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

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - MAY 25: Jose Berrios #17 of the Minnesota Twins celebrates against the Baltimore Orioles on May 25, 2021 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - MAY 25: Jose Berrios #17 of the Minnesota Twins celebrates against the Baltimore Orioles on May 25, 2021 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images) /
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Mariners: Get Nelson Cruz back
SEATTLE, WA – SEPTEMBER 5: Nelson Cruz #23 of the Seattle Mariners is pictured during a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Safeco Field on September 5, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners game 5-2. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) /

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.