"They didn't do enough." An article by SOB.

[Seattle or Bust]

Another trade deadline has passed and while the Mariners made very predictable moves that help fill voids glaringly present, a typical cohort of media members and fans have been quick to criticize the deadline as "not enough."

So what did the M's actually do?

They did what many thought impossible, offloading starting pitcher Luis Castillo, who by all accounts has lost what once made him a decent rotation piece, and his bloated contract, which many thought no team would ever take on given his performance.

In that trade they also managed to acquire a decent bullpen arm in Seranthony Dominguez, albeit one that has struggled a bit this season. And Boston Smith, who will slot into the top-15 of a top-5 farm. Not to mention a left-handed outfielder in Nolan Jones who once put up a 4.3 bWAR season and serves as depth after Luke Raley went down for the year with an arm injury.

In another trade, the M's also added a right-handed bat in Taylor Ward who addresses the biggest hole in this lineup all season given the team's inability to left-handed pitching. Ward's 140 OPS+ vs lefties this season only exceeds Rob Refsydner by 100 points.

After the M's traded Castillo, Adam Jude of The Seattle Times tweeted that the M's were still engaged with teams over proven starting pitchers George Kirby and Emerson Hancock. Many fans and media members cheered a potential trade in the hopes that it would land them a premier bat for an offense that has largely struggled this season.

I won't begrudge the cheering, but when conceiving of what sort of bat might be available that also matches the values of these very valuable pitchers, the answers were all over the board.

An early name thrown out as a possible trade target was Giants utility man Casey Schmitt, who before getting injured just prior to the deadline, had put up just an 86 OPS+ over the months of June and July that followed a hot start. Not to mention that Schmitt was largely unproven, putting up just 0.2 bWAR over 220+ games his first 3 years in the league. He is not a player worth a George Kirby or Emerson Hancock.

Another name thrown around was Giants outfielder Heliot Ramos. In '26, Ramos had put up just 1.0 bWAR and modest 104 wRC+. And while he's hit lefties well this season, this is not the type of player you trade Kirby or Hancock for - as evidenced by Ramos being sent to the Yankees for 2x back-end top-30 prospects in the Yankees org.

A couple of media members floated a Kirby for Reds utility man Spencer Steer prior to him getting injured. Steer, with a 197 wRC+ against lefties this season, would no doubt have been a great addition to this team in a platoon role. The problem is he had only put up 0.2 bWAR on the season given shoddy defense and offensive numbers that fall of a cliff against right-handed pitching. He is not a player worth a Kirby or Hancock.

Then rumors began to swirl that the Nationals were taking calls on infielder CJ Abrams and the Marlins on shortstop Otto Lopez. These two names are the only realistic bats rumored to be available that would have fit a package including Kirby or Hancock and filled a void in the M's lineup. The issue being, were they ever truly available?

Lopez is on pace for a 7+ bWAR season at the most premier position in the sport. He leads all of baseball in hits, owns a 133 wRC+, and is controlled by a Marlins team who frankly has no reason to sell him for the next 3 seasons.

Abrams, while on pace for less WAR due to poor defense, has put up offensive numbers rarely seen by shortstops in today's game. His 28 homeruns and .908 OPS are far and away the best among shortstops in baseball. He is controlled for the next 2 seasons and it is unclear why the Nationals would sell him given that his battery mate, James Wood, is in the heart of his prime and putting up even better numbers than Abrams. Why would the Nationals not want to build around that?

Bottom line is that Lopez and Abrams were probably not seriously available.

Then came rumors that the Mariners had engaged in talks over Padres star reliever Mason Miller. Many posited trades for Miller that included Hancock or Kirby but Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times quickly quelled excitement when he reported that the Padres had asked for the M's star top-10 prospect Kade Anderson in return. Talks were clearly dead after that point and I'd argue that Miller, albeit an absolute stud, does little for a team as incomplete as the Mariners currently are - the Padres couldn't be a more shining example of this reality given their struggling offense and modest 58-55 record.

Finally, lets address quality starting pitching comparable to Kirby or Hancock that was moved at the deadline.

Angels starter Jose Soriano was traded for a prospect package including a top 50 prospect in the sport. Mets starter Clay Holmes was traded for almost an identical package. In both instances, the Angels and Mets, who have bottom-5 farms in the game, were clearly trying to improve this reality by adding prospects vs proven MLB hitters. So these trades don't really offer a window into the reality of the the M's needed back if they were going to trade Kirby or Hancock.

Even journey man Foster Griffin, who had a 3.01 ERA over 22 starts for the Nationals and whose value might be comparable to Kirby's, was offloaded for a package purely composed of prospects.

There simply was probably not a realistic trade partner that lined up to add a bat the quality of what a Kirby or Hancock should bring. Not to mention, trading either of them would have forced top prospect Anderson into a rotation spot on the M's when he's been on a clear innings limit in starts in the minors and will likely be shut down after he pitches 40 or so more innings this season. This is just not a realistic scenario.

Now that we've talked about the bats, lets address the bullpen. Could the M's have added another reliever? Sure. The question is again, who? And for what price?

Mets reliever Luke Weaver was a popular name thrown around. He was traded to the Pirates for a 2nd round pick shortstop, currently in A+, that is OPSing over 1.000. The M's would have likely to have offloaded top-10 prospect Nick Becker to get that done. Unlikely given the money owed to Weaver and just 1.2 years left of control.

Cardinals reliever JoJo Romero was traded in a deal that also included starting pitcher Dustin May to the Brewers who were in need of starting pitching. Sent back to the Cardinals was outfielder Alexander Frias who slotted in as the Cardinals no. 4 overall prospect in their farm (5 ahead of Jurrangelo Cjintne and 15 ahead of Tai Peete, former M's prospects). That would be the equivalent of the M's trading top-10 prospect Yorger Bautista which was absolutely not happening for Romero.

Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman, who was moved off the Jays closer role this year and owed $11M a year through 2028, was traded for a thin prospect package. While a popular name to add, his ERA over 4.00 the last 2 seasons and money owed on the contract would never be a match for a frugal M's front office.

Another popular name was Giants reliever Erik Miller as his name was thrown into a trade for George Kirby by former GM Jim Bowden. Miller, a hard-throwing lefty with a walk problem but low ERA, was traded to the Red Sox for former top-10 prospect in all of baseball Marcelo Mayer. This would be like the M's giving up on Cole Young and moving him for a reliever. Would anyone have been happy about that?

Rockies closer Antonio Senzatela had seen a resurgence in his career after moving the bullpen and was traded to the Brewers for a light prospect package. Senzatela might have been a compelling option if it weren't were a June and July where he put up ERA's of 8.18 and 6.48. Not to mention being owed a chunk of a contract paying him $4M to finish the remainder of the season.

Orioles reliever Tyler Wells was moved for a pitching prospect that slotted into the top-5 of their farm. The M's didn't really have an arm like that to move.

If you were looking for more fill-in relievers, which is certainly a plausible expectation, names like Brooks Raley, Kirby Yates, Huascar Brabozan, and AJ Minter would have been compelling. All have pitched well this season and besides Yates being an Angel, I can't really posit why the M's couldn't have beat the asking prices for the Mets relievers who were moved.

That said, would any of those relievers truly have moved the needle enough for frustrated fans and media members to be satisfied? I'm not sure. And should folks really have expected an all-in type move for a team currently 3-games under .500 and in the bottom-5 of most offensive categories? Again, I'm not sure.

I think it is a real possibility that one of Kirby or Hancock are moved this winter for the bat most fans are looking for. A trade simply did not line up this deadline that was available and would have made the M's a lot better.

The Mariners may not have done a lot, but they did enough for a team that hasn't proven they deserve to have gotten more. These moves will prove fruitful if M’s stars Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh start to play like the back of their baseball card says they should.

If not, there is always 2027. And sadly, you can thank the M’s flailing star talent for that sentiment.

[seattlefan-daBronx]

Nice article!

I did not know you wrote for the forumn! Please send more....

[DavidGee24]

I don't think that there were many people who thought that it was "impossible" to trade Castillo, nobody here in our Forum did anyway although the thought was probably that it would have to be bad contract-for-bad contract. In that regard DiPoto did better than expected and that's where we should be surprised, not in that we offloaded him but that it was relatively painless.

Landing Ward was probably the extent of what we could do as far as bolstering the offense. Luis Garcia Jr. would have been nice, but Naylor is in the way so that wasn't going to happen. It's pretty much going to be up to the guys presently on the roster minus hopefully Refsnyder. One more good bullpen arm would have been nice but it didn't happen and hopefully Brash has a clean bill of health going forward.

This is a good write-up. Good thing I avoided having that bad accident and lived to see it.

[Walla Walla Dawg II]

Very nice write-up.

[Big_Maple]

Super thorough, and sums up my thinking as well - they addressed the needs of paper, but they missed the blockbuster that would really have changed the momentum.

The only thing I would add is that a Kirby or Hancock deal that would have landed us a major offensive game changers of be for Zach Neto. He’s offers speed and athleticism, gold glove caliber defense, he hits clutch and for power, and he’s controllable. And the Angels were clearly sellers, so a deal could likely have been made.

Otherwise, great summary. Thanks.

[Southpaw773]

Jerry will tout the release of Garver and Ref plus the return of Pereda and Donovan as “as good as a trade” lol

[DavidGee24]

Super thorough, and sums up my thinking as well - they addressed the needs of paper, but they missed the blockbuster that would really have changed the momentum.

The only thing I would add is that a Kirby or Hancock deal that would have landed us a major offensive game changers of be for Zach Neto. He’s offers speed and athleticism, gold glove caliber defense, he hits clutch and for power, and he’s controllable. And the Angels were clearly sellers, so a deal could likely have been made.

Otherwise, great summary. Thanks.

Problem with Neto though is that we've already thrown all our eggs into the Emerson basket and JP isn't going anywhere this season.

[Big_Maple]

JP is a bench player who will only be a Mariner 2 more months. Colt has struggled a bit this season- if they got Neto, I can see sending Emerson down to figure shit out and then retooling the infield next season.

[DavidGee24]

Jerry will tout the release of Garver and Ref plus the return of Pereda and Donovan as “as good as a trade” lol

And he wouldn't be wrong, I mean it DOES improve the team. Let's just call it a happy accident.

[DavidGee24]

JP is a bench player who will only be a Mariner 2 more months. Colt has struggled a bit this season- if they got Neto, I can see sending Emerson down to figure shit out and then retooling the infield next season.

Only if you're going to convert Emerson to third. If you acquire Neto you're not then turning around and giving a guy like that up. And I think that we're committed to Donovan at third next season if we don't try to trade him. Of course, Arozarena might be gone so Donovan might end up in the outfield unless we don't trust his health, which we shouldn't.

Might???? Randy is an FA in a couple months.