Teams Are Interested In the Seattle Mariners’ Variety of Shortstops and Young Arms

Yesterday the Seattle Mariners’ GM Jack Zduriencik met with local Seattle writers Ryan Divish, Bob Dutton, and Greg Johns to discuss the first day of the Winter Meetings.

It comes as no surprise that the Mariners’ young talent has gotten a lot of interest of teams starved for affordable depth.

Coming from Ryan Divish in the wee hours of the morning:

The Mariners have a lot of both. By way of young shortstops, there are two Major League ready and one waiting in the wings. Chris Taylor and Brad Miller both spent time with the Mariners last season. Miller seems to have more power potential in his bat, while Taylor seems the more adept shortstop defensively.

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But there’s also Ketel Marte, who has been tearing up the minors and was recently added to the 40-man roster to avoid the Rule 5 draft. Though Divish didn’t dish out specifics, I expect all of these shortstops have generated some interest from various teams for various reasons.

Then come the young relievers: Carson Smith, Danny Farquhar, Dominic Leone, Yoervis Medina, and I suppose to an extent Brandon Maurer. Any of those guys would be an instant upgrade to a struggling bullpen, especially with their velocity as right-handed hitters.

Taijuan Walker and James Paxton have been the most talked about trade chips this offseason for the Mariners. Both young with high pitching ceilings, teams have asked about them time and time again. But it’s clear the Mariners are hesitant to deal either of them.

But a young reliever or a young shortstop– both young and deep parts of this organization– could stand to lose a player or two for the sake of improving the 2015 Major League roster.

What about a young reliever and a shortstop to the Dodgers for Scott Van Slyke? He can play all outfield positions and is under team control until 2020. He is also right-handed, and has a career .892 OPS against left-handed pitching.

The Mariners need to get creative to add to the 2015 roster without subtracting from it at the same time. By trading a young reliever and a young shortstop, the M’s could get a bat they need without thinning out in the rotation or on the 25-man roster.

What do you think?