete but lacks the size for first base. Only 5 ft 10 and 200 lbs.
So same size as Ty France… just not as fat?
Laz will be a star with all of that power but I’m scared he’s going to instantly become a DH because his defense sucks
We’ve seen DHs can still be MVP caliber players, so even as just a DH he can still be a massive addition.
Laz is 6’5”. If anyone can learn first base….
Ford doesn’t want to play another position. I am sure he would if they pretty much told him to. He would be unhappy but would suck it up and do it until he could get out. C is a position many teams need. Maybe Trader Jerry could go crazy and do a 3 team trade.
On the block we could use Ford, Williamson, Castillo and a few other mid level prospects. Trading Castillo would need to be with his blessing. You would think a team that is better positioned to make the playoffs and go further into it than Seattle. I would love to see a LH starter. Or still get one of the White Sox prospects. If they struggle too much we have Evans after Miller gets back. I think we need a LHP to break up all the RHPers. While not an absolute need a good LHPer down the road would be nice. One of Ari or Whitesox could take Ford and compare him to what they have. Sox have just called up a rookie so that comparison should be easy. Bring Ford in to Ari and see how he looks compared to what they have along with cost and years under control. We have so many pieces we should be able to improve the team without hurting quality down the road. Jerry needs to be shaking hands having late night cocktails and talking trades this up coming week. You know he will be hope he gets something done to make us better. We also have the 34th competitive round pick. That has some good value along with prospects.
I think Ford could hit .240+, which is really good for a catcher. His best skill is his ability to get on base.
You have the wrong Julio Rodriguez linked in the article Steve.
Guess I’m gonna need a new MLB rumors source when I’m not allowed to read the one decent article written about my team in here in a while. There’s ads all over this site already. And free info all around the web. Why y’all gotta start making us pay for a simple article?
I am a member and can’t read the whole article. It fades out at the bottom into an ad. I get to read they need to trade but not any clue who or who for. Can’t get in can’t change password because it says I am logged in. It gets frustrating trying to navigate the site at times.
I hope the M’s can improve their offense!
The Mariners clearly can trade Ford. Perhaps the most catcher needy team is the Twins.
How about
Ford
Peete
Comp pick
For
Keaschall
Coloumbe
Castro
Twins in clear sell mode unload a couple rentals. They lose Keaschall but get a much needed ready to play catcher plus a pick and a lottery ticket maybe shortstop down the road. Mariners get help for this season but also Keaschall as a long term piece.
This seems to be mostly a swap of top prospects. How would we use Keaschall with Young at 2B?
Castro and Coulombe both make quite a bit of sense as rentals and for Peete, a 15-20 type prospect and the residual value of Ford over Keaschall would make sense.
Keaschall plays other positions.
This is a trade I’d do then as we can move Keaschall to RF. I dont expect the Twins to be willing to move him though.
Twins need a catcher in the worst way. I think they might do it.
Miguel Andujar might be an inexpensive option at 3B. He’s not the greatest defender there, but he can field the position and he’s had a good season at the plate. Now that the Athletics have called up Kurtz and moved Soderstrom to LF, they don’t have a real spot for Andujar. Yes he’s played 3B every day since coming off the IL, but as they’re in last place with no playoff hopes, they should be playing a 22 year old Max Muncy, not Andujar, who is 30 and a free agent after the season. I sense he’s playing third to show trade partners he can handle the position. Moving from Sacramento to T-Mobile is not, however, likely to improve his offense.
Miller for naylor, saurez, kelly and s.miller
Who says no?
Harrison Ford is 83 years old. Why would anyone expect him to hit major league pitching?