The Seattle Mariners sit in first place in the AL West one quarter of the way into the MLB season, but injuries have already taken a toll on the team.
Injured Seattle Mariners ace Gilbert hits important benchmark
That’s been especially evident for a starting rotation dealing with the absences of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and now Bryce Miller. On top of that, Luis Castillo has had a couple of rough outings early on. It’s all added up to a starting group that’s been in the lower half of baseball after being the league’s best a season ago.
With the pitching struggling, Mariners Radio Network analyst Ryan Rowland-Smith asked MLB Network insider Jon Morosi on Tuesday during Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob if the Mariners could swing an early trade to shore up what was supposed to be their greatest strength.
“I do think it’s possible that there are certain teams (that would be open to making an early trade),” Morosi said.
Morosi pointed to the Miami Marlins, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies and – surprisingly – the Baltimore Orioles as teams set up to be sellers this season. But he feels swinging an early trade with most of those teams would be a difficult task. The Marlins and Pirates are the teams he thinks would be most willing to trade away impactful pitching early.
“The White Sox could be too, although interestingly the White Sox rotation has now gotten younger and better to where I’m not really sure that I see a White Sox pitcher that will be available to everybody – unless it’s a really, really good baseball trade,” Morosi said. “The Mariners probably have to give up one of their better young players in the system to get an impact starter at this stage.”
The Orioles are a team Morosi said to watch closer to the deadline if the Mariners continue to having pitching issues. After reaching the playoffs this season, Baltimore is last in the AL East at 15-26.
“Maybe Tomoyuki Sugano becomes available,” Morosi said. “He was, of course, signed to a short-term deal (one-year, $13 million) with the Orioles, and I think he’d actually pitch really well in Seattle. It would be a great fit in Seattle.
“The Orioles, because of their success last season, they cannot make a sell decision right now and start moving assets on May 13th, but I think as you get closer to the early days of July, maybe it becomes a bit more practical.”
Ultimately, Morosi isn’t so sure the Mariners are in the market for pitching as of now.
“In fairness to the Mariners, they probably want to say, listen, let’s assess how we look once Gilbert and Kirby come back, and then we can determine how much of our minor league depth we’re willing to move,” he said. “So I think for now for the Mariners, I think their focus has to be internal, maybe a waiver claim here or there, but the big-time shopping I think has to come later on in the process.”
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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