ESPN connecting Mariners to Astros' star trade chips is pure escapist entertainment

The Mariners surprised plenty of people last season with their aggressive approach at the trade deadline, bringing in Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suárez and Caleb Ferguson. According to ESPN, there's the possibility the M's will take a similar approach this time around to bring in the quality reliever and right-handed bat they need, with a combined eight All-Star selections on the resume to boot. This sure sounds great, but the problem is it isn't grounded in reality.

ESPN's Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan have unveiled their updated top 2026 MLB trade deadline candidate rankings. And the two players in question are Josh Hader and Isaac Paredes. with McDaniel and Passan having the Mariners among the best fits for the Astros duo. Individually, they have Paredes as the more likely to be moved, at 45 percent, with Hader having a 30 percent chance of being traded.

As far as we're concerned though, it may as well be a ZERO percent chance of Hader and Paredes being acquired by the Mariners. We're very appreciative of McDaniel and particularly Passan having excellent reputations -- and deservedly so -- while acknowledging the two players would indeed solve the M's two major needs. However, there's no reality where the Astros would willingly give up a three-time Reliever of the Year and one of their best hitters to the main divisional rivals.

Astros star duo having tremendous season and this is definitely not a case of addition by subtraction

Hader having a tremendous season out of the bullpen is nothing new, but his 1.47 ERA, 1.96 FIP and 0.982 WHIP are all below his career averages. What makes this more impressive is that he didn't pitch until the beginning of June due to left biceps tendinitis, but he's been as good as ever since his return. As for Paredes, his 2.5 fWAR is second among all Astros players, with his .260 batting average, .781 OPS and 121 wRC+ similarly above his career averages.

Aside from this, the Astros are supposedly going for it themselves, and why shouldn't they have that mindset? As much as a 49-54 record doesn't sound impressive, they're finally starting to get healthy following a rough beginning to the season. Following a 20-31 start, they've since gone 29-23 and can smell blood in the water.

The reality is that the AL West is the weakest division in the majors and despite their record, the Astros are only 3.0 games off the summit. The core of their roster has the experience and success to believe in themselves. If this isn't enough to make Mariners fans nervous, also consider that the Astros have an easier remaining schedule compared to Seattle.

We know full well that if anyone can pull off some magic it's Jerry Dipoto, and if the Mariners could get even one of Hader or Paredes, it would help the team. Ultimately though, even if the Astros do fall out of contention between now and Aug. 3, it's tough to see them trading one or both of their controllable stars to a divisional rival. As such it's best to leave this scenario where it currently is -- in fantasy land.

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