Buying and Selling at the Deadline
If you ask anyone following the 2023 Mariners, they'll tell you the offense is the issue. The bats have produced mediocre results again this year with a collective slash line of .233/.312/.703, amounting to a 101 wRC+. Barely above average. This past series against the lowly Detroit Tigers was a snapshot of a disappointing season. With the trade deadline a mere two weeks away,
President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto, and General Manager, Justin Hollander, could take a buy-and-sell approach to address the offense. One such move could be trading Teoscar Hernandez to a contender looking for a middle-of-the-order bat. Dealing a bat when we need two bats doesn't make sense, but let's dig deeper.
Reasons for trading Teoscar
Free agency is looming for the 30-year-old, which means the Mariners will compete with 29 other teams for his services. The team has needed help bringing bats in on the free agent market, as evidenced by Dipoto's trades for Dee Strange-Gordon, Mallex Smith, Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suarez, Kolten Wong, and Hernandez. Plenty of teams would pay for Hernandez; the odds are the Mariners won't be one of them.
Another factor is the home ballpark, which has suppressed Hernandez's performance. Before joining the Mariners, he was on a sublime four-year run resulting in massive exit velocities, high barrel rates, and a handful of strikeouts. This season has the Dominican slugger on pace for a career-high strikeout rate (32%), lowest exit velocity (90.7), and lowest Barrel percentage (13.8) since 2019. We could blame the marine layer or the pressure of anchoring an underperforming lineup. Either way, I can't see Hernandez signing up for another year or multiple years with this team.
The 2023 Mariners are on pace to have four players with 180 strikeouts or more. No team has ever had more than two players of such ilk. If I'm Hollander and Dipoto, I'm looking for players with "dominate the zone" tendencies currently in the upper minors. Why? There is a considerable gap between the high-end offensive prospects (Cole Young, Gabriel Gonzalez, Harry Ford, Michael Arroyo) and the major league club, with most homegrown bats in High-A Everett or below. They need more contact in this lineup, specifically players who could join the major-league team immediately or in 2024.
Possible trade partners and packages
Plenty of teams need bats to round out their lineups for the stretch run. The usual suspects include the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Francisco, Tampa Bay Rays. Other teams to watch are the Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins, and San Diego Padres. We could speculate all day, but the next two weeks will help any of these teams make a case for or against acquiring Hernandez.
If the Mariners continue to hover around the .500 mark, they will sell Hernandez, but what could they get in return? Probably, a team's top 30 prospects and a couple of lottery tickets. That's a lot better than letting Hernandez walk for nothing. Plus, it opens up a spot for Cade Marlowe, who continues to rake in Tacoma. A guy like Boston's Chase Meirdroth and a lottery ticket could help this team today and in the future.
Meidroth checks a lot of the boxes. He carries a solid hit tool (55) and is closer to the show than many of the Mariners' high-end offensive talent. Additionally, Boston has a wealth of middle infield talent in the minor league system, which makes it easier to part with him. If Dipoto threw in Matt Festa to get it over the finishline it would be a win-win for everyone.
The buzz will only get louder as we get closer to the trade deadline. The Mariners have a critical seven game run on the horizon. Here's hoping they catch fire and use the deadline with an eye on 2024 with selling a middle of the order bat to the highest bidder.