The Mariners have a pretty clear shopping list, but the market may not make life easy on them.
Seattle needs a right-handed bat and help in the bullpen, and both of those asks come at a time when a lot of contenders are looking for the same kind of pieces. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said on MLB Network Radio that the deadline landscape is crowded in a way that could change how teams do business.
“The number of times I’ve sat watching our games with guys from the front office [and asked], ‘Who is going to be a mover at the Deadline the way the standings look today?’” Dipoto said in a recent interview with MLB Network Radio. “And that’s certainly a reasonable question to ask.
“There are not a lot of teams that would be obvious sellers today. For our specific needs, I wouldn’t say that there are a lot of obvious teams that fit us.”
"That is something that is going to be pretty prominent over the next four to five weeks."
Dipoto also pointed to a market where contenders may end up dealing with each other more than usual.
“I think there are enough contending teams with real holes or needs to fill that you might actually see more action with contender trading with contender -- like, buyer-to-buyer type trades to fill voids,” Dipoto said.
“It’s not a common thing in history at the Trade Deadline. But I do think that is something that is going to be pretty prominent in the next four or five weeks, simply because there are not enough obvious sellers with the kind of player availability that’s going to fill the needs of all the contending clubs.”
That lines up with the bigger picture around the league. Twenty-three of the 30 teams are either in a playoff spot or within four games of one, which makes this feel more like a buyers’ market than a classic deadline with clear sellers.
For Seattle, the need against left-handed pitching jumps off the page. The Mariners have an MLB-worst .631 OPS against lefties, and the problem is even sharper because their entire infield bats left-handed. Brendan Donovan is not part of that equation yet, either; he has not started a Minor League rehab assignment and is expected to move into a super-utility role once he returns.
The fixes can’t all come from outside the organization, though. Cal Raleigh is one obvious place for improvement, since he has a .441 OPS and just one homer against lefties this season.
The bullpen needs attention, too. The Mariners could get Matt Brash and Cooper Criswell back around mid-August, but they do not want to lean only on arms coming off long injury absences. A proven reliever still looks like a necessity.
There is also the question of whether Seattle is willing to deal from its rotation. Sources have said the Mariners are more open than they’ve ever been to that possibility, though it is still not their preferred path. If they do go that route, Luis Castillo is the name they would most prefer to move.
That comes with a catch. Castillo is owed $24.15 million next year, and he has a $25 million vesting option for 2027 if he reaches 180 innings that season.
That price tag could make him tough to move, even in a market where starters will be in demand. It could also force Seattle to bundle him with a big league hitter and prospect capital to balance out the money.
So the equation gets complicated fast. If the Mariners want to add to the roster, they may have to subtract from it first.
Prospect-wise, Seattle has six players in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100, and nearly all of them could come up in trade talks. The exceptions are Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan, who could still factor into the post-Deadline roster picture.
There is also the Julio Rodríguez factor. Since his 2022 rookie season, he ranks sixth in OPS at .902 and ninth in homers with 59 among 112 hitters who have played at least 200 games after the All-Star break. The bigger issue right now is his recovery from the concussion that kept him out for the final nine games of the first half, and how long he might remain sidelined.
And then there’s the roster fit problem. Seattle does not have the kind of obvious openings that made last year’s deadline so straightforward, when the club could target first base and third base and ended up with Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez.
This time, the alignment is messier. The Mariners have established spots at catcher with Raleigh, first base with Naylor, second base with Cole Young, shortstop with Colt Emerson and center field with Rodríguez.
Their best hitter since June has been the designated hitter, Dominic Canzone. Meanwhile, Randy Arozarena and J.P.
Crawford are both on expiring contracts. Moving any of those three would be hard to justify from both a production and optics standpoint, unless Seattle decides to get extremely creative and extremely bold.
In Other News...
Mariners May Have Found Their Next Late Round Draft Steal
The Mariners have made a habit of finding real value in the draft, and not just at the top of the board. Their young core has been built around first-round talent such as Cole Young, Colt Emerson and Logan Gilbert, but the organization has also shown a knack for uncovering contributors later on, with Bryan Woo and Dominic Canzone serving as reminders that Seattle does not need a premium pick to land a useful big leaguer.
That background is what makes this latest group worth watching. Dominic Santarelli, Wyatt Queen and Henry Ford all bring different kinds of upside, from pitching depth to bat speed to the sort of college track record that can make a front office dream on a faster climb through the system. Queens profile in particular gives Seattle another intriguing arm to keep tabs on, while Ford arrives with a resume that suggests he was overlooked longer than he should have been, leaving the Mariners with another potential late-round find to follow closely. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Fans Have Every Reason To Worry About Brendan Donovan
Brendan Donovans season has already been defined by frustration, and the latest update only adds to the unease around his status. Limited to 25 games because of injury concerns, Donovan still hasnt started the minor league rehab assignment that was expected, leaving the Mariners with more questions than answers about when, or even how fully, he might be available again.
For a club already dealing with its share of health issues, Donovans absence matters because of what he has shown when hes on the field. His production has been strong enough to make him a meaningful piece for the second half, but the uncertainty around his return now hangs over a team that could use every healthy bat it can get. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Just Got Beaten To A Bat They Clearly Needed
The Mariners have been hunting for a right-handed bat that can help them handle left-handed pitching, and Jahmai Jones looked like the kind of low-cost option that could fit the brief. Instead, Boston stepped in first, claiming Jones off waivers from Detroit and adding him to its active roster, another reminder that even the smaller roster fixes can disappear quickly this time of year.
For Seattle, the miss lands at a moment when the trade deadline is closing in and the available pool of right-handed help is not exactly overflowing. The club still has some bench depth on the right side, but the broader issue is whether the front office will push hard enough to find a real answer or keep waiting for the market to break its way. [Read more 🡒]