If there was one trade the Mariners probably should have seen coming, it was this one.
Curtis Mead is headed to Boston, and with that, the first major move of the summer trading season is in the books. The Red Sox landed the 25-year-old infielder from the Nationals in a one-for-one deal for left-hander Connelly Early, a swap ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported on Saturday night.
It’s the kind of deal that makes immediate sense for both sides. Boston gets the right-handed bat it wanted, Washington gets a young arm with upside, and the two front offices involved - Craig Breslow in Boston and Paul Toboni in D.C. - clearly saw a clean fit. Now the question becomes whether Mead is the hitter the Red Sox need and whether Early is the pitcher the Nationals are betting on.
For the Mariners, though, the bigger story is what didn’t happen.
Seattle has been linked to the idea of moving Emerson Hancock for a right-handed hitter, and Mead would have fit that lane almost too neatly. Hancock and Mead have both been former top prospects who looked stalled out not long ago, then suddenly started flashing real life this season. They’re both in their 20s, both under club control through 2030, and both feel like players who have finally started to turn a corner.
The difference, of course, is that one throws and one hits.
Mead’s case is still a little tricky because he was designated for assignment by the Chicago White Sox in March, so there’s naturally some skepticism attached to the breakout. But the production is real enough to take seriously. Better swing decisions have led to more contact and better contact, and the result so far has been a 134 wRC+ with 17 home runs.
That profile would have played in Seattle. The Mariners have been searching for right-handed help, and Mead’s work against lefties stands out in particular.
His 146 wRC+ versus left-handed pitching ranks in the top 25 among all hitters. For a Seattle lineup that has leaned heavily on Randy Arozarena, that kind of bat would have been a welcome addition.
Arozarena leads Mariners regulars with a 139 OPS+, and he’s also been one of the few Seattle hitters consistently doing damage against left-handers. Mead would have given them another option in that same space, which is exactly why this trade feels like a miss from the outside.
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean Seattle never tried. It could turn out the Mariners were involved and simply lost out, the same way they did with Jhoan Duran last year when the Twins preferred the Phillies’ package. But whatever the reason, Mead is off the board now, and Jerry Dipoto has one fewer path to the right-handed bat the club badly needs.
And the need is only getting louder.
Since an eight-game winning streak ended on June 2, the Mariners rank last in the majors in runs, home runs, batting average and slugging percentage. One hitting coach is already gone, but the first two games of this weekend’s series against the AL West-leading Texas Rangers have made it clear the problem runs much deeper than one coaching change.
So the list of names remains the same: Casey Schmitt, Spencer Steer, Matt Shaw. Seattle still has to go get somebody.
If not, the other option is to sell at the August 3 deadline, and as hard as that would be, it would at least be a decision that acknowledges the reality in front of them. Standing pat wouldn’t do that.
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