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Seattle Mariners
The Mariners, who seemed to score about eight runs a week in the summer, actually ended up 12th in the majors in wRC+ with an above-average 104 mark. Randy Arozarena was great for them, and Julio Rodriguez closed with a 140 wRC+ over the final two months. It wasn’t enough to catch the Astros, but it may have been enough to change the tenor of their offseason. With most of the players who drove that late-summer drive returning, do the Mariners actually need to trade a pitcher for a hitter?
That’s an old-fashioned baseball trade, of course, one team trading from strength to shore up a weakness, matching up with another team to do the same. The Orioles are the mirror image of the Mariners, loaded with so many good young hitters they can overpay for Trevor Rogers, but thin in the rotation. Matching them up isn’t quite so easy, though, and teams can be reluctant to trade young players with superstar upside. George Kirby for Coby Mayo and Heston Kjerstad works better when you’re the third caller to KZZZ than when it’s your job in the balance.
The Mariners, I think, can run at this from a different direction. They are the one team in this division with a strong farm system, deep in up-the-middle prospects. Colt Emerson and Cole Young have a clear path to jobs in Seattle as the future double-play combination, and behind them is teenage sensation Felnin Celesten. Blocked, though, is catcher Henry Ford, top-50 at MLB Pipeline, an OBP machine at every level of the minors so far, and considered strong defensively with no chance he’ll need to move out from behind the dish.
Cal Raleigh just wrapped his third straight three-win season for the Ms, hitting 34 homers, throwing out a league-high 32 basestealers, and setting a career high with 4.6 bWAR. Raleigh is a star, controlled through 2027 and just now reaching arbitration. He blocks Ford the way Rudy Gobert blocks weak layups.
The Mariners don’t have to trade one of their top starters. They can trade Ford, a top prospect at a key position who could be major-league ready by the summer, and keep the team’s strength intact. Where might he go? Bad or rebuilding teams who could use a young catcher include the Marlins, though they don’t have hitters to deal; the Reds, who do have hitting depth; and perhaps the Rays, depending on what they’re trying to do in 2025.
The simplest thing is to trade...well, I’d try to make it Bryce Miller...for the best hitter you can get, and that’s certainly not a bad idea. Getting more creative can help the Mariners not just align their talent better, but in trading someone who won’t contribute next year for someone who will, create a true three- or four-win upgrade in a division that has been decided by less than that the last two years.
