A Trade Target for the Mariners on Each A.L. West Team

The Seattle Mariners have been making some additions this offseason. They started their moves by trading for Adam Frazier to be their second baseman. Then, the team then signed starting pitcher Robbie Ray after he asked them to. They had not been connected to Ray, but they brought him in to headline their rotation. They could make some trades with the teams in their very own division to improve their team. Let’s head to California and start with the Angels.

Angels – Mariners could go for Taylor Ward

Taylor Ward is not one of the Angels star players, but he could be an interesting part-time contributor for the Mariners. He is an outfielder who can play all three of the outfield positions. The Mariners biggest need is for a center fielder, and Ward could certainly fit that. He can be a better version of Jake Fraley for Seattle. He has been an up and down player for the Angels the last few years, but last year he got over 200 at-bats at the big league level.

Taylor Ward is a right-handed hitter and thrower, so he would be the opposite of Fraley. He is very fast and has sprint speed in the 79th percentile of all of baseball. This is about 10% better than Fraley by contrast. He brings a nice speed first element with his offensive profile. He can swing it a little too. He had a 111 wRC+ in 65 games last year and was worth 0.5 WAR. He brings an above-average bat in pretty small sample size, but he is still only 27 and has club control left.

Taylor Ward could be compared to Jake Fraley, but Ward offers a little different skillset. Ward has put up better power numbers as well as better speed. Ward had a SLG of .438 while Fraley was a mere .369. This, as well as the better speed, and Ward being right-handed offer a different and potentially better upside. Also, Fraley missed a lot of last season with injuries, and personally, I do not expect him to repeat his numbers from the first half.

In the second half of last year, Fraley hit a mere .180 in just 38 games. Those are not great numbers and the Mariners would be better served to have Taylor Ward as their extra outfielder next year. Fraley also had a 65 wRC+ in the second half last year. Taylor Ward could benefit from a jump in playing time. I would rather give an opportunity to Ward than Fraley again.

The Mariners would have Ward under contract for the next 4 seasons, which would give them a nice option for a part-time outfielder. Ward has even played some third base in his career, so he could play there once in a while as well. A potential trade package to the Angels for Taylor Ward would have to have some win-now players for the Angels. A package could look like this.

This trade package might seem light, but the Angels are not trading a key contributor here. They are trading their utility outfielder to the Mariners for theirs in Dylan Moore. The Angels also get Yohan Ramirez to help them in their bullpen. This trade package would be a simple swap for the two teams to help them out in areas of need. The next trade comes with the Houston Astros.

Astros – Mariners could go for Josh James

Similar to the Angels, the Astros will not entertain trading one of their better players to the Mariners since they are trying to win themselves. The Mariners here could go get a player from the Astros who the Mariners could work on some things with Josh James. James has been a swingman with the Astros the last few years and has been up and down from the minor leagues. The Mariners could try to use him as a long man out of the bullpen to get more than three outs.

Josh James has some experience starting games, but he could be used as a guy to come in when the starting pitcher struggles and get through the 5th and 6th innings. He uses a fastball that averages 96 mph and a slider and curveball and a changeup. He does not have much experience in the big leagues the last few years, but he has put up good numbers in AAA. He had 27 strikeouts compared to 8 walks in AAA last year. He could be another under-the-radar bullpen piece.

A potential trade could look like this for the right-hander.

The Mariners get James here for just Polcovich because the Astros do not really have room on their 40 man roster for James. The Mariners here get themselves a potential bullpen piece to turn into their next Paul Sewald or bullpen success story. The Astros get themselves a future utility man probably and get themselves 40 man roster space, which is most important here. The next trade comes from the Athletics.

Athletics – Mariners could go for Matt Chapman

This is definitely the highest-profile trade proposal thus far. Matt Chapman has been rumored to be on the trade block this offseason, and the Mariners have been one of the teams reportedly in on him. The trade would certainly fill the hole at third base for the Mariners. This trade would certainly have to be the biggest in terms of assets traded. The A’s are expected to go into rebuild mode soon so they will want more than just one or two top prospects.

In this deal, the Mariners are getting the best player, Matt Chapman, while doing a bulk deal. The A’s get Zach DeLoach, who is a top 10 prospect in the Mariners system by some, but overall seems like he will be a 4th outfielder or a fringe starter at best. That is not a great prospect, but the addition of Taylor Trammell, who has some big league time, and Levi Stoudt, help make it more palpable. Trammell spent a little time in the big leagues with the Mariners last year.

For Trammell, he just needs time to play at the big league level to see if he can stick there, and the A’s could give him that in a rebuild. They also get Levi Stoudt who is a hard-throwing right-hander who rounds out the deal. Stoudt got to AA last year and is not too far away from the big leagues. The final proposal comes between the Mariners and the Texas Rangers.