3 Summer Trade Targets for Seattle Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto

Spring Training is just 5 days away from officially starting. Mariners pitchers and catchers will report on February 12th. But just because it’s still winter, doesn’t mean we can’t look forward to the Summer.

The 2020 Seattle Mariners are probably not going to be a good team. I think we can all accept that and for the people who have been paying attention, they’ll know it is all a part of the plan. The goal for Seattle and GM Jerry Dipoto was never to have a good record in 2020.

However, time and time again, Dipoto and the Mariners have circled 2021 as the year they would like to start competing again. But the team has a long way to go to get there and the team did very little in the way of bringing in talent outside of the organization to get there.

But Dipoto doubled down a bit in his pre-Spring Training press conference, saying that he anticipates his team being very interesting in the Summer and winter, comparing his timeline to that of the White Sox.

Of course, the White Sox have been one of the busiest teams this winter, shelling out large contracts to Yasmany Grandal and Dallas Keuchel, while also adding veterans Edwin Encarnacion and Steve Cishek on short-term deals, and giving top prospect Luis Roberts an MLB contract before his debut.

So if Dipoto believes his team is set up like the 2019 White Sox, we should expect a busy 2020 off-season. But remember, Dipoto actually pointed to the summer in his statement. This could lead to the idea that some of the Mariners’ top prospects like Jarred Kelenic and Logan Gilbert could be called up. But it may also hint at the expected activity at the trade deadline.

Remember, Dipoto says he wants to compete in 2021. With that aggressive of a timeline, you can’t rely on getting everything you need to be done in one winter. And since Dipoto did nothing in terms of adding proven MLB players this winter, it seems like he’ll need to be aggressive this summer too.

While it is unusual for a non-contending team to be aggressive buyers at the deadline, we have seen it more recently. Perhaps the best example of this is the Cincinnati Reds who finished last season with a 75-87 record but traded top prospect Taylor Trammel and Scott Moss in a 3-team deal for Trevor Bauer. The Reds are now solidly considered serious wild card contenders and could challenge for the NL Central title.

This is the type of deal Dipoto could consider this summer. The player would have to be controllable through at least 2021 and the cost cannot be astronomical. It could be a tough needle to thread, but Dipoto does not lack the creativity or conviction to get such a deal done.

With all that in mind, here are 5 potential trade targets for the Mariners this July.

3. Jon Gray, RHP Colorado Rockies

It seems almost inevitable that the Colorado Rockies are going to be sellers this summer. They did absolutely nothing this winter except possibly tick off their franchise player just a year after handing him a massive contract. The Rockies are a mediocre team with quite a few bad contracts and players who are slowly exiting their prime.

The combination of the bad contracts and aging players leave Colorado without a ton of tradable pieces (at least pieces they’ll actually consider moving), but Jon Gray is definitely one of them.

The 28-year-old pitcher enters the 2020 season just two years from free agency. It remains unlikely Colorado will be competitive in those two years, so trading him this summer will most definitely be on the table.

Gray is a solid #3 starter with the upside to be a #2 arm, similar to that of Trevor Bauer. Gray set a career-high 4.5 bWAR in 2019 and has a career 3:1 K/BB ratio. Gray averages more than a strikeout per inning and owns a 3.77 FIP.

Gray has some injury issues in his past and has never thrown more than 172.1 innings. But in 4 of his 5 full MLB seasons, Gray has pitched 150 big league innings or more. He isn’t a 200 inning workhorse type, but in 2020, a pitcher doesn’t have to be.

Gray is primarily a fastball/slider pitcher, who mixes in a curveball as well. His fastball sits in the mid-90s and his slider is plus, while the curveball is solidly above-average that will flash plus as well.

In short, Gray is a solid arm who could be a #2 starter for the Mariners in 2020. Obviously, like all of these candidates, the cost is going to be key. For Seattle, they’ll be acquiring Gray for the 2021 season but will still need to pay for the extra 2-3 months in 2020. There is no guarantee Gray will produce for Seattle and even less of a chance he re-signs after 2021, so finding the right cost will be key.

Prospects like Julio Rodriguez, Logan Gilbert, and Kelenic are unlikely to be available for any player on the trade market this summer. And with Evan White signing his long-term deal, he is off the board as well. It is unlikely that Seattle would deal Noelvi Marte for a short-term asset, as well as George Kirby, who could make his MLB debut early in 2021.

This likely leaves some combination of Justus Sheffield, Justin Dunn, and Cal Raleigh as the likely centerpiece. That may not be enough to get a deal done. But there is a possibility of “buying value” from the Rockies. If Dipoto took one of the bad contracts, perhaps Wade Davis or Ian Desmond, it could dramatically decrease the cost to acquire Gray.

Perhaps something in the neighborhood of Dunn and Juan Then for Gray and Desmond could get the job done.

1. Josh Bell, 1B Pittsburgh Pirates

Well, we didn’t have to go far to find our next player. And look, I get it. The Mariners just signed Evan White and have all but anointed him the first baseman of the future. But White has the athleticism to play in the outfield regularly and Josh Bell is a really good hitter.

We like Evan White. We think he will be a good player. But we know Josh Bell can hit. Now, can he repeat his insane 2019 season in which he slashed .277/.367/.569 with 37 home runs? Maybe not. But he doesn’t need to.

Bell has been a poster child of the Mariners mantra of “control the zone” in his big league career, boasting an insane 12.1% BB rate and well below-league average 18.2% K rate. He is a career 118 wRC+ hitter and is just 27-years-old.

Bell won’t become a free agent until after the 2022 season and would immediately become the Mariners’ best hitter upon arrival. Bell isn’t a flashy defender at first, or even good for that matter, so getting more PAs at DH could help his value.

Bell is going to be expensive for any team looking to acquire him. I’m not even certain Dipoto could do it without giving up one of their “big 3”. And if that is the case, Bell probably isn’t going to be an option.

But Bell could very well be worth a Noelvi Marte or Logan Gilbert type of centerpiece, especially if he shows over the first part of 2020 that his 2019 season was a true breakout and not just a career season.

Bell is a tricky fit, both positionally and acquisition cost-wise. But for a bat as potent as his, it may just be worth it. Bell could be the number 4 hitter in a good Mariners lineup that leads them to the playoffs for the first time in 2 decades. And if Seattle believes this could be the case, they shouldn’t leave much off the table in trade talks.

Obviously, there are dozens of more names we can discuss and dozens of more will be added throughout the season. But these are just 3 names that fit the profile and may be available this summer. We aren’t done addressing this topic, but consider this list a pre-appetizer on the road to what could be an eventful trade deadline for Jerry Dipoto and the Seattle Mariners.