Mariners got in on busy trade market, but is it enough to compete with AL’s top contenders

It wasn’t Manny Machado, Cole Hamels, Zach Britton or Brad Hand.

But as the most talented teams in the American League and across baseball got more talented before the weekend, the Seattle Mariners finally got in on that with a deal of their own, acquiring right-handed reliever Sam Tuivailala from the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

Is that enough?

Most figured the Mariners would go after an addition to their bullpen, and general manager Jerry Dipoto said he has contacted every team in the major leagues before Tuesday’s nonwaiver trade deadline about possible targets.

So why Tuivailala, the 25-year-old with a 96-mph four-seam fastball and sinker to complement a slider and curveball? With James Pazos being the lone true lefty reliever in their bullpen, why couldn’t the Mariners get the top two targets on the market in Brad Hand or Zach Britton?

Answer: Assets.

At least, that’s the most likely scenario, because contender in baseball reportedly wanted Hand and Britton. Dipoto said last week that Mariners’ ownership told him he could spend whatever necessary to get the team to their first playoff appearance since 2001 – the longest active streak in not just baseball, but all of North America’s major professional sports – but he also acknowledged prospect capital would be a problem.

The Yankees sent three pitching prospects to the Orioles to get Britton on Tuesday. The Indians acquired Hand and Puyallup High School graduate Adam Cimber (The News Tribune’s All-Area player of the year in 2009) but, as Dipoto put it:

“We would have loved him,” Dipoto said of Hand. “But we didn’t have a spare Francisco Mejia.”

Mejia, an Indians top prospect, was shipped of to San Diego as the cost of rebuilding Cleveland’s bullpen.

The Mariners had reportedly shown interest in left-handed starters Cole Hamels and J.A. Happ, but Thursday Hamels went to the Cubs and Happ to the Yankees.

The Astros picked up catcher Martin Maldonado from the Angels; the Red Sox got right-handed starter Nathan Eovaldi from the Rays after acquiring first baseman and outfielder Steve Pearce; and the hard-charging Athletics, who entered Friday a game back of the Mariners, traded for Mets right-hander Jeurys Familia.

That’s a lot of deals for the Mariners’ top competitors – and there’s still plenty of time before the deadline.

But here’s the catch – Seattle’s moves don’t seem so incomparable.

Remember back in May? The Mariners acquired right-hander Alex Colome, who led the American League in saves for the Rays last season, and outfielder Denard Span. Both are currently key pieces.

Now add Tuivailala, who won’t become a free agent until 2023 and he fills the Mariners’ need for a situational arm, even if he’s not left-handed.

It cost the Mariners promising right-handed minor league prospect Seth Elledge, but Tuivailala has limited right-handed batters to a .230 average with two extra base hits. He has a 3.69 ERA (13 earned runs in 31 2/3 innings pitched) in 31 games for St. Louis.

That’s something Dipoto outlined last week when asked if the Mariners would prefer a lefty specialist.

“We’re comfortable with where we are in the eighth and ninth innings,” Dipoto said. “Just based on the lineups we’re looking at the rest of the way, both in regular-season competition and with the playoff contenders, they are pretty right-handed heavy.”

Though, he went on to add that if the Mariners could add another lefty into their bullpen, “that would be a positive thing.”

If they couldn’t, adding a power righty is still a positive, especially with some of the inconsistent outings Nick Vincent and Juan Nicasio have had this season.

It’s not that the Mariners didn’t have the will to pick up the same players the Yankees, Red Sox and Indians have stockpiled before the deadline, but Seattle’s prospect-thin system made it hard to make deals.

The Mariners weren’t going to trade what prospects they have, like outfielder Kyle Lewis or first baseman Evan White, on haste alone.

The caveat to all this is that there’s still time, despite some of the options quickly dwindling. Maybe the Mariners still add a starting pitcher (though Erasmo Ramirez has allowed one hit in five innings for Triple-A Tacoma over two rehab appearances after Wednesday’s start), or a center fielder to offer a more potent bat in Guillermo Heredia’s place.

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

“That being said,” he continued. “We are in a unique position … we are a neutral run-differential team, but we’re without any market holes. It’s unique. There’s a reason why we have the fourth-best record in the league and that’s because everybody has contributed in a good to better-than-good way.

“We know we’re getting (Robinson) Cano back, we’re probably a few weeks away from getting Erasmo Ramirez back as part of the equation in some way … so we’re going to get an infusion of healthy talent. So that being said, we don’t have any clear we-have-to-do-better-than-X spots.

“It could be a player who makes $1 million, it could be $10 million. I don’t know the answer to that question. But I do know we have the resources to do it. Whether we have the prospect capital to do that, I can’t promise.”

Paxton update

Mariners left-hander James Paxton told reporters that he felt good after throwing a 32-pitch bullpen session on Friday at Angel Stadium.

The Mariners skipped his scheduled start on Tuesday because his back hadn’t fully healed like he thought it would. He remains on the 10-day disabled list, but the Mariners hope is he’ll be ready to return by Monday when the Mariners host the Astros.

“The last few days I’ve been waking up with no back stiffness,” Paxton said. “For a while there, I would wake up and my back would be stiff and I had to stretch it out. Now I’m not even thinking about it, and that means I’m not thinking about it when I’m throwing. That’s the main thing.”

On tap

Right-hander Felix Hernandez (8-8, 5.14 ERA) starts the 6:07 p.m. Saturday game at Angel Stadium opposed by right-hander Jamie Barria (5-7, 3.80 ERA).

The game will broadcast on Root Sports and 710-AM radio.

This story was originally published July 27, 2018 at 3:35 PM.