What are Mariners looking for before the trade deadline? GM Jerry Dipoto explains (expect bullpen)

Jerry Dipoto indicated Friday afternoon that if the Seattle Mariners are making a move to bolster their roster before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, then this is the fourth quarter, so to speak.

As much as the baseball world awaited Manny Machado’s next stop, Dipoto said that the real chip to get the trade dominos falling was the deal that sent coveted left-handed reliever Brad Hand from the San Diego Padres to the Cleveland Indians on Thursday.

That’s because the deadline is brimming with bullpen arms, as well as plenty of playoff contenders interested in bulking their bullpens.

“I’m not sure how many position players will move around the deadline and I’m not sure how many starting pitchers will move – I think a lot of business will be done around bullpens,” Dipoto said. “We’ve certainly had our feelers out there on a variety of different things on our pitching staff, whether it be our bullpen or starting pitching.

“We even kept some feelers out there for the potential to add a position player, whether it’s something versatile or an upgrade to our defense or adding a boost to our offense. But we do know that with Cano coming back, I don’t want to call that a primary concern.”

Robinson Cano is set to return from this 80-game suspension for violating major league baseball’s joint drug and prevention program on Aug. 14 in Oakland. He’ll be the biggest post-deadline addition to the Mariners lineup.

That leaves their pitching staff.

Dipoto said one area they’re looking at, specifically, in the trade market is situational pitching. The Mariners already acquired right-hander Alex Colome from the Rays in May to lock down the eighth inning before handing off to Edwin Diaz in the ninth. But he conceded there’s room for improvement in the bridge innings.

Their lefty matchup specialist, Marc Rzepczynski, was designated for assignment earlier in the season because he struggled against lefties, and now James Pazos is their lone lefty in the bullpen other than long-reliever Roenis Elias.

That doesn’t mean Dipoto isn’t leaving the door open for another right-handed arm.

“If there’s an area we can improve on, it’s situational bullpen,” Dipoto said. “We’re comfortable with where we are in the eighth and ninth innings. The guys in the middle with Pazos and Nick Vincent and Juan Nicasio at various times have been hot, Paz has been consistent throughout.

“But just based on the lineups we’re looking at the rest of the way, both in the regular season and with the playoff contenders, they are pretty right-handed heavy. So it might be beneficial to view both left- and right-handed situational pitchers as targets. But if we could add another lefty in that mix, that would be a positive thing.”

He indicated the Mariners were trying, like most contenders around baseball, to get to top lefty reliever on the trade market in Brad Hand from the Padres.

“Would have loved him,” Dipoto said. “But we didn’t have a spare Francisco Mejia (the standout prospect the Indians traded away).”

Orioles closer Zach Britton now figures to be the next top lefty on the market. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick on Friday reported that the teams most involved in trade talks for him were the Astros, Cub, Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox and Giants.

The Athletics, the team right on the Mariners’ heels for the final wild card spot, appeared to have a deal in place on Friday to pick up Mets right-handed reliever Jeurys Familia.

Dipoto assured that he’s been given full reins from Mariners’ ownership to make whatever deal they need to position them better for their first playoff appearance since 2001, the longest-active playoff drought in North American professional sports.

“We have the resources and I have been told over and over again that if there’s something out there that we can obtain that helps us, go do it,” Dipoto said.

“We’re not going out there determining or judging the best player for us based on a paycheck. It could be $1 million, it could be a player who makes $10 million. I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know we have the resources to do it.”

There is a caveat.

“Whether we have the prospect capital to do that, I can’t promise,” Dipoto said. “But I know we have the financial capital to do that.”

The Mariners have the 11th-highest team payroll in the majors of about $157.5 million, a club record, according to Spotrac. Compare that to some of the other playoff contenders in the American League – the Red Sox have a $226 million payroll, the Angels are at $176 million, Yankees at $168 million, Astros at $159 million … though the A’s have the league’s lowest payroll at $71.8 million.

But Dipoto’s comments indicated the Mariners could be in on going after high-priced starting pitchers like left-hander Cole Hamels from the Rangers or Blue Jays lefty J.A. Happ, as some have tied them to. Both have contracts expiring at the end of the season.

Dipoto would prefer to avoid a rental player, like both of those pitchers could be with their expiring contracts, but the Mariners did acquire rental first baseman Yonder Alonso last season.

“It’s not ideal because of what you have to cede to get that player,” Dipoto said. “I can’t say our preference would be to go with the pure rental, but it depends on what the pure rental costs in terms of player capital.

“We’re not likely to give up our better prospects for a short-term gain, but we certainly have our eyes on more than a couple of guys who are pending free agents.”

This story was originally published July 21, 2018 at 7:00 AM with the headline "What are Mariners looking for before the trade deadline? GM Jerry Dipoto explains (expect bullpen)."