2 players the Seattle Mariners should keep and 2 they should trade

The Mariners should hold onto Jorge Polanco in hopes he can regain some of his former self

There may not be a harsher critic of Jorge Polanco than myself so far this year. After I claimed that he could be the best move of the offseason for a team that has been searching for answers at the keystone, Polanco has struggled mightily, but let's be real, what Mariners hitter hasn't? After a run of four or five years as one of the most productive second basemen in all of baseball offensively, the 30-year-old has taken an absolute cliff dive, slashing .202/.286/.298 with just six home runs and a strikeout rate that is over 12% higher than his career average.

I have recently called for the Mariners to look at a number of options at second base, but my tune has sort of changed recently. With those numbers mentioned above signaling a below-average second baseman, there may still be some hope that Polanco can be a productive weapon for the Mariners. Since July 9th, the Mariners switch-hitting second baseman is hitting .263/.317/.368 which is good for a 100 wRC+, which means he has been completely average. That is a huge upgrade over what the team has gotten out of that position the rest of the year.

The Mariners should, and likely will, give Polanco the year to figure it out. Trying to trade Polanco away would likely cost the Mariners a good chunk of money to eat some of his remaining salary (while netting virtually nothing in return) or including some pretty solid prospects in return to get any sort of Major League contributions for 2024. The Mariners also don't have many other options outside of Ryan Bliss, but they have already shown that they won't play the youngster in favor of the veteran, so here's to hoping Polanco can figure it out.