3 small trades for hitters the Seattle Mariners should make right now

At some point, the Mariners are going to have to figure out what their plan is for second and third base. Yes, Dee Gordon and Kyle Seager are still currently in the picture, but sooner or later, they won’t be. It’s possible Shed Long will man one of those positions on a daily basis as soon as Opening Day next year, but is he truly an everyday guy at one position or is he better suited to be the team’s super-utility?

The future of Seattle’s infield is a giant question mark outside of J.P. Crawford. And while I’m not suggesting Ty France is the solution for one of the positions, it wouldn’t hurt to give him an opportunity to find out because the Padres probably aren’t. France has earned that chance in a massive way, destroying Triple-A pitching to the tune of an unheard of .379/.467/.744 line with 19 home runs, 57 RBIs, and a wRC+ of 194.

That success, however, didn’t translate to France’s short stint in MLB, where he put up a .235/.290/.357 line in 107 plate appearances. And with Manny Machado, Eric Hosmer, Greg Garcia, and Luis Urías all standing in the way of his potential homes at the MLB level, it’s hard to imagine him getting another extended look from the Padres.

Despite the otherworldly numbers in Triple-A, France is 25-years-old with a poor month in the bigs on his permanent record. As we recently saw with Daniel Vogelbach building up to this season, while unfair, those struggles in even such a limited amount of time for an ‘older’ minor leaguer will raise concerns about their development and whether or not they’re a ‘AAAA’ player.

France isn’t going to win any Gold Gloves for you at the hot corner, but he’s not going to kill you there either. That’s likely where he sticks if there’s an opening, and while there technically isn’t one there just yet with Seager still in the mix, there eventually will be. Still, he’d get more playing time now in Seattle than he would in San Diego, through a combination of starts at third, second, and first base. For now, like the Mariners did with Vogelbach, you trust in France’s bat and see where that takes you and figure out the rest later.

Again, the Mariners are going to have to do something about third base eventually. Now Maikel Franco is a significantly more aggressive—and expensive—play at filling the need than France is, but one that could potentially speed Seattle’s timeline up if they were to get him back on track.

Even though their playoff hopes have quickly fallen by the wayside, I would be surprised if the Phillies didn’t upgrade at third base within the next couple weeks. If so, they would then be expected to turn their attention to trading Franco. They don’t absolutely have to trade Franco, as the 26-year-old carries two minor league options, but he’s already two years into arbitration and is making $5.2 million on the year. That’s quite the expensive minor leaguer to have, and one the Phillies would likely prefer to rather to do without.

Because the Phillies don’t have a legit in-house replacement at third base, Franco has spent the entire year on their 25-man and has played in nearly every game thus far. In 2016 and ’17, Franco posted similar numbers the ones we’re seeing this year, but turned things around in 2018. Obviously, that success didn’t last for very long, as Franco is back to hitting well-below the league average in most offensive categories.

There are a few things to be encouraged by, at least. For one, the power’s still there, as Franco has posted a solid .440 slugging percentage with 15 home runs. He also has the 12th lowest strikeout percentage of qualified hitters this year at just 12.1%, tied with teammate and former Mariner Jean Segura.

But while most of his offensive performance this year has been less than ideal, he’s silently having the best defensive season of his career. In 673 innings at third base, Franco has put up a +2.9 UZR—the fifth-best mark amongst all third basemen in MLB.

The problem with adding Franco, however, is where to play him. Unlike France, Franco is predominantly a third baseman with minor experience at first base and nowhere else in his professional career. Seager isn’t going anywhere, at least not until the winter, so Franco wouldn’t have the opportunity to play third on a regular basis in Seattle as the 2019 season comes to a close.

At the very least, you focus on bringing the talent in and worry about positioning later on. If he has to play first base for two months, so be it, and you figure out what to do with Seager later and whether or not you want to carry on with Franco into 2020.

This is less about the future of the Mariners and more about getting Mac Williamson the hell out of T-Mobile Park. Williamson has made a bad team even more of a chore to watch over the last month and his impending departure is way past due. But we don’t know when exactly Mitch Haniger will return, or if Braden Bishop can make it back this season, and the Mariners seem unwilling to let Jake Fraley seize an opportunity while it’s there.

By the time Haniger gets back and Fraley is deemed ready by the powers that be, it’s possible Domingo Santana and/or Mallex Smith are no longer Seattle Mariners. In the case, instead of forcing me to watch another Williamson at-bat, why not bring in a veteran outfielder who’s succeeded at the highest level but just has no place to go within his current organization?

That would be Nick Martini, who burst onto the scene last year amidst the Athletics’ historic turnaround. Martini suffered a knee injury early on in Spring Training and was shut down until the second week of May. In that time, it appears the A’s have moved on from the 29-year-old, despite his absolute destruction of the PCL over the last three months.

It’s honestly rather strange, especially considering that Stephen Piscotty just went on the Injured List and Martini wasn’t called up in his place. Martini posted a 1.3 fWAR in 55 games last year, and while he doesn’t provide significant power and is pushing 30, he’s an on-base machine with average corner outfield defense.

While Martini almost certainly would not be a part of the Mariners’ plans past 2020, they can give him an opportunity to actually play at the MLB level every day and perhaps build some future trade value for the winter. Remember, this deadline is about setting Dipoto up for an important offseason, and perhaps stealing away a quality veteran for almost nothing and capitalizing on his potential success with a chance to be back in the bigs is the kind of upside play he should be chomping at the bit to make.