Predicting Where 5 Seattle Mariners Trade Chips Will Land
![SEATTLE, WA - APRIL 01: Tim Beckham #1 of the Seattle Mariners pretends to take a picture of Dee Gordon #9 as they celebrate their win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at T-Mobile Park on April 1, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. The Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 6-3. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images) SEATTLE, WA - APRIL 01: Tim Beckham #1 of the Seattle Mariners pretends to take a picture of Dee Gordon #9 as they celebrate their win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at T-Mobile Park on April 1, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. The Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 6-3. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Fsodomojo-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fgetty-images-2F2017-2F07-2F1134364801-850x560-f2552ffd5873aa03f350105c96722d6b.jpg)
Roenis Elias
Perhaps the most likely Mariners player to be traded in the next two weeks is left-handed reliever Roenis Elias. As Bowden reports, Dipoto has already received calls about his closer and if a halfway decent offer comes his way, he should take it.
Elias is a solid piece to shop around. He is versatile, capable of everything from being an Opener to long relief, to being used in high-leverage spots. He is controllable until after the 2021 season. And he is cheap, both monetarily and cost to acquire.
Many teams are looking for bullpen help and while a lot of teams won’t see Elias as a high-leverage option, the fact that he has had success this year is a selling point. The market right now is waiting on the Giants to trade Will Smith but Elias is a perfectly legitimate backup plan. In fact, if the Giants over price Smith, Elias may be preferred by some teams.
A valuable asset, Elias will probably net the Mariners an interesting prospect or a young, MLB player blocked from playing time. The player they acquire won’t have superstar potential but should be good enough to have a good shot at major league success.
Elias could be added to a player like Mike Leake or Domingo Santana to try and increase value, but as we are only considering these players as stand-alone for the moment, it doesn’t apply here. Overall, any team looking for bullpen help with monetary restrictions or prospects depth problems should be looking at Elias.