The Mariners’ rotation has become one of their biggest talking points again, and this winter could bring another familiar question: how much pitching are they willing to move?
Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander have spent the past four offseasons mostly resisting the idea of dealing one of their homegrown starters. Their answers have shifted over time, from flat-out no to a more recent willingness to “open to listening.” At the MLB GM Meetings in Las Vegas this week, Dipoto went a step further, saying the Mariners have sometimes been the “protagonist” in starting conversations about trading one of their starters.
That does not mean a deal is inevitable. It does, however, mean the idea is very much on the table.
On paper, Seattle has the kind of starting depth teams usually envy. The club finished the year with six starters, and Ryan Sloan and Logan Evans add to that group.
But depth can disappear fast, and the Mariners have seen that firsthand. Bryce Miller missed the start of last season with an oblique strain.
The year before, George Kirby was unavailable at the beginning of the year, and Logan Gilbert went down on April 25 with a flexor strain.
That’s the problem with banking on depth before the season even starts: it only takes one injury to make it look thin. Evans is unlikely to be ready right away after elbow surgery, and it’s fair to wonder whether Seattle would want to lean on Sloan earlier than planned.
If the Mariners open with six starters, they can absorb an injury and still keep a standard five-man rotation intact. If they trade one, they’re suddenly down to four proven starters and could be forced to bring two rookies into the mix sooner than expected.
And if another starter gets hurt early, as happened in 2025, the whole picture changes quickly. The Mariners would still have young arms in the system, but the margin for error would shrink in a hurry.
At the same time, the rotation can’t just sit there forever. There’s a natural transition happening.
Kade Anderson is up, and Sloan is at least within a season of being ready to take his place. That creates the kind of homegrown turnover that eventually forces a decision, and space will have to be made somewhere.
The bigger question is whether the offensive help Seattle wants is actually out there. That’s been the sticking point in past winters as well: the Mariners have needed upgrades that money alone couldn’t solve, which is part of why a starter has been part of the conversation.
This time, though, the market may not line up neatly. A trade is unlikely to be a simple one-for-one swap, and if the kind of bat the Mariners want becomes available, plenty of other teams will be chasing it too.
So yes, the Mariners can trade a starter. They don’t have to.
Six starters can carry them for a while if the plan is sound. They can choose to protect their deepest strength and live with the risk that comes with that.
But based on Dipoto’s comments, they don’t sound like a team trying to avoid the conversation. What happens next depends on whether the player they want actually hits the market.
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