Mariners News: Team expected to trend “buy” at the deadline

Currently, the Seattle Mariners are 2.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot. The only team that stands between them and the Yankees, who currently occupy that spot, are the Minnesota Twins. The Twins are 47-46 while the Mariners sit at 47-48.

The Mariners got dealt a tough hand Tuesday night in the form of Brad Peacock. He shut the M’s down en route to his eighth win of the season, and Seattle saw their five-game win streak snapped. Before we all lose it about how this team just can’t get to/above .500 and stay there, let’s take a second to acknowledge you can’t win every game.

That rings especially true when you send out Sam Gaviglio, who has been serviceable in the bigs, but better at AAA, to face one of the hottest pitchers in the AL in Peacock.

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So this leaves the Mariners to play one more game in Houston. James Paxton will pitch for Seattle, and the fanbase will be able to at least have some shred of confidence in the arm on the mound.

The problem is, Paxton is the only starter that has been consistently good for Seattle this year. Ariel Miranda has trended well and Felix Hernandez could be finding his (new) stride, but ultimately, one of the starters is good, two are inconsistent, and two are big question marks.

You can’t have confidence in your pitching 1 out of every 5 starts and be a legitimate contender. Thankfully for M’s fans, help could be coming.

Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweeted this, Tuesday afternoon:

The keyword in that tweet is “controllable” that means Seattle likely won’t be paying an arm and a leg to pull some big name ace with one year left on their deal just to see them walk in free agency.

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Also, with the amount of money tied up with Cano and Felix’s contracts, Seattle has somewhat limited themselves on the arms they can afford.

So, who knows who the Mariners will try and pursue as we approach the deadline, but if they want to keep pace with the Yankees who just dealt for a big bat in Todd Frazier, Jerry’s going to need to get on the phone and pull something fast.