Mariners Potential Trade Target: Bringing Josh Lowe to Seattle

While the Mariners have one of the better pitching staffs in baseball, their offense is really lacking some firepower outside of Julio, JP, and Cal. They will be in the market for a bat, and hopefully a few. After last offseason when they acquired Tesocar Hernandez and followed it up with Kolten Wong, AJ Pollock, and Tommy La Stella, it should be evident that they are not only 1 bat short of a solid lineup, but probably 2 or 3 elite bats and some added depth.

The most obvious place for the Mariners to upgrade is in the void left by Teoscar Hernandez. The corner outfielders should be a key part of your lineup and unfortunately, the Mariners are pretty weak there. Adding a guy like Josh Lowe could really add some athleticism to this lineup. He is young, controllable, and a guy that does a lot of things really well.

In 2023, spending most of his time in right field, Josh Lowe slashed .292/.335/.500 with 20 home runs, 83 RBIs, and 32 stolen bases. That was good for a 131 wRC+ and a 3.8 WAR. Lowe's walk rates and strikeout rates are pretty average, (6.2% BB% and 24.8% K%) but he won't kill the Mariners with strikeouts. Mariners who were playing right field combined to hit .232/.282/.398 with an 88 wRC+ with a K% well over 31%. Josh Lowe would be such a big improvement over the production the Mariners have received out of their right fielder.

Being 26 at the start of the season and arbitration-eligible in 2026, he won't be eligible for free agency until 2029. This provides the Mariners with an elite "left-handed element", as Dipoto would say, that is under control for a while.

What would it take to get Lowe from the Rays? Well, they have an obvious need for pitching as they have dealt with injuries to guys like Shane McClanahan, Shane Baz, and Drew Rasmussen. In a deal for Lowe, it is most certainly centered around a Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo. I don't think that you can trade Gilbert in any sort of deal with the Rays for Lowe, without significant other pieces coming back. Let's take a look at the best offer I came up with. I think these deals are always hard to figure out the additional pieces as these clubs value different things and players or prospects differently, but I’m giving it my best guess and effort here.