The Mariners Are Listening on George Kirby and Randy Arozarena Seattle Might Blow It Up
The Seattle Mariners are 53-58. They are in third place in the AL West. And with two days until the trade deadline, they are picking up the phone.
Multiple teams have engaged Seattle on right-hander George Kirby, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who reports Kirby is available in the right deal before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline. The Mariners are also listening on starters Luis Castillo and Emerson Hancock, per Adam Jude and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Add in impending free agent Randy Arozarena, and this front office is basically taking meetings on half its roster.
Here is why this is not necessarily a fire sale. The Mariners are absolutely loaded with starting pitching, and they have so much rotation depth they have used Castillo, a three-time All-Star, out of the bullpen at times just to get his arm on the mound. Trading one starter does not gut the rotation. It funds an upgrade somewhere else.
Kirby is the most interesting name on the block. He is 28, controllable, and one of the best command guys in the American League when he is right. Every contender with a rotation hole is going to ask about him. The Mariners will need a haul to move him, but they can absolutely afford to shop the price.
Arozarena is a different story. He is a free agent at the end of the season. He is hitting .280 with 13 home runs. If Seattle keeps him and misses the postseason, they lose him for nothing. If they move him now, they get something back. This is not complicated math.
The complication is that the Mariners are only three games out of both the division lead and the final Wild Card spot in what is a weird, jammed-up AL West. Trading a starter and a productive corner outfielder while sitting that close to a playoff race is the kind of move that gets a general manager fired.
Jerry Dipoto has to make a call. Is this team good enough to actually run down the Astros or the A’s or whoever is currently in front of them? Because if the answer is no, then treating this like a normal buy-or-sell deadline is a mistake. Seattle should sell the veteran pieces and bring back real prospects.
If the answer is yes, keep everyone and go add a bat instead. That is the version fans want. That is the version that gets Julio Rodriguez his first playoff series.
Seattle has a decision to make, and they have about 48 hours to make it. Judging by the volume of calls they are taking, they might already be leaning one direction.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
