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Mariners Showing Interest In Willi Castro, Twins’ Relievers

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The Mariners have already upgraded the right side of their infield with last week’s addition of Josh Naylor, and as they continue to look around the league for help at the other corner and in the bullpen, they’ve increasingly focused in on the Twins, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. Seattle had interest in Willi Castro this past offseason and has again been in touch with Minnesota about the possibility of a Castro swap.

Castro, 28, would give the Mariners an option at third base while still leaving the door open for a potential addition of a prominent slugger like Eugenio Suárez. The switch-hitting Castro is versatile enough to handle second base, shortstop or any of the three outfield spots — though he’s best used as an emergency option at short or in center. He’s primarily played second base and the outfield corners for the Twins this season but has 74 innings at third base (532 in his career) and 26 innings at short (1213 career innings).

The versatile Castro is in his final season of club control and earning $6.4MM. He’s hitting .252/.343/.418 with 10 homers, 15 doubles, a pair of triples and nine steals (in 12 tries). It’s Castro’s third straight productive season since being non-tendered by the Tigers and signing a minor league deal in Minnesota. In two-plus years with the Twins, he’s slashed .251/.336/.401 while playing all over the diamond.

Castro has been solid enough at the plate that even absent a more notable acquisition at the hot corner, he’d still be a marked improvement over in-house options on his own. Rookie Ben Williamson has been playing third base for much of the season in Seattle. He’s turned in sharp defense but carries an anemic .256/.293/.315 batting line in 289 turns at the plate. The hope had been that Jorge Polanco could play third base for the M’s after re-signing this past offseason, but he’s been limited to DH work for much of the season after undergoing knee surgery following the 2024 campaign and playing through a side/oblique issue for much of the early portion of the current season.

On top of their need in the infield, the Mariners have been canvassing the trade market for high-leverage relief help. Kramer notes that hard-throwing righties Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax stand out as on-paper fits and the type of arms Seattle has been seeking. Both are in their first arbitration season and controlled through 2027. Duran is earning $4.125MM this season. Jax is being paid $2.365MM.

While Duran is the more famous of the pair given his status as Minnesota’s closer and his possession of one of MLB’s hardest fastballs, both pitchers are viewed within the industry as elite bullpen options. Duran carries a career 2.47 ERA and 30.6% strikeout rate, though this year’s 25.7% mark (while still strong) is a career low. He’s averaging 100.2 mph on his four-seamer and complementing that blistering offering with a splitter/sinker hybrid (“splinker”) that sits 97.5 mph.

Duran may be more well-known, but Jax is arguably even more appealing. Beyond his lower salary, he boasts superior strikeout and walk rates, sitting at 36.9% and 6.7%, respectively. He’s been dogged by a .371 average on balls in play, which has helped to inflate Jax’s ERA to 3.91, but metrics like FIP (2.00) and SIERA (1.94) rank him among the game’s very best relievers. Among the 651 pitchers (starters and relievers alike) to throw even five innings in the majors this year, Jax is tied with Aroldis Chapman for the fourth-best swinging-strike rate (19.8%). Josh Hader, Mason Miller and Fernando Cruz are the only pitchers with higher marks.

Adam Jude of the Seattle Times writes that while the Mariners indeed covet Duran and/or Jax — as well as Castro — there’s very little chance the M’s could pry away both Castro and one of the Twins’ top bullpen arms in the same trade. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last week that the Twins were seeking multiple top-100 prospects for either Duran or Jax individually. Jude hears similarly. Adding Castro, one of the more appealing rental players on the market, would only drive the asking price up even further.

Jude suggests left-hander Danny Coulombe as one viable alternative in the Minnesota bullpen. He’s pitched 31 innings this year and logged a pristine 1.16 ERA with a 25.4% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. The 35-year-old southpaw signed a one-year, $3MM deal with the Twins over the winter — his second stint in Minnesota — and is a free agent at season’s end.

Speculatively, the Mariners could also look into righty Brock Stewart. The 33-year-old is making just $870K this season and, like Duran and Jax, is controlled through 2027. He’s been excellent since signing a minor league deal with the Twins three years ago but has also missed considerable time due to injury. Stewart touts a 2.33 ERA, 31.7% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate in 77 1/3 innings dating back to Opening Day 2023. Stewart is averaging 96.1 mph on his four-seamer, and while his 15.1% swinging-strike rate isn’t quite at Jax’s elite level, it’s tied with San Diego’s Jason Adam for 28th among 373 big league pitchers who’ve pitched at least 30 innings this year.

The Mariners are well-positioned to land virtually any trade target they covet — it’s just a matter of how much they’re willing to thin out what’s regarded as one of baseball’s top farm systems. Seattle has eight of Baseball America’s top-100 prospects. Minnesota isn’t embarking on a full rebuild but rather aiming to retool and contend again in 2026, so they’d probably prefer prospects closer to big league readiness for their top trade chips (though they did settle on a 19-year-old catching prospect in yesterday’s Chris Paddack trade).

Dipoto: Mariners Will Be “Aggressive” In Search For High-End Relief Help

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The Mariners kicked off deadline season by trading for Diamondbacks first baseman Josh Naylor, but it appears the club is far from done adding to its roster this summer. They remain closely tied to Arizona third baseman Eugenio Suarez in the rumor mill, and beyond that GM Jerry Dipoto himself spoke about the club’s needs in a recent interview on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio. Dipoto made clear that a priority for the club is adding a high-leverage reliever to the bullpen and went on to note that he expects the club to be “as aggressive as anyone” in that corner of the market.

That may seem like something of a surprise at first glance, given that Seattle boasts an impressive back-of-the-bullpen duo of Andres Munoz (1.35 ERA) and Matt Brash (1.04 ERA). While that pair is arguably the best one-two punch in all of baseball, the rest of the Mariners’ relief corps has been really quite pedestrian this season. As a whole, Seattle’s bullpen has a 3.81 ERA, good for 12th-best in the majors. Their FIP has been even less impressive, with a 4.06 figure that places then 17th among all big league clubs. Gabe Speier and Eduard Bazardo are arguably the club’s only trustworthy relief arms behind Munoz and Brash, so adding another leverage option to the bullpen who can push those two into middle relief would make plenty of sense.

As is to be expected, Dipoto did not mention any specific targets. There are plenty of interesting high-leverage arms who could make sense for Seattle to take a look at this summer. If the club is still intent on adding a player like Suarez to their offense in addition to bolstering their bullpen, perhaps adding a rental arm could be less taxing on their farm system. Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley is surely the best rental reliever available, but Twins lefty Danny Coulombe or perhaps even Braves closer Raisel Iglesias could also be intriguing candidates.

On the other hand, a controllable addition to the bullpen to join Munoz and Brash would be beneficial given that the Mariners surely hope to keep their current window of contention open for quite some time, and budgetary constraints left them unable to pursue high-priced additions this offseason. Someone like Pirates right-hander David Bednar, either Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax of the Twins, or perhaps Pete Fairbanks of the Rays would come with mutliple seasons of control (two in the case of Bednar and Fairbanks, three in the case of Jax and Duran).

Regardless of whether the club’s relief addition is a controllable piece or someone who will reach free agency this year, another reliever would be a major asset to the club’s hopes of winning in the postseason this year. Having a third shut-down relief arm to pair with Munoz and Brash could give the Mariners a three-headed monster their starters can reliably pass the baton to during the playoffs to shut down the opposing offense. And given the vaunted crop of starters the Mariners have developed, rival batters would be hard pressed to score runs off that sort of elite run prevention in a short series.

Mariners Making Dylan Moore Available In Trade Talks

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The Mariners made one of the first moves of trade season when they acquired Josh Naylor from the Diamondbacks earlier this week, and with a 55-49 record that puts them firmly in playoff contention. That should make them a clear buyer in the coming days, and several reports have already suggested they have interest in reuniting Naylor with his corner infield partner from Arizona, third baseman Eugenio Suarez. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t consider dealing from their big league roster, however, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes that Seattle has made utility man Dylan Moore available in trade talks.

Rosenthal adds that the Mariners might be especially willing to part with Moore if they manage to swing a deal for Suarez. That makes plenty of sense, seeing as Moore is a player who has gotten the majority of his work this year on the infield against left-handed pitching. Suarez, meanwhile, would slot is as Seattle’s everyday third baseman and sports a career 126 wRC+ against left-handed pitching. A revamped infield that has both Naylor and Suarez in the mix at the corners would seemingly leave little room for Moore to get playing time, particularly with J.P. Crawford locked in at shortstop on a regular basis and top prospect Cole Young getting an extended look at the keystone.

With that being said, it’s worth noting that the Mariners may not be in position to get much of anything meaningful in return for Moore’s services. While the utility man’s versatility, respectable career numbers against left-handed pitching, and Gold Glove caliber defense last year are all attractive assets on paper, Moore has been mired in a brutal slump for well over a month at this point that figures to limit his trade value. He’s hitting .201/.264/.374 (83 wRC+) overall this year, a slash line that would be perfectly acceptable for a bench piece on a contender. Since the start of June, however, Moore has slashed an anemic .040/.111/.100 at the plate.

Those brutal numbers come across a sample of just 54 plate appearances, of course, but a 2-for-50 stretch is hard to write off as just a cold streak and would likely leave most prospective buyers unwilling to do more than take the remainder of Moore’s $3.66MM salary off of Seattle’s hands. Perhaps a deal could still come together if a team with weak bench options is willing to take a gamble on Moore and the Mariners are motivated to move his salary, however. The Mariners added minimal salary to their roster this winter, and while there have been signals that ownership is open to increasing payroll this summer it’s not entirely clear how far that expanded budget will go.

No teams have been directly connected to Moore, but he could make sense for teams with weak bench mixes who could value his versatility. The Yankees, Cubs, Brewers, and Astros are among the contenders with at least one bench piece who has been less productive than Moore’s overall numbers this year, although the Astros would be a tricky fit as the Mariners’ primary rival in the AL West and a team already loaded with right-handed bats. The Yankees in particular could be an intriguing fit for Moore’s services given that his right-handed bat could serve as a solid complement to the recently-added Ryan McMahon at third base, to say nothing of other lefties in the lineup like Trent Grisham and Ben Rice.

Mariners Acquire Josh Naylor

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The Mariners and Diamondbacks made the first significant move of deadline season on Thursday evening. Seattle acquired first baseman Josh Naylor for rookie left-hander Brandyn Garcia and pitching prospect Ashton Izzi. Naylor and Garcia are each on the 40-man roster, so no additional moves were required in that regard. The D-Backs recalled Tristin English to fill the spot on the active roster.

Naylor hasn’t gotten quite the same amount of deadline hype as now former teammate Eugenio Suárez, whose power barrage makes him the top impending free agent hitter available. The 28-year-old first baseman is having a strong year in his own right, though. Naylor is hitting .292/.360/.447 with 11 homers in nearly 400 trips to the dish. He has even chipped in a career-high 11 stolen bases in 13 attempts. There may not have been a better left-handed rental bat on the market.

The former first-round pick is on the move for the second time in seven months. The Diamondbacks acquired Naylor from Cleveland for starting pitcher Slade Cecconi and the 70th overall draft pick over the winter. It was a more affordable means of addressing first base than re-signing Christian Walker, who secured a three-year contract that paid $20MM annually from the Astros. While Naylor doesn’t provide the same Gold Glove defense that Walker offers, he has been a well above-average hitter for a fourth straight season. Last year’s career-best 31 home runs looks like an outlier, but he has cut his strikeout rate to a personal-low 12.4% clip and should hit between 15-20 homers.

Seattle has long had a reputation as a team that desperately needs offense to complement a loaded pitching staff. That has been true in prior seasons but is not so much the case this year. The Mariners rank sixth in home runs and 10th in runs scored. They’re middle-of-the-pack in batting average and rank among the top ten in both on-base percentage and slugging. That’s no small feat for a team that plays its home games at the extremely pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park. Seattle has an MLB-best .270 batting average and .346 OBP on the road, and only the Brewers and Cubs have scored more runs away from home.

Naylor deepens the group. He’ll take the everyday first base job from Luke Raley, who should see most of his time in right field. Dominic Canzone has been on fire since Seattle recalled him from Triple-A on June 9. He now projects as a bench bat, though he could also get into the lineup at designated hitter if the Mariners feel comfortable using Jorge Polanco a little more frequently between second and third base.

That’s all dependent on what other moves Seattle has in store. Earlier this week, Adam Jude of The Seattle Times reported that the Mariners considered a reunion with Suárez to be their top deadline priority, even more so than the idea of adding Naylor. The Mariners will reportedly continue to push to add Suárez as well. He’s a cleaner positional fit — he’d be a massive upgrade at third base over Ben Williamson — but the Diamondbacks will command a better return than they received for Naylor.

That also demonstrates that the M’s are working with greater financial flexibility than they had over the offseason, as has been reported by multiple Seattle beat writers in recent weeks. Naylor is playing on a $10.9MM salary, nearly $4MM of which the Mariners are taking on. Suárez is owed more than $5MM of his $15MM salary. The Mariners have fallen six games back of the Astros in the AL West, but they’re clearly willing to invest as they try to at least lock down a Wild Card berth.

This is the first of multiple dominoes to fall for the Diamondbacks. Any hope they had of avoiding a sell-off when they swept the Cardinals coming out of the All-Star Break is gone. They negated the St. Louis series by getting swept at home by Houston earlier this week. They’re back to three games below .500 and 5.5 out of a playoff spot with four teams to jump. The front office is resigned to the unlikelihood of closing that gap with an injury-riddled pitching staff.

Arizona is prioritizing controllable pitching in their deadline returns. They get a pair of young arms in their first deal of the summer. Garcia, 25, should jump right into the big league bullpen. The 6’4″ southpaw was just promoted to the big leagues on Monday. He has pitched twice, giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks while recording one strikeout. He’s averaging 97 MPH on his sinker and has two distinct breaking pitches — a mid-80s sweeper and a cutter/slider that sits in the upper 80s.

Garcia was Seattle’s 11th-round pick out of Texas A&M in 2023. He ranked 13th among Seattle prospects at MLB Pipeline and 19th at Baseball America. Both outlets credit him with a promising sinker-slider combination. Garcia’s lack of a viable changeup and fringe command pushed him to the bullpen for the first time this season. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM reports that the D-Backs also view him as a reliever and don’t intend to build him back up to start. Garcia has combined for a 3.51 ERA with a 28.2% strikeout rate and elevated 11.4% walk percentage in 32 appearances between the top two minor league levels.

Izzi, 21, is a long-term development play. Seattle took him in the fourth round of the 2022 draft out of an Illinois high school. He pitched well in Low-A last season but has struggled to a 5.51 ERA across 12 starts in High-A this year. He has punched out a quarter of batters faced with a reasonable 9.7% walk rate, suggesting there’s some poor fortune in that earned run average. The 6’3″ right-hander ranked 13th among Seattle farmhands at Baseball America and 16th at MLB Pipeline. He has a mid-90s fastball and the chance for a three-pitch mix that could allow him to stick as a starter if his command continues to develop.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that the Mariners were acquiring Naylor. ESPN’s Jeff Passan had Garcia and Izzi going back to Arizona. Respective images courtesy of Denis Poroy and Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images.

Latest On Eugenio Suárez’s Market

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The D-backs have officially chosen a lane and are heading down a seller’s trajectory. First baseman Josh Naylor is already on his way to the Mariners for a pair of pitching prospects, but it’s third baseman Eugenio Suárez and his thunderous power output that have captivated fans of contenders for much of deadline season. The 33-year-old, earning $15MM in the final year of his contract, is hitting .252/.325/.593 with 36 home runs on the season — including 21 round-trippers dating back to June 1 (a span of 179 plate appearances.

Even after the Mariners landed Naylor, they remain in the mix for Suárez, per multiple reports from the Seattle beat (link via Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports 770 AM). Naylor cost the Mariners two well-regarded pitching prospects — lefty Brandyn Garcia and righty Ashton Izzi — but left the upper tiers of a Seattle farm system that’s arguably the best in baseball untouched. Earlier in the week, Suárez was reported to be the Mariners’ top deadline target. Adding Naylor, it seems, will not put an end to that existing pursuit.

They’ll face steep competition, however, It’s known that in addition to the Mariners, each of the Reds, Cubs and Yankees have some level of interest in the Arizona third baseman. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, as John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM reported earlier today that as many as a dozen teams have at least looked into the possibility of adding Suárez to their lineup.

That includes at least one division rival. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com reports that in the wake of a serious injury to Isaac Paredes, the Astros have joined the bidding for Suárez. Houston has some hurdles in their path to landing the coveted D-backs slugger, however. Owner Jim Crane has been loath to cross the luxury tax threshold for what would be a second straight season. Adding Suárez would put them into tax territory unless the ’Stros shed payroll elsewhere or convince the Snakes to pay down his salary. Houston also does not have as strong a farm system as many of the teams against which they’d be bidding.

Whether it’s Suárez or another bat, the Astros’ priorities seem to have shifted. General manager Dana Brown suggested earlier in the summer that pitching would be his primary focus. Now, with Paredes shelved indefinitely and Yordan Alvarez’s recovery from a hand fracture dragging out, Brown tells Chandler Rome of The Athletic that his primary focus is on adding to its lineup. The Astros have several starters on the mend, including Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Spencer Arrighetti, J.P. France and Lance McCullers Jr. It seems they’ll hope for some internal reinforcements to support co-aces Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez and instead aim to use their limited financial and prospect resources to augment the offense.

With that number of teams at least on the periphery of the market, it can be presumed that most contenders have at least put out some feelers. One team that notably is not in the running, per the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, is the Mets — at least for the moment. Despite a rotating cast of characters on the infield this year — Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña have all seen time around the infield but struggled to varying extents — the Mets’ main focus has been and remains upgrading the bullpen.

That said, SNY’s Andy Martino suggests that if the Mets use that infield depth to add to the bullpen or rotation (which they’re reportedly willing to do), they could at least consider the idea of pursuing Suárez to take over at the hot corner. The Mets haven’t been keen on parting with top prospects for rental players, but the D-backs have been scouting their Double-A club, in particular, with an eye toward potential Suárez packages, per Martino.

There’s no immediate indication that a Suárez trade will come together quickly on the heels of the Naylor swap, but the very fact that Naylor is on his way out the door serves as a clear indicator that any combination of Suárez, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly — at the very least — could be on the move in the next week. The D-backs also have rental relievers Jalen Beeks and Shelby Miller as trade candidates (Miller is on the injured list but has resumed throwing), and outfielder Randal Grichuk has a mutual option that won’t be exercised by both parties.

Mariners Have Shown Interest In Ryan McMahon

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D-backs slugger and former Mariner Eugenio Suárez is reported to be the Mariners’ top trade target, but he’s not a surefire bet to be available with Arizona on the periphery of the NL Wild Card chase. Seattle wouldn’t put all of its eggs in one basket anyhow — Suárez would have several motivated bidders trying to acquire him — so it’s not a big surprise to see Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post report that the Mariners are among the teams to show interest in Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon.

[Related: Seattle Mariners Trade Deadline Outlook]

The 30-year-old McMahon wouldn’t bring the same type of power as Suárez, but he’s younger with a much better glove and is signed for an additional two seasons. After a brutal start to his season and a poor final few months in 2024, McMahon has bounced back to his previous form. Dating back to May 1, he’s slashing .249/.333/.478 with 14 home runs, a dozen doubles and a triple. His 11.2% walk rate is strong, though a 29.7% strikeout rate in that span and a lengthy history of sub-par contact skills does present one concern.

McMahon does have pronounced home/road splits. He entered play Wednesday batting .253/.368/.500 at Coors Field and .189/.265/.324 on the road. He’d hardly be the first player to struggle on the road while playing home games at altitude and then even things out when traded to a more neutral setting, though. Prominent names like Matt Holliday, Dexter Fowler and Nolan Arenado (among others) have shown considerable home/road splits while playing for the Rockies before going on to find plenty of success elsewhere. That said, going from Coors Field to Seattle’s T-Mobile Park — perhaps the most pitcher-friendly setting in MLB — would potentially be a rude awakening.

McMahon has been particularly hot of late, hitting in six straight games and batting .345/.406/.848 with four homers and two doubles across his past eight contests. (That does not include the walk he drew in his first plate appearance of today’s game.) He’s being paid $12MM in 2025 — with about $4.32MM yet to be paid out — and is owed $16MM per year in 2026-27.

Although McMahon isn’t as complete a player as Matt Chapman, his remaining contract (which covers his age-31 and age-32 seasons) is a fraction of the six-year, $151MM contract Chapman signed starting in his age-32 season. McMahon’s contract looks affordable by comparison, and while much of the Mariners’ activity over the past two years has been dictated by ownership mandates to scale back payroll, ownership is reportedly willing to bump the payroll at this summer’s deadline.

Third base has been a weak spot for the Mariners throughout the season. Rookie Ben Williamson has been the primary option for Seattle, providing strong defense but virtually nothing in terms of power or on-base skills. The 24-year-old Williamson, Seattle’s second-round pick in 2023, rushed to the majors after just 14 games in Triple-A. He’s hitting .256/.289/.315 with one home run in his first 268 major league plate appearances.

Entering the season, the hope was that veteran switch-hitter Jorge Polanco — who re-signed as a free agent over the winter — would transition from second base to third base. Knee and side injuries have left Polanco as a designated hitter more often than not, however. His bat has more than held up its end of the equation, evidenced by a strong .254/.313/.462 slash with 15 homers and a tiny 14.2% strikeout rate. Polanco has played just 113 innings in the field this season, however.

[Related: Colorado Rockies Trade Deadline Outlook]

As for the Rockies, they tend not to be particularly active on the summer trade market even in non-contending seasons. They have a reputation for holding players well past the point at which their trade value reaches its apex. That’s arguably already happened with McMahon, though his resurgent play since May has done plenty of work to rebuild some of the value he’d lost over the past three to four months of play.

Saunders is the latest of several prominent reporters to suggest that with the Rockies bottoming out so significantly in 2025, they could well be more amenable to trading some veteran players over the next eight days. ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote similarly today, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggested as much earlier in the month as well.

Mariners, D-backs Have Discussed Eugenio Suárez

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The Mariners are among the teams with interest in Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suárez, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Adam Jude of the Seattle Times further reports that Suárez is viewed as Seattle’s top target in its well-known search for a corner infield upgrade. Jude adds that the Mariners and D-backs have held “preliminary” discussions regarding Suárez, whom Seattle views as a preferable option to Arizona first baseman Josh Naylor.

[Related: Seattle Mariners Trade Deadline Outlook]

The 34-year-old Suárez has emerged as perhaps the most coveted bat on the trade market. He’s hitting .257/.328/.605 with 36 home runs on the season and has been among the sport’s elite power hitters dating back to his July renaissance in 2024. It’s easy to forget now, given how dominant Suárez has been at the plate over the past calendar year, but the beginning of the slugger’s time in Arizona was a disaster. He hit so poorly through the season’s first two-plus months that he began to lose playing time to young Blaze Alexander. That shift didn’t last long, as Suárez caught fire while Alexander stumbled.

Dating back to June 25 of last season, Suárez has come to the plate 751 times and slashed .281/.341/.605 with a whopping 60 home runs, 36 doubles and a triple. Only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani have hit more home runs in that time (66 apiece). Suárez has bludgeoned left-handed and right-handed pitching alike. He’s being paid $15MM this season, with about $5.48MM of that sum yet to be paid out as of this writing. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end.

It’s not entirely clear yet that the Diamondbacks will trade Suárez at all, however. They swept the Cardinals in their first series coming out of the All-Star break, and though they lost to the Astros last night, they’re now just one game under .500 and 5.5 games back in the NL Wild Card chase. The Snakes have two more games against Houston before wrapping up their pre-deadline slate of games with three games in Pittsburgh and three games in Detroit.

Arizona general manager Mike Hazen has made clear that he hopes to avoid a sell-off and act as a buyer at this year’s deadline, but the team will have to perform well enough in this final push to justify that position. The Diamondbacks can also make a qualifying offer to Suárez if they hang onto him, so any trade return would need to eclipse the value of what would likely be a compensatory pick after the first-round of the 2026 draft.

[Related: Arizona Diamondbacks Trade Deadline Outlook]

If the Diamondbacks do end up seriously weighing offers for Suárez, a trade seems like a better outcome than that draft pick, however. The D-backs will likely take aim at contending again next season, and Suárez could net them some talent that can contribute either late this season or early next year. The draft selection would be a longer-term play, of course.

In theory, the Diamondbacks could even trade Suárez while still hoping to remain in contention this year. There’s no replacing his prodigious power output, but top prospect Jordan Lawlar could step into the everyday third base role down the stretch. Lawlar hasn’t hit at all in a tiny sample of 56 big league plate appearances, but he’s never been given any sort of regular playing time, either. He’s decimated Triple-A pitching this year, hitting .319/.410/.583 in 250 plate appearances. He’s currently on the minor league injured list with a hamstring strain but should return shortly after the deadline. Whether it’s this year or next, the 2021 No. 6 overall draft pick seems likely to get the opportunity to prove that he can be Arizona’s long-term option at the hot corner.

If the D-backs sell any veterans — Suárez or otherwise — they’re expected to focus on stockpiling young pitching. On the surface, that might sound like it makes Seattle a particularly appealing trade partner. However, the M’s aren’t going to trade an established starter like Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo or George Kirby for a rental, and outside of young Logan Evans, most of their higher-end pitching prospects (e.g. Ryan Sloan, Jurrangelo Cijntje) are further down the pipeline.

That’s not to say the two sides can’t line up on a deal. At the end of the day, talent wins out, and if the Mariners offer a demonstrably better package than the Yankees, Cubs and other suitors, the positions of the prospects won’t be crucial. Arizona could look to flip some of those prospects for established big league arms in the offseason, after all. But if the D-backs are weighing two offers they deem to be comparable in value, it seems likely that they’d gravitate toward one that included some pitching talent that could be in the majors before terribly long.

The Diamondbacks lost Corbin Burnes to Tommy John surgery last month. He won’t pitch until late in the 2026 season, at the earliest. Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are free agents at season’s end. In-house arms like Blake Walston and Tommy Henry also had UCL surgeries earlier this season. Young righty Cristian Mena has been out since June with a shoulder strain. Top pitching prospect Yilber Diaz has had a disastrous season in the minors. Big league starters Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez have both struggled. Adding some young arms is a sensible aim for the D-backs front office if they go the sell route in the coming week-plus.

The Mariners, of course, traded Suárez to the D-backs in the first place. That trade, following the 2023 season, was largely driven by a mandate from Seattle ownership to reduce payroll. The Mariners did come away from that swap with righty Carlos Vargas, who’s now a key member of the bullpen (47 innings, 3.83 ERA, 11 holds), but the front office surely would’ve preferred to hold onto the slugger and his vaunted clubhouse presence if not for those financial constraints. Mariners ownership is now reportedly willing to boost payroll, putting a reunion back on the table.

Mariners Select Brandyn Garcia

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The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Brandyn Garcia. Right-hander Juan Burgos has been optioned to Triple-A Tacoma as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster had a vacancy but is now full.

Garcia, now 25, was an 11th-round pick of the M’s in the 2023 draft. The M’s tried stretching him out last year, with good results. He tossed 116 innings with a 2.25 earned run average, 27% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 53.4% ground ball rate.

Despite those solid numbers, the M’s decided to have him work as a reliever this year. There have been some concerns about his control and he mostly only throws two pitches, a sinker and a slider, so evaluators have suggested he would be a reliever in the long run.

The numbers are good again this year. He has thrown 33 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a combined 3.51 ERA. His 11.4% walk rate is high but he has punched out 28.2% of batters faced and gotten opponents to pound 55.4% of batted balls into the ground. Last month, FanGraphs ranked him the #15 prospect in the system. Baseball America currently has him in the #19 slot.

Seattle has had Gabe Speier as the only lefty in the bullpen for much of the year. Jhonathan Díaz and Tayler Saucedo each got brief stints, pitching less than five innings each. Garcia will provide the club with a second lefty arm for now. Perhaps the M’s will make some bullpen additions ahead of the trade deadline. Since this is Garcia’s first big league call, he has a full slate of options and can be easily sent back to Tacoma if he gets squeezed out by Seattle’s deadline activity.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Daniel Bard Retires

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Veteran reliever Daniel Bard is ending his comeback bid and will retire, reports WEEI’s Rob Bradford. The 40-year-old Bard signed a minor league contract with the Mariners earlier this summer and had pitched well in a limited look with Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk with nine punchouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Originally a first-round pick by the Red Sox back in 2006, Bard made his big league debut in 2009 and quickly became a star reliever in Boston. In his first three seasons, the righty pitched 197 innings of  2.88 ERA ball and piled up 79 holds and five saves. Along the way, he fanned nearly 27% of his opponents. That’d be a strong mark even in today’s game, but at the time, the league-average strikeout rate sat around 18% (compared to this year’s 21.9%). Bard ranked 21st among all relievers in strikeout rate over that three-year period and, despite not debuting until mid-May in ’09, tallied the third-most holds in MLB from ’09-’11.

In 2012, the Red Sox tried moving Bard into the rotation, hoping some of that single-inning dominance would carry over to lengthier stretches. It didn’t pan out. Bard made ten starts and was hit hard, yielding a 5.30 ERA in 54 1/3 innings and showing some alarming command troubles. The lanky right-hander walked more hitters (36) than he struck out (34) and plunked eight batters. He was moved back into the bullpen later in the season.

Bard’s command struggles had actually begun in September of 2011. They continued in 2012 during that shift to the rotation, and reached a tipping point the following season. Bard pitched just one major league inning in 2013, plus another 15 1/3 frames in the minors — during which he walked one-third of the batters he faced and threw 11 wild pitches. Bard would eventually learn that he’d also been pitching with an undiagnosed case of thoracic outlet syndrome — he underwent surgery in 2014 — and he’s also been candid throughout his career about his ongoing battle with anxiety.

A series of minor league deals with the Rangers, Cubs, Pirates, Cardinals and Mets didn’t pan out, and by 2017 Bard had opted to call it a career and move onto the next phase of his baseball journey. He took a job with the D-backs, serving as a player mentor/mental skills coach who worked with young players throughout the organization. Bard held that position for a couple years but found that with some time off, his velocity, command and desire to pitch all returned. He worked out for clubs ahead of the 2020 season, signed a minor league deal with the Rockies and embarked on one of the more improbable comebacks in recent memory.

Bard was heading into his age-35 season and hadn’t pitched in the majors for seven years when he went to camp with the Rockies. He wound up not only earning a spot on the roster in the shortened 2020 season — he was named National League Comeback Player of the Year. Bard pitched 24 2/3 innings with the Rockies that season and logged a 3.65 ERA with a 25.5% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate, six saves and two holds. His fastball, which had sat 93-94 in 2012-13 while he was unknowingly pitching with thoracic outlet syndrome, averaged a hearty 97.3 mph.

Bard had a tough 2021 season but was brilliant in 2022 when he saved 34 games and pitched to a 1.79 earned run average. The Rockies signed him to a two-year, $19MM extension that summer rather than ship him out when he would’ve been one of the most popular rental arms on the trade market. That contract didn’t work out, as Bard struggled again in 2023 and missed the 2024 season recovering from a pair of surgeries: one to repair a torn meniscus and another to repair a torn flexor tendon. He’d hoped to make one final run in the majors, but he’ll now wrap up one of the more interesting career arcs this generation of baseball has seen.

All told, Bard pitched in parts of five seasons with the Red Sox and four with the Rockies — plus minor league appearances with the Rangers, Cardinals and Mets. He pitched 457 1/3 big league innings, saved 66 games, tallied 91 holds and recorded a 3.74 ERA. Bard set down just over 24% of the hitters he faced on strikes over the course of his career, and he earned more than $31MM in salary, thanks largely to that late-career extension in Colorado.

Bard has already taken one non-playing job with the Diamondbacks. It stands to reason that plenty of clubs would welcome someone with Bard’s background to their organization, be it in a coaching role, a player development role or a baseball operations role — should he choose to again look for new opportunities to stay involved in the game.

Notable Draft Signings: July 18-19th, 2025

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Here’s a roundup of players from the recent draft who were signed or agreed to terms in the past two days. For an arbitrary cutoff, this post will focus on players taken before the second round or any later picks who signed a bonus of $2MM or more. Pre-draft rankings and scouting reports are provided by Keith Law of the Athletic, Baseball America, FanGraphs, MLB Pipeline and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.

  • The Cubs have signed outfielder Ethan Conrad to a bonus of $3,563,100, per Jim Callis of MLB.com. Conrad was selected 17th overall, a pick that comes with a $4,750,800 slot. Since the Cubs are saving over a million on their first-round pick, they should have lots of leeway to lock up the remaining players in their class.
  • The Tigers have signed shortstop Jordan Yost with a $3.25MM bonus, per Callis. Yost went 24th overall, a pick that comes with a slot value of $3,726,300. Per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, Detroit has also agreed to terms with their second pick, catcher Michael Oliveto. Selected in the competitive balance A round, 34th overall, his $2.45MM signing bonus is below his $2,827,300 slot value. Between Yost and Oliveto, the Tigers have saved close to a million bucks, which can be redirected to the other guys they drafted.
  • The Orioles have signed catcher Caden Bodine with a $3,113,300 bonus, per Callis. Callis also relays that shortstop Wehiwa Aloy has signed for $3,042,800. Bodine and Aloy were taken 30th and 31st respectively, with the compensation picks the O’s received for Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander rejecting qualifying offers and signing elsewhere. Both bonuses were full slot value for their respective picks. The O’s also signed first-rounder Ike Irish to a bonus right around slot value, so they’ve played things pretty straight-up with their top three picks.
  • The Brewers announced that they have signed shortstop Brady Ebel, the son of Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel. The younger Ebel was selected 32nd overall, the pick the Brewers received for Willy Adames rejecting a qualifying offer and signing elsewhere. That pick comes with a $2.97MM slot value. The signing bonus has not yet been publicly reported. [UPDATE: Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo reports that Ebel signed for a below-slot $2.75MM bonus.]
  • The Mariners have agreed to terms with 19 of their draft picks, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. Top pick Kade Anderson’s bonus was previously reported. The M’s also gave catcher Luke Stevenson a bonus of $2.8MM and shortstop Nick Becker $2.75MM. Stevenson was taken in the competitive balance A round, 33rd overall. This bonus comes in just barely above the $2.76MM slot for that pick. Becker was selected in the second round 57th overall, a pick that comes with a slot of $1.64MM. Anderson’s bonus was about $700K under slot and it seems the M’s redirected those savings to get Becker to sign. Callis reported the Stevenson bonus earlier today.
  • The Yankees have signed shortstop Dax Kilby to a $2.8MM bonus, per Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. Kilby was selected 39th overall, though that was actually the club’s top pick. Their first-rounder was pushed back ten spots because they went over the third competitive balance tax threshold last year. Slot for the pick was $2,509,500, so they went a bit over to get him to sign.
  • The Rays signed outfielder Brendan Summerhill to a $1,997,500 bonus, per Callis. He was selected 42nd overall, in competitive balance round A. Slot value for that pick was $2,331,000, so the Rays saved a bit on this one. The Rays also went below-slot to sign first-round Daniel Pierce, so they have lots of extra powder for the rest of their class.
  • The Cardinals signed shortstop Ryan Mitchell to a $2.25MM bonus, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. Mitchell was taken in the second round, 55th overall. The slot for that pick is $1,720,300, so the Cards went about half a million above to get this one done. They saved close to a million when signing first-rounder Liam Doyle, so it seems some of those savings were used to ink Mitchell.

Photo courtesy of Dylan Widger, Imagn Images

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