The Mariners are hunting for offense, and that part is no mystery. They sit near the bottom of Major League Baseball in runs scored and OPS, and another summer of waiting for the bats to magically sort themselves out would be a mistake.
That’s why Spencer Steer is on the radar. According to Adam Jude of The Seattle Times, Seattle is reportedly interested in the Cincinnati Reds utilityman, and the fit makes sense on the surface.
Steer hits right-handed, has already played six defensive positions this season, is under club control through 2028, and has 16 home runs. For a team that values flexibility, he checks a lot of boxes.
But there’s a catch, and it’s a big one.
Steer has absolutely crushed left-handed pitching this year, posting a 1.062 OPS against southpaws. Against right-handers, though, that number falls all the way to .657. His overall line sits at .240/.320/.423, which is solid enough for a versatile player, but not the kind of production that should send Seattle into a bidding war.
And that split matters because the Mariners’ issue isn’t just surviving one matchup here and there. They entered the weekend with an MLB-worst .635 OPS against lefties, so yes, Steer could help in that specific lane. He might be a useful option against a left-handed starter, perhaps in place of Luke Raley, or he could give Josh Naylor a break at first base and open up another DH possibility.
That kind of role has value. It just isn’t the same thing as landing a true middle-of-the-order bat.
Right-handed pitching still dominates the sport, and any lineup upgrade has to hold up once the opposing manager turns to a righty in the sixth inning. On that front, Steer hasn’t done enough this season to inspire a massive trade package.
That’s where the conversation gets dangerous for Seattle. The Mariners are reportedly willing to listen on Emerson Hancock, who is also controlled through 2030 and won’t reach arbitration until 2028. There hasn’t been any direct link between Hancock and a Steer deal, but deadline talks can move fast when one club needs offense and another wants controllable pitching.
Still, Hancock should not be the price for Steer. Moving six-plus seasons of a productive starter for a hitter carrying a .657 OPS against righties would be a poor use of Seattle’s biggest asset. The Mariners should be using their pitching depth to buy the right kind of offense, not spending it on a player who could end up sitting when a right-hander starts a postseason game.
The same caution should apply to the organization’s top prospects. Club control only matters if the player is good enough to keep in the lineup through those extra years.
Seattle can stay interested in Steer. He would help.
He just wouldn’t change everything.
In Other News...
Mariners Already Face An Uncomfortable Colt Emerson Reality
The Mariners made a rare long-term bet on Colt Emerson before he had taken a big-league at-bat, and the idea was simple enough: lock in a premium talent early and let the contract age alongside his development. Emerson debuted on May 17 and has been in the lineup regularly since, giving Seattle an immediate look at the player it was so eager to secure, even if the first stretch has not matched the level of expectation that came with the deal.
Offensively, Emerson has had the kind of uneven start that can make an early extension feel uncomfortable in the moment, with the strikeouts piling up and the production lagging behind what the Mariners hoped for. The encouraging part is that this is still a young player learning on the job, and Seattle has already seen one in-house example in Cole Young of how quickly a prospect can turn a rough rookie stretch into something much more convincing the following season. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners May Have Let The Perfect Right-Handed Bat Slip Away
Seattles search for a right-handed bat keeps circling back to the same problem: the Mariners need offense, and they need it from a side of the plate that can help balance a lineup that has too often looked too easy to pitch to. Curtis Mead would have fit that need cleanly, especially for a club still trying to dig out of an extended slump at the plate and looking for someone who could bring more consistent damage against left-handed pitching.
Meads breakout season has only sharpened the sense of what might have been. As he keeps producing in 2026, the Mariners are left to sort through the familiar frustration of watching a potential answer land elsewhere while their own offense continues to search for traction. There are other names out there, but the bigger issue remains the same: Seattle still has to find a right-handed hitter who can change the shape of the lineup, and that kind of fit is getting harder to miss. [Read more 🡒]
Tyler Locklears Rise Puts Mariners Fans Right Back In That Debate
Tyler Locklears name is circling back into the Mariners conversation for a reason. The former Seattle prospect, dealt to Arizona in the 2025 Eugenio Surez trade, has started to look like a different hitter since resurfacing with the Diamondbacks in 2026, and the early returns have been encouraging enough to make the old questions in Seattle feel fresh again. Arizona has given him a real runway at first base, something he never quite had with the Mariners, and he has already shown the kind of plate discipline that made him such an intriguing bat in the first place.
For Seattle fans, the debate is familiar: was Locklear always going to need a change of scenery, or did the organization simply run out of room for him? The Mariners got the October payoff they wanted from Surez, but Locklears progress is a reminder that the other side of that deal still matters, especially when a young hitter starts putting together better at-bats and looking more comfortable in a role that fits him. The next stretch will say a lot about whether this is just a hot start or the beginning of something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]