Five deals the Mariners could consider at the trade deadline

You know it, they know it, everybody knows it – the Seattle Mariners are buyers entering the trade deadline.

That’s what the fourth-most wins in the major leagues at the All-Star break and a playoff drought that’s been active since 2001 does to a team. But what can general manager Jerry Dipoto’s sweet talk, the Mariners’ money and their trade chips buy what they need?

And what can they get to actually improve their current roster and not just add for the sake of adding, despite Dipoto’s penchant for trades.

Signs mostly point toward an upgrade to the pitching staff, but whether that would be in the rotation, bullpen or both is up in the air. With the way their starters have performed most of the season, including breakout seasons for lefties Wade LeBlanc and Marco Gonzales, and some gems from right-hander Mike Leake, cries for a front-line starter have quenched significantly since spring training.

But there’s certainly room for adding depth considering all of their starters are looking at innings thresholds, though they do have options in Triple-A Tacoma and right-hander Erasmo Ramirez seems close a return from the disabled list.

“If there’s an opportunity for us to expand or augment our pitching group, wherever that is, we are going to be attentive to that,” Dipoto said earlier this month. “If there’s the ability to go out and find a guy we think takes some of the innings stress off of our starters in the second half or can give us that late punch in the back-end of the bullpen, then we’ll go that route.”

But if it doesn’t?

“We probably won’t chase it,” he said.

With that in mind, here’s a look at five trade possibilities as the Mariners near the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

J.A. Happ, Blue Jays

Happ has been much more productive the past three seasons, splitting time between the Pirates and Blue Jays, than his brief stint with the Mariners in 2015, when he went 4-6 with a 4.64 ERA in 21 starts.

The left-hander played in his first MLB All-Star Game this week while going 10-6 with a 4.29 ERA in 19 starts. The 35-year-old with 12 years of big-league experience could be valuable for a postseason contender.

But after a solid first couple months, Happ has a 6.84 ERA his past five starts. He’s allowed 18 runs his past three outings (against the Tigers, Yankees and Red Sox).

Cole Hamels, Rangers

Speaking of valuable veterans, how about Hamels? He’s no longer in the four-time All-Star form he was with the Phillies, but the left-hander is a former World Series MVP who is 5-8 with a 4.36 ERA in 19 starts for Texas.

The Mariners were reportedly looking into a trade with the Rangers, but Hamels is making $23.5 million this season as part of the final year of his six-year, $144 million contract. That’s a lot compared to the $13 million Happ is making as part of the final year of his three-year, $36 million deal.

Nathan Eovaldi, Rays

If anyone is making a trade with the Rays, history says it’s going to be Dipoto.

The Mariners picked up right-hander Alex Colome and Denard Span from them already. Why not a right-handed starting pitcher, too? The Mariners are simply unlikely to have the trade chips necessarily to pick up Rays stalwarts Blake Snell, a graduate of Shorewood High School, or Chris Archer, but maybe they go after 28-year-old Eovaldi, who is owed $2 million this season before he becomes a free agent.

Eovaldi had a 3.35 ERA through his first eight starts this year coming off of his second elbow surgery, but allowed eight runs in 2 2/3 innings his most recent start.

Zach Britton, Orioles

Dipoto, a former reliever, loves bullpen arms. That’s why he so coveted Colome for the past couple of years before finally acquiring him in May, and why he went after right-hander Juan Nicasio in the offseason.

But Nicasio hasn’t pitched to expectations and lefty specialist Marc Rzepczynski struggled so much that he was designated for assignment. James Pazos has stepped up in the lefty role, but what if the Mariners could add another back-end veteran lefty for a postseason push?

This is where Britton, a pending free agent, comes in. Now that the Orioles have traded Manny Machado, attention turns to their closer and two-time All-Star, who could draw plenty of interest from the contenders.

Although Britton struggled when he returned for the disabled list on June 12, but has since made seven consecutive scoreless appearances.

If not Britton, maybe the Mariners go for Padres right-hander Craig Stammen, who has a 2.91 ERA in 46 1/3 innings. The Padres already traded lefty reliever Brad Hand to the Indians on Wednesday, so they’re in sell mode.

But if they do go for Britton, the Mariners could try for a package with this player:

Adam Jones, Orioles

Getting Jones would help rectify that horrible trade they made before the 2008 season that sent then 22-year-old Jones and others to Baltimore for left-hander Erik Bedard.

Jones has since won four Gold Gloves in center field, a Silver Slugger and is a five-time All-Star.

Except Jones’ defense has trended down in recent years. Among MLB outfielders he ranks 247th in outs above average (minus-eight), which is MLB’s Statcast metric for tracking how many plays a fielder should have made to how many he actually converted.

Guillermo Heredia ranks 22nd on that list (plus-four), while Mitch Haniger is 236th (minus_five), Denard Span is 231st (minus-four) and Ben Gamel is 221st (minus-three). So Jones would represent a defensive downgrade in that regard.

He’s batting .275 with 10 home runs and his lowest OPS (on-base plus slugging) since 2008, his first year with the Orioles.

But there’s other center field options. Seattle could bring back Leonys Martin from the Tigers, and Reds’ really fast Billy Hamilton is rumored to be available, and could be an intriguing utility/pinch-running option. This really is all dependent on how much the Mariners trust Heredia in their postseason push.

This story was originally published July 19, 2018 at 5:26 PM.