Seattle Mariners Trade a Day: Trevor Cahill

One of the biggest question marks coming into the 2018 season was the pitching staff. The Mariners starting rotation included Felix Hernandez, James Paxton, Mike Leake and Marco Gonzales.

With scheduled off days, the Mariners were able to get away with a four-man rotation instead of a five. Erasmo Ramirez and Ariel Miranda stepped up until Wade LeBlanc settled into the 5th spot.

Now comes the bad. Felix Hernandez has given everything to this team. Coming into this season, he has logged 2502.1 innings, all with the Mariners. Now as long as Felix is healthy, he won’t be leaving the rotation anytime soon.

Felix has a  6-5 record with a 5.70 ERA. His FIP is 4.77, so the ERA should come down a bit. The King’s fastball velocity has been trending down for years now, but this year has been his lowest. His fastball is averaging right around 90 MPH.

Mike Leake has been as expected in 2018. Mike has a record of 6-3 and carries a 4.46 ERA. He carries 50 strikeouts through 80.2 innings. His 1.9 walks per 9 innings are the best among the starting pitchers. Wade LeBlanc has also been effective this season. He has pitched 54 innings for the Mariners this season, both as a starter and a reliever. Leblanc has not pitched more than 79 innings sense 2011.

That means the Mariners will need to look for starting pitching depth. Erasmo Ramirez will be back at some point in ’18. The Mariners also acquired Roenis Elias from the Red Sox. It may be a bit ambitious to go and acquire a big name, but they will need to address the issue nonetheless. So here is the proposal:

The Seattle Mariners traded OF Chuck Taylor to the Oakland Athletics for RHP Trevor Cahill.

Trading with Oakland is nothing new for GM Jerry Dipoto. In the off-season, he traded RHP Emilio Pagan for 1B Ryon Healy. Trevor signed a one year, $1.5 million contracts back in March. So far in 2018, he has pitched in 8 games. He sports a 1-2 record, a 2.77 ERA, and a 0.98 WHIP through 48.2 innings. The big knock against Cahill has been his health, as he has not pitched over 100 innings sense 2014. But when he has pitched, he has been effective.

Next: Seattle Mariners Trade a Day – Josh Harrison

Trevor Cahill will be available at the trade deadline, but if he keeps up the pace he is on, he will cost a lot more than Chuck Taylor. If the Mariners were to get Cahill, they would have to do it well before the July 31st deadline. And as always, Go Mariners!