3 Miami Marlins the Mariners should target at the trade deadline

Mariners Target #2: LHP Tanner Scott

Going along with the theme of pursuing relievers, Tanner Scott has been an excellent closer for Miami this year and is one of the few crown jewels left in the franchise. He's pitched to a 1.93 ERA over 28 innings this year. He's only got eight saves but he's only had ten save opportunities, typical for a team with a combined .636 OPS.

A typical fastball/slider closer, he does nearly everything incredibly well. His average exit velocity of just 83.0 mph leads MLB while his whiff rate and ground-ball rate are both in the top 10% of the league. His four-seam fastball is particularly devastating, with opposing batters averaging a measly .085 and slugging just .106 against the pitch. His slider has a whiff rate of 41.2% but he's not striking out batters at an incomprehensible rate, just 26.1%.

Unfortunately, no one is perfect and one thing he does terribly is command the strike zone. His walk rate of 16.8% is one of the worst in the league and is exactly eight times higher than George Kirby's walk rate. It's an interesting weakness to have and it shows in his WHIP which, at 1.21, is disproportionately high given his sub-2.00 ERA. In comparison, Andrés Muñoz has an ERA of 1.55 with a 0.97 WHIP.

Nonetheless, adding a high-impact lefty who can clearly handle high-leverage pitching situations would probably pay dividends for Seattle. He'd be a rental trade with his free agency arriving in 2025, so if the Mariners do enjoy his services, they can always try to extend him. If he disappoints or prices himself out, they can let him walk and continue to develop Muñoz into an elite closer. Either way, Scott is of little use to the Marlins unless they plan on being able to compete for him in the free agent market, which they probably won't do given their penchant for having tight purse strings.