Mariners Trade Proposal: Deals with the Baltimore Orioles

Every year, teams fall into a handful of different mindsets with their team. There are the true contenders, the hopefuls, the ones who have to make a decision about going for it or rebuilding, and finally, those that need to rebuild and retool. The Baltimore Orioles are clearly in that final group and are looking to deal away some of their stronger players. If interested, the Seattle Mariners could make inquiries on John Means and Cedric Mullins.

It actually could make for a pretty good match. A lot of fans want the Mariners to go out after one more starting pitcher, and plenty think that the team could use a real center fielder. The Orioles have both of those. Whether or not Jerry Dipoto would give up what it would take to get them, or even agree that the value that Mike Elias assigns to them, is a different question.

The Mariners and Orioles could be interesting trade partners this offseason

I want to look at what it could possibly take to get them, from a semi fair market value. I’d be more interested in the Mariners trading for Means, just so he can stop giving me nightmares. Okay, not just for that, but for the fact that he would likely be cheaper to acquire, and having a legit starting five with plenty of youth waiting in the wings would be a fantastic spot to be in for the Mariners.

Here’s what we are going to do. I’m going to throw a trade out there for Means. Then, I’m going to throw one out there for Mullins. To cap it off, I’ll finish with a trade that would acquire both of them. Spoiler alert… it’s gonna take a lot to get both of them, and you can’t just MLB The Show logic it by sending super young guys or guys with A potential. They have to be good with good potential, and ranked highly.

Here we go, let’s start off with what the Mariners would have to send out to Baltimore in order to acquire that final starter for their rotation.

Option 1: Mariners acquire John Means

In Means, the Mariners would be acquiring a relatively inexperienced pitcher still, who has just 348.2 innings in his career, the majority coming in the last three years.

He finished second in ROY voting in 2019 while making the All-Star game. 2020 was fine, and 2021 was a pretty good season. Mariners fans are more knowledgeable about him than most, but not by choice. His season did get cut down a bit by shoulder fatigue and wasn’t the same after coming back. There’s a good chance it was due to coming back too soon, and a full offseason should be enough to get him back to full health.

Means isn’t a big-time strikeout guy, but he’s been trending up, reaching 8.2 K/9 in 2021. The worry with him is the negative difference in ERA and FIP, with an ERA of 3.82 and a FIP of 4.65. It was actually a full point apart in 2021, at 3.62 and 4.62.

A bit of a late bloomer, this will already be his age-29 season. He should be coming into his prime now, and there is a good likelihood that the next few years will be the best ones that he produces. This is going to be his ARB-1 year, and he will be a free agent after the 2024 season. So while he doesn’t have any cheap minimum seasons left, he does have all his arb years left for the team.

There’s a hope that Means could get even better with the lesser pressure that comes from moving down in the rotation. In Baltimore, he was the clear ace. In Seattle, he would be more in line with Logan Gilbert and Chris Flexen for the 3-4-5 spots, depending on how you feel about each pitcher.

It’s why I think the Mariners would still have to give up a decent amount but could get away with an assortment of younger guys who are a few years away. In return, Seattle sends them a SS, RHP, and a CF. They’re all likely to come up in 2024, with Polcovich possibly being a late 2023 guy. It helps the Orioles build up their system, and get set for internal pieces to be ready in a few years.

Connor Phillips is a top ten in the Mariners system, so he would be the headline piece in the deal. Polcovich is likely a utility type, and Clase is the wild card throw-in. The dude is crazy fast and reportedly is closer to 6′-180lb instead of his listed 5’8-150lbs. Remember, he turns 20 in May, so growing is to be expected from someone his age, especially when it hasn’t been updated in quite a while.

Option 3: The Mariners acquire both Means and Mullins

Look, if you are going to ask for a lot, you are going to have to give up a lot. It’s why a trade like this would likely push the Orioles into the clear cut, far and away top farm system in all of baseball. Remember, they already have Adley Rutschman and Grayson Rodriguez. Adley is fighting with Julio for the top spot, and Grayson is the top pitching prospect in baseball. To go along with that, they have three other top 100 guys.

Now, they would have seven guys in the top 100, and personally, one of my favorite Mariners prospects is Levi Stoudt. This is a hard one for me to put out there because I have high hopes for both Kirby and Stoudt.

Kirby could come up relatively soon, and even be a midseason call-up this year for the Orioles. Stoudt is trying to make it as a starter and will either have a nice three-pitch combo with a mid 90s fastball or be a flamethrower hitting 100 out of the pen with a NASTY changeup.

Ford is the guy for down the road, and the Orioles can easily move him to a new position. Remember, he didn’t play catcher because it was where he was best, he played it because it’s what the team needed. He easily could’ve played second or center with his athleticism.

It’s a big group of talented prospects to give up, but the Mariners fill out their rotation with a controllable and good starter, as well as finding a potential new centerfielder of the future to go along with Kelenic and Julio down the line.

What do you think? Would it be worth it to go out and get either of these guys? Do you trust what it would take to get both of them and the supposed value they would bring in return? If the Mariners and Orioles are willing to engage, it could make for a fun Spring Training talk when (hopefully) baseball resumes soon.