Seattle Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto.
In a shocking move, the Seattle Mariners traded three of their top five prospects for Luis Castillo. He was regarded as the best pitcher available at the time and it was widely thought he’d go to another team. Yet, here we are with him on the Mariners. Now the question is do they go with a six-man rotation or do they remove someone from the current rotation? If it’s the latter then who? Marco Gonzales has been solid. Chris Flexen has compiled a 1.4 WAR this season. George Kirby has looked really good, even if he could use some more MLB experience.
Regardless, this is a good problem for the Seattle Mariners to have, for once. So, now that they have their starting pitcher acquired. The attention now turns to the offense and the need to acquire an impact bat. Or do they? Let’s lay out some context. The M’s have three legit outfielders in Jesse Winker, Julio Rodriguez, and Kyle Lewis. They also have Adam Frazier, Sam Haggerty, and Dylan Moore who can play out there too. Taylor Trammell and Mitch Haniger are working their way back from their respective injuries. Haniger is expected back within the next week or two. While Trammell is looking at an August return.
In the infield, the Seattle Mariners have Eugenio Suarez, J.P. Crawford, Ty France, and the previously mentioned Frazier. They also have recently acquired Carlos Santana and Abraham Toro to accompany the aforementioned Haggerty and Moore. Behind the plate, it’s still Cal Raleigh and Luis Torrens. And in case anyone forgot you can only play eight fielders to go with the pitcher. So, they have a lot of players and it might be a good idea to consolidate some of this talent by trading a few for an upgrade at a position.
Next: Page 2 – Quality over quantity
Say someone like Juan Soto. Now before you stop reading because you say that Washington is only interested in prospects and not MLB players. I’m just using his name as an example of a player who would be an upgrade for the team. A quick aside, even though the Seattle Mariners dealt a lot of prospects for Castilo they still have a deep enough farm system to acquire Soto. That’s kind of crazy to think about considering how bad the farm system was not too long ago.
Ok back to the Seattle Mariners needing to make a trade to get an impact bat. Even after the team made the move to acquire Frazier in the offseason he hasn’t quite played as his career numbers suggest. So, the team could use an upgrade at second base. They could use an outfielder. Or do they need an outfielder? As previously mentioned both Haniger and Trammell are working their way back from injury. KLew can also see some playing time in the outfield as well. And then there’s Jarred Kelenic who is really tearing it up in Triple-A.
So, now that means the Seattle Mariners will have Haniger, Winker, JRod, and KLew. With Trammell and Kelenic waiting in the wings/minor league. So, while M’s fans want Jerry Dipoto to make a trade to acquire a bat it’s quite possible that doesn’t happen. Getting an impact bat like Haniger back into the lineup can have the same effect as trading for someone. Couple that with KLew getting back into the groove and now you have two impact bats in the lineup. Thus lengthening the lineup beyond just Crawford, France, and JRod.
Next: Page 3 – Covering all sides
However, in the interest of being pragmatic and having Trader Jerry as the Seattle Mariners GM the possibility of a trade is always on the table. Add in the fact that both Lewis and Kelenic were pulled from their most recent games and the speculation of a possible trade is running wild. There’s one M’s Twitter fan who is so sure that this means the team is acquiring the previously mentioned Soto. I’m not sure about that but you can never say never. Most likely the Kelenic scratch is due to the JRod and Moore injury and a call-up is likely.
Regardless though, the case can be made that the Seattle Mariners don’t need to go out and acquire a bat they just need to get some of their players back healthy. A possible future lineup could be Rodriguez, France, Haniger, Lewis, Suarez, Crawford, Winker, Frazier, and Raleigh. Leaving Toro, Moore, Haggerty, and Torrens on the bench. That is of course if the M’s don’t put Moore on the IL due to the back spasms he recently suffered. All this is to say don’t be upset if the team stands pat at the deadline and doesn’t acquire an impact bat.