The Mariners’ search for a right-handed bat just got a lot tougher, and the timing could not be worse with the Aug. 3 trade deadline closing in.
Seattle was already working with a thin list, and now two of the most natural fits have been knocked off the board in a matter of days. First it was Spencer Steer, who landed on the IL with a partial tear in his right wrist area. Now Giants infielder Casey Schmitt is out with a torn left meniscus that could end his season.
Schmitt had been one of the cleanest matches for what the Mariners need. There was never any firm reporting that Seattle and San Francisco were actually working on a deal for him, but the fit was obvious enough that he kept coming up as a logical target. The Mariners reportedly scouted the Giants, and Schmitt’s profile lined up neatly with the job description.
Through 98 games, Schmitt was hitting .271/.301/.483 with a .784 OPS and a career-high 21 home runs. He also posted an .820 OPS against left-handed pitching, and his ability to move around the infield would have given Seattle plenty of ways to deploy him. On top of that, he remains under club control through the 2029 season.
That combination mattered. The Mariners need someone who can help the lineup right away without forcing them to overpay in future value.
Schmitt fit that lane. At this point, though, it’s fair to say that door is shut.
Steer offered a similar appeal before his injury took him out of the picture. The Reds are hoping rest will keep him from needing season-ending surgery, but he’ll spend two weeks in a splint before being reevaluated, and that timeline runs right through the deadline. He had a 1.062 OPS against lefties and could handle nearly every position on the field, which made him exactly the kind of movable right-handed bat Seattle could have used in a few different lineup looks.
The problem for the Mariners is the market itself. Jerry Dipoto already pointed out how crowded it was before these injuries hit. At that point, 23 of MLB’s 30 teams were either in a playoff spot or within four games of one, which leaves very few clubs in sell mode and a lot of teams chasing the same limited supply.
That kind of setup gives sellers all the leverage. And it puts Seattle in a tricky spot, because a merely average right-handed hitter does not suddenly become a premium target just because the alternatives have disappeared.
The Mariners have reportedly been more open to dealing from their starting rotation than they have in past years, and that could make sense if the return is right. Schmitt and Steer at least gave them names worth discussing in a meaningful trade package. The remaining options may not offer that kind of value.
Seattle is close enough to the postseason race that standing pat would feel risky. Schmitt was more than a right-handed bat; he was the sort of acquisition that could address a current hole without creating a future headache.
The Mariners can live without him. What they can’t do is let his injury push them into paying a premium for a player who doesn’t justify it.
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But the same pitching surplus that makes the staff so enviable also creates a familiar front-office dilemma, because the club still has obvious offensive needs to sort through. Hancocks name has already surfaced in trade chatter as the type of arm that could help Seattle address that imbalance, and with so many starters pushing for innings, the Mariners may soon have to decide whether to keep the rotation intact or use that depth to fill a different hole. [Read more 🡒]