The Mariners are in a weird spot, and Jerry Dipoto has made that even clearer.
Seattle sits at 47-46, a perfectly ordinary record that still leaves the club just one game behind the second AL seed. The team hasn’t played to its ceiling, but the watered-down state of the American League has kept the door open. That means the Mariners are expected to buy ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline, even if the path they take may not look like last year’s more aggressive push.
The obvious needs are there: a quality reliever and a right-handed bat who can handle lefties. And Dipoto has already hinted that the crowded playoff race could create more buyer-to-buyer movement, which would mean parting with MLB talent.
"That is something that is going to be pretty prominent over the next four to five weeks."
ESPN’s Jeff Passan weighed in on Tuesday during an appearance on Seattle Sports with Brock Huard and Mike Salk, saying those kinds of deals are tough to pull off because "there has to be a perfect fit positionally, and there has to be depth there to backfill."
That’s the challenge for Seattle. Finding a trade partner willing to deal in that kind of market won’t be easy. But if the Mariners do decide to get creative, there are a few names that could come up.
Luis Castillo is the most obvious one. Seattle has a six-man rotation, and top pitching prospects Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan are on the way.
In a perfect world, the Mariners would love to move Castillo because of his age, salary and the fact that his production has dipped. The problem is that those same factors could make other teams hesitate.
Still, Castillo has pitched better lately, helped in part by the Mariners’ short-lived and controversial piggyback strategy. In his first 10 games, he posted a 6.41 ERA, 4.54 FIP and 1.55 WHIP across 46.1 innings.
Over his next seven outings, those numbers improved to a 2.72 ERA, 2.93 FIP and 1.05 WHIP in 36.1 innings. He’s not the All-Star-level arm he was a few years ago, but he’s still a starter who could help a contender that needs rotation depth.
If Seattle does move a position player, Luke Raley makes sense as a name to watch. Passan said he didn’t expect the Mariners to trade any of their position players, but if they did, he mentioned Raley or Dominic Canzone. That came before the Mariners removed the platoon label from Canzone and made him a full-time lineup regular, which makes Raley the more logical candidate.
Raley has value. He was productive before injury slowed him last year, and he opened this season hot, hitting .280 with a .932 OPS and 163 wRC+ through the end of May. His bat has cooled since then, but he still brings versatility, speed and arm strength, and he’s under club control through 2028.
Then there’s Jhonny Pereda, who stretches the “MLB-level” label a bit but has clearly made an impression. He has only 19 games with the Mariners, and his .689 OPS and 98 OPS+ don’t leap off the page. Even so, he has become a fan favorite in a short time, and former MLB consulting scout Joe Doyle said in May that the 30-year-old does plenty of things that don’t show up in the numbers.
Pereda has flashed enough in limited chances to matter, whether it’s a smart play on the bases, a timely home run, or the kind of effort that stands out in a clubhouse. He’s earned more playing time somewhere at the Major League level, even if that means Seattle would hate to lose him.
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The wrinkle is that the Mariners also have pieces other contenders want, particularly starting pitching depth and left-handed bats, which could make them both shoppers and suppliers in the same week. ESPNs Jeff Passan said those kinds of deals are complicated to build, and he pointed to the possibility of Seattle using its prospect capital in the right kind of swap, a setup that would fit the kind of deadline move Dipoto has been willing to chase before. [Read more 🡒]