Power Ranking Seattle Mariners Top 5 Trade Chips for MLB Trade Deadline

1. Marco Gonzales

Most of you were probably expecting Mitch Haniger to be number 1 and you can make a strong argument that he should be. Ultimately, I gave the nod to Marco Gonzales because he’s younger and has 5-years of club control remaining. Oh, and he is really good.

After he broke out in 2018, posting a 4.00 ERA and a 3.43 FIP in 166.2 innings, Gonzales was out to show that it wasn’t a fluke. So far, so good. In his 9 starts, Marco has posted a 3.08 ERA, a 3.44 FIP, and a 1.25 WHIP. In short, he’s been a reliable #3 starter at just above the league minimum for the next 2 years.

In fact, if you ignore the outing against the Cubs, among the worst of his career, Gonzales would have a 2.65 ERA. In an era where fastball velocity and ungodly stuff are common, Marco shows that changing speed and throwing strikes can be wildly effective as well.

He may not miss the number of bats as others, which does hamper his value, but he also doesn’t walk guys and has 3 above-average pitches. Marco isn’t an ace so Seattle may not be able to get any 60-grade prospects.

However, a #3 starter with 5-years of club control who will likely make less than $30 million in that time has extreme value. And not just to teams who are dreaming of the playoffs in 2019. Gonzales would have near universal interest from the other 29 MLB teams.

With a market that big, Dipoto would have his choice of many offers to choose from. The Mariners do appear to have some quality starting pitching on its way the next few years as well, including Logan Gilbert, Justus Sheffield, and Justin Dunn to add to Yusei Kikuchi.

Of course, it is highly unlikely the Mariners seriously entertain offers for Marco at this time. But remember, this is not a list of who is most likely to get traded. It is a list of who currently holds the most trade value.

While a few spots are up for debate (seriously, how much do you think the Mariners could get for Omar Narvaez), this is a pretty standard list. If the Mariners want to do a massive rebuild, that option is still open to them as well.

More than likely, only one of these 5 names (Encarnacion) will be traded. But when Jerry Dipoto is your general manager, it is important to consider all the possibilities.