Mariners Could Benefit From Acquiring Twins' All-Star Utility Man

The Seattle Mariners are currently in the midst of a hot offensive road trip. They took two out of three in Chicago against the Cubs and now have taken the first two games of a four-game series against the Twins in Minnesota.

The Mariners sit in the third wild card spot, but should have hopes of pushing for the AL West title. With a little over a month to go until the trade deadline, it is still unclear for some teams if they should sell or buy, but the Mariners might be helping push the Twins in the selling direction this week.

The Twins currently sit at 37-42 and are 12.5 games back in their division and 4.5 games back of the wild card spot the Mariners currently hold. They also have five teams ahead of them in the wild card standings. They have been really streaky this year, due in part to their 13-game winning streak and their current 1-9 stretch. This could help convince the Twins to sell pieces at the deadline, and one rental player in particular could be of good use for Seattle.

The Mariners should have their eye on Willi Castro while in Minnesota

Willi Castro has been a solid utility player for the Twins for the past three years, but is having his best year so far in 2025. He is slashing .277/.359/.451 with 7 home runs and a 124 OPS+.

The Mariners have been rolling with Dylan Moore and Miles Mastrobuoni as their utility guys this year and Castro's OPS is nearly 200 points higher than Mastrobuoni's and over 100 points better than Moore's, who has been struggling lately.

By adding Castro, the Mariners could open the door to combining Moore and Mastrobuoni's role into one player, making them expendable. This could leave the door for sending one of them down or trading them, or making room for other players the Mariners acquire at the deadline. Castro has the ability to switch hit, play the outfield and the infield, and come off the bench. He has played most of his games this year at second base, but has played the corner outfield spots too.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post had this to say about Castro potentially being available:

"If the Twins do become sellers, I could see Castro becoming a highly talked-about player in the industry because he is in his walk year and he is adaptable to nearly any team's needs as a switch-hitter (who has particularly crushed lefty pitching) while playing every position this year except catcher and fist base."

His contract would not prohibit the Mariners from trading for him, and may actually help them. He is in the last year of arbitration and is making $6.4 million on the season, so the Mariners could only be on the hook for about $2 million. They should have that room in their budget since they seem to be wanting to spend some money at the deadline.

Overall, Castro would be a great second or third offensive piece to acquire at the trade deadline. If he is the best offensive player the Mariners traded for at the deadline, that would be a disappointment. He is a strong utility player who could help the Mariners out, particularly against lefties. He could help lengthen the lineup and be a productive player in the second half of the lineup as they continue to push for a playoff spot.