Seattle Mariners
Over the last few years, the Seattle Mariners have made some splashy offseason trades. Now they’re in a position to make one at the trade deadline, could they call the Washington Nationals to ask about Bryce Harper?
The Mariners are looking to end the longest playoff drought in the four major American sports this year. They currently sit at 61-41 and hold the second wild card in the American League.
However, the Oakland Athletics are gaining ground, and fast. So the Mariners are going to need to make improvements to hold off the pesky A’s.
Although they will likely have some combination of Mitch Haniger, Dee Gordon, Guillermo Heredia, Ben Gamel and former National, Denard Span occupying the outfield for the rest of the season, they could definitely do with a little more thump.
Jerry Dipoto is finally in a position to go gung-ho mid-season, and Harper would be the perfect addition. The Mariners farm system also has some nice talent that could convince Mike Rizzo to part with his biggest trade chip.
Evan White was Seattle’s first-round choice in the 2017 draft out of Kentucky and could make a perfect heir to Ryan Zimmerman at first base. In his minor league career, he’s hitting .287 and played gold glove caliber defense, however, the power has yet to surface.
Perhaps an underrated prospect in the Mariners’ system is reliever Seth Elledge. He’s been flat-out dominating to the tune of a 1.17 ERA at High-A with the Modesto Nuts while striking out 54 hitters in just 38.1 innings. He should move up the ladder pretty rapidly if he keeps that type of performance up.
Then we come to Juan Mercedes, a young starter the Mariners seem particularly high on. He’s 4-1 with a stellar 1.80 ERA in rookie ball and would be a nice dart throw for the Nats. The full summary of the trade is below.