Mariners' writer suggests top prospect will be traded this year

This Mariners team is very close to being a World Series caliber team. When you see this pitching staff dominate some of the best teams and offenses in baseball, day in and day out, it just shows you how close they are to putting it all together. As much as the pitching has dominated some of the best offenses in baseball, the offense has made some of the most mediocre pitchers look like Cy Young candidates.

As this season progresses, it is "put up or shut up" time for a lot of guys. Players like Jorge Polanco, Luis Urias, and Ty France really need to figure things out to get this offense turned around. If they don't, their leash may run thin and cause the team to make a drastic move like acquiring a replacement at the deadline.

The trade deadline will be here quicker than any of us can prepare for, and these moves and improvements will need to be considered if the team wants to make a deep playoff run. The Mariners have a ton of valuable trade pieces and based on some recent trade discussions, a lot of other teams value their prospects. They are likely to be in the mix for some of the bigger offensive players to spark this drudging group.

With these valuable pieces and prospects, the Mariners have all of the ammo to make a big splash, possibly one that could propel them into contention for the best team in the American League. As Mariners beat writer, Ryan Divish, says, that's exactly what he thinks will happen.

The question posed to Divish is if the Mariners would consider dealing a top Mariners' prospect, Harry Ford, for the slugging first baseman, Pete Alonso. Divish states that the team is likely to trade the top catching prospect, but it will be for a bat that has control beyond just this year. Divish also says that the Mariners knew that they may have to deal away the former first round pick if they wanted to add a big hitter at the trade deadline.

This is huge for Mariners fans, as someone very plugged in states that the Mariners are willing to deal a prospect for a serious impact bat, albeit one with club control. Could this mean the Mariners would deal Ford for someone like Vladimir Guerrero Jr? Maybe. Divish doesn't seem to think that they would be willing to deal with the athletic catcher if it was for just a rental bat, no matter the impact it would provide.

Dangling a prospect like Harry Ford, paired with the depth of the Mariners farm system puts them square in the conversation for some of the biggest impact bats on the market this summer.