Seattle Mariners should be buyers at the Trade Deadline

The Mariners are sitting in a precarious position just five weeks out from the MLB Trade Deadline. After their recent sweep of the Rays, they sit two games above .500 and are in the no-mans-land of deciding what to do about becoming a buyer or a seller.

We recently ran a poll on the site asking about just that question. Do you think that the Mariners should be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline? With a wonderful turnout of over 400 votes, the answer was a strong one. 65% of people thought that the Mariners should be buyers as the deadline approaches.

Things could easily change with so much baseball left to be played by then. For now, it’s fun to think about some of the positions that they could go after, and what they could possibly do to improve their team and their chances to end one of the ugliest streaks in baseball.

Here are some ideas for how the Mariners could be buyers at the trade deadline.

When you take a look at the team, you can pinpoint a couple of spots that they need to improve. Luis Torrens has been playing well lately, but the type of numbers that he is sporting during the year translate better to a backup. Catcher becomes one of the spots that they need to go after. We could always call up Cal Raleigh, true. The worry is that it might take him some time to adjust. To fix that, we could find a rental or short-term answer at catcher.

Evan White was supposed to be the plan at first base. Unfortunately, he played badly to start the season and has been dealing with injuries since. Jake Bauers has been a nice sneaky trade pickup but is highly unlikely to be any type of impactful or long-term answer at first. So, a first baseman is definitely something we could go after, especially one that could anchor your lineup.

It’s not incredible, but the rotation of Moore, Long, France, and the outfielders through second base, third base backup, and the outfield seems to be working fairly well. It could always be a bit better, but it’s one of the less pressing issues on the team. For now, let’s leave everywhere else in the infield alone.

Then, we have our shortstop. GO VOTE JP CRAWFORD FOR THE ALL-STAR GAME. DO IT. DO IT NOW!

When we move to the pitching side of things, we could use another starter. Marco is Marco, as long as he is healthy. Aside from the slow start (he always starts slow), and the MLB-rehab starts, he has been just fine. Dunn has done quite well aside from the shoulder issue. Kikuchi is a monster, as is Flexen (at least at home). Logan Gilbert is starting to look like the prospect everyone hoped. The issue is Sheffield, who hasn’t been great.

We shore up the bullpen a little bit more, and further protect it against lack of depth from injuries, by moving Sheffield to the bullpen. We do this by making a move for a starting pitcher.

So, the three positions that the Mariners should be looking to buy are Catcher, First Baseman, and Starting Pitcher. We will dive into those positions each day throughout the week to look for potential trades at each position, seeing exactly what the team could offer and who they could go after to truly become buyers by the All-Star break.