Mason Miller has been pitching like a video game glitch all season, and that alone is enough to make him the kind of arm every contender dreams about. For the Mariners, he would be a brutal addition to a bullpen that could use the help. The problem is obvious: getting him might mean parting with names that would split a fan base right down the middle.
Miller’s numbers are outrageous. He leads the National League with 25 saves and has put together a 0.89 ERA, a 0.52 WHIP, a 0.836 WHIP and a 48.4 percent strikeout rate.
He also sits in the 100th percentile in several categories, including Fastball Velo, Hard-Hit%, xBA and xERA. That is the profile of a reliever who changes the shape of a game the second he steps on the mound.
Seattle has already been linked to him, even if Padres general manager A.J. Preller has tried to cool the chatter. He said the deal for the right-hander was made last year with the idea that Miller would be around for a long time, adding: "And our intent is still the same as when we made the deal last year."
That said, “intent” is not exactly a lock. The Padres have slid to 49-50 after being 11 games over .500 at one point, and that kind of drift can make a front office more willing to listen. Preller has reason to stay open-minded if there’s a way to help the club.
Seattle, meanwhile, has a need for starting pitching, and the Mariners are also willing to move a starter in order to land a back-end reliever and a right-handed bat. Luis Castillo is the preferred name to move, but that path does not appear to be enough. Emerson Hancock alone would not get it done either.
So the idea that has been floated is a much bigger swing: George Kirby and Michael Arroyo for Miller and Miguel Andujar.
The Kirby angle is the one that makes this so thorny. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2028 season, and the Mariners view him as the least likely of their trio with Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo to sign a long-term extension.
That does not mean Seattle is low on him. It just means the organization is being realistic about how hard it may be to keep all three starters together.
From that perspective, flipping Kirby now for Miller gives the Mariners a dominant late-inning weapon under team control through 2030. That is the basic appeal: trade from a position of strength to shore up a weakness with an elite arm.
Arroyo is the other piece, and he brings more uncertainty. His development has hit some bumps, and Baseball America does not have him in its updated top 100 prospects list.
His bat has been hot over the last couple of months, but questions about his defense have raised doubts about whether he can find everyday at-bats. The hope is that his upside still tempts San Diego.
Andujar would be the return on the other side of the equation, giving Seattle a more established right-handed bat. He is a career .279 hitter with a .751 OPS.
There is, of course, a strong argument against sending Kirby out the door. Good starting pitching is never something a team should casually give away, and Kirby might be the most talented arm in the Mariners rotation.
He is also one of their most dependable pitchers when he is right. His career 3.8 walk-rate speaks to the kind of control that makes him so valuable, and even in a season with some bumps, he is still tied for the team lead with 11 quality starts in 18 outings.
Arroyo also has a case to stay in the system. Since coming off the Injured List, he has been on a tear, and he has been even better since reaching Triple-A, where he has hit .350 in nine games with a .991 OPS.
That surge has people wondering whether he can be the right-handed bat Seattle needs. Andujar’s numbers do not exactly push back hard on that idea, either, since he has a -0.3 bWAR this year.
In the end, this is the kind of trade that would make sense only if both sides are willing to take a real leap. The Mariners would get an elite reliever to help cover for the uneven Andrés Muñoz, but they would also be giving up one of their core starters. There is even the possibility that moving Kirby could hit the clubhouse harder than anyone wants to admit.
For San Diego, the offer would at least be worth serious thought. Miller would bring back a quality starter, and a package like this could fit with the kind of confidence Jerry Dipoto might have in Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan developing into major league contributors.
It is a deal that would get people talking for all the right and wrong reasons. And it would almost certainly leave both fan bases divided.
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Reese is now headed to the Mariners spring training facility in Peoria, Arizona, to begin preparing for his first professional season in 2027, and the early introduction only adds to the anticipation around how he fits into the clubs long-term plan. Dan Wilson also pointed to the teams mentoring tradition during Reeses introduction, a reminder that the Mariners are already thinking beyond the signing ceremony and into the handoff from one generation to the next. [Read more 🡒]