Mariners Rumors: Trading with the Twins for Jose Berrios and Nelson Cruz

Mariners Trade 1: MLB Talent Swap

Now, I know that the Twins may not have the biggest need for Haniger, but it does give them an outfielder that is under control, who is hitting very well this year. He’s sitting at .257/.311/.487, with 20 homers and 16 doubles. If not for the foul ball off the knee, he would be doing even better than that.

I mentioned Puckett’s Pond earlier, and they let us know that Haniger might not be realistic as a want/need because “Larnach, Kepler, and Kirilloff in the corners and Arraez, Donaldson, and Polanco all fighting for playing time.” Hear me out. He’s younger than his age because of the weird injury history and could provide a fill-in for Cruz at the DH spot, while spelling outfielders when need be.

He’s a good clubhouse guy, and could even become great trade bait next year if need be. If they need a new position due to outfield overabundance, he could help. Or, he provides insurance for the next time Byron Buxton inevitably gets hurt, unfortunately.

With Dunn, you get someone who can take a spot in the rotation instantly. He was at a 3.18 ERA before getting injured and trying to make two more starts through the shoulder pain. At just 25, he still is under control through 2025! That’s a lot of control and gives him better value than you would realize at first glance.

Mariners Trade 2: Giving up one of the trio

Look. In order to get Berrios, the Twins are going to want someone good that they can help build on. Lots of control, and someone that isn’t that far away from possibly contributing. They’re out of the race (most likely) this season, so a re-tooling would be great. It’s why if they called and said “hey, we will send Cruz back to Seattle, and Berrios to stabilize your rotation…but we want Kirby” that the Mariners would have to think about it. Hard.

Kirby is a great prospect. We all know this. He’s one of the Mariners trio of stud prospect pitchers that they took over the 2018-2020 drafts during the first round. If the team is truly serious about making a run this year, and then a legit and expected season-long push for the AL West crown next year, Berrios would be a fantastic option.

At a step past that, the Mariners have a lot of cap room. Berrios could be someone that they extend for 4-5 years, locking him in through his age 32 season. That would be the majority of his prime seasons, and he could be the veteran that leads Gilbert and crew through the next few seasons.

We could throw in Adcock, giving them a promising low floor/high ceiling player due to his two-way ability. In his final year of college, he hit .251 with 12 homers and threw 31 innings with a 2.61 ERA and 10.7 K/9.

Mariners Trade 3: Sending out Prospects

If the Twins were one of the teams that were projected to have 70 wins, and no one thought would be a contender for a while, this would be a great trade. Most think that 2021 was a one-year blip, so they wouldn’t be looking for longer-term builds in anyone they would be receiving in a trade.

Hear me out.

Michael Limoncelli is only 21 and gives the Twins a 25-30 ranked prospect for their system. Having too many young arms is never a bad thing.

Milkar Perez could be your plan to replace Josh Donaldson at third base down the line since he is signed through 2024. He’s not expected up until then anyway and would be a worthwhile piece to try and input when the time comes. According to MLB.com, he’s 14th in Seattle’s rankings, and would likely jump to 6-10 for the Twins.

Isaiah Campbell is the 10th ranked prospect, and Phillips is 9th. You wanna change one of them out for Juan Then? Fine. I don’t think you are realistically getting anyone else in the top eight unless it’s a two prospect deal like the one for Kirby and Adcock. They both likely fit in between Duran and Canterino for the Twins, and give them great future starting pitching potential between those four and Balazovic.

It would save the Twins a lot of money as well, getting off of Cruz a bit early, and avoiding Arb 3 and any deal with Berrios. I’m not saying the Twins need to save money, but if there are any free agents or other deals that want to make, it would clear up the available space for that.

What do you think? Should the Mariners even go after Berrios/Cruz? Berrios won’t be cheap, but he could be a great veteran to add to the team. With a few weeks left until the deadline, it will be interesting to continue to monitor the Mariners to see what they do.