Mariners’ biggest issues can’t be fixed at the trade deadline | Commentary
Mariners fans have been trained to expect fireworks, and fixes, at the MLB trade deadline.
When they stared down the abyss of a 21-year playoff drought in 2022, the Mariners added an ace in Luis Castillo.
When they ranked last in batting average and OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) in 2024, pairing an elite rotation with an inept offense, they traded for the best bat available in Randy Arozarena.
When Donovan Solano, Rowdy Tellez and Ben Williamson sputtered at the corner infield spots in 2025, they shook down the Diamondbacks for Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez.
This season, same as those, the Mariners enter July with problems to solve, and a playoff appearance hinging on a hot second half. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander will undoubtedly attempt to add a right-handed bat, after 35-year-old platoon option Rob Refsnyder’s signing emphatically failed. They’ll also try to trade for a reliever (or two) to buoy a bullpen that’s endured injuries to Matt Brash, Cooper Criswell, Carlos Vargas and more.
But those are, at best, marginal chess moves.
This year, the Mariners’ biggest issues can’t be fixed at the trade deadline.
A trade deadline addition can’t make Cal Raleigh hit. Last year’s American League MVP runner-up has stunningly devolved from one of baseball’s best players to a liability in the middle of the Mariners lineup. The 29-year-old franchise centerpiece and clubhouse leader has produced a -0.1 bWAR in 54 games, after ranking fifth in that category (7.2 bWAR) in 2025. And even after missing 29 games because of a right-oblique strain, Raleigh is just 8-for-43 (.186) with one home run, five RBIs and 16 strikeouts in 13 games since his return.
He isn’t Seattle’s only sputtering star. Center fielder Julio Rodríguez has chased a blazing May with a sluggish June, entering Tuesday slashing .229/.312/.313 over the past mediocre month. Naylor had a largely forgettable first half, thanks to erratic defense and minimal firepower (eight homers, 11 doubles, 34 RBIs). Though Arozarena has been one of Seattle’s most consistent hitters, his questionable defensive play and effort (-5.2 defensive rating, 13th-worst in MLB) has drawn criticism. Bryan Woo – Seattle’s most steady starter last season – has been anything but, with perplexingly uneven home (5-0, 2.0 ERA) and road (1-6, 6.38 ERA) splits. And though two-time All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz has racked up five consecutive scoreless appearances, he still carries an uncharacteristic 4.91 ERA into the second half.
That was a long paragraph, which only highlights the problem. On paper, this team is plenty talented. But paper pennants don’t mean much. Dipoto and Hollander won’t be trading for any stars in late July. The most realistic way for Seattle to add a star is for Raleigh, Julio, Naylor, Arozarena, Woo, Muñoz, etc., to start playing like one.
It’s not just that. A trade deadline addition can’t suddenly solve Dan Wilson’s problems managing his pitching staff. With six healthy starters, Seattle has spent this season wrapped in a vicious riddle. Embrace a six-man rotation, and each starter is afforded fewer opportunities, while an already taxed bullpen is allowed one fewer reliever. Embrace the piggyback plan, and risk disrupting your pitchers’ routines and permanently curdling clubhouse chemistry.
Wilson – the Mariners’ embattled third-year manager – has struggled to optimize his arms, with the latest example being Sunday’s bullpen implosion in a 6-5 loss to Cleveland. Trading for a reliever, or calling up premier prospects Kade Anderson and/or Ryan Sloan, would add additional arms. It wouldn’t cure Wilson’s curious and occasionally disastrous decision-making.
Likewise, while trading Castillo might theoretically solve a problem, it’d also remove the Mariners’ parachute for when another pitching injury inevitably arrives.
A trade deadline addition wouldn’t solve Seattle’s damning defense, which ranks 28th in MLB in defensive rating (-18.2) and last in outs above average (-25). Nor would it provide permanent answers on the left side of Seattle’s infield, where 20-year-old shortstop Colt Emerson and converted 31-year-old third baseman J.P. Crawford have more to prove. Emerson is 10-for-67 (.149) with four homers, one double, nine RBIs and 25 strikeouts in his past 21 games. And though Crawford is a longtime leader, his defense at the hot corner may leave much to be desired.
Oh, and a few trade deadline reinforcements may not fix the Mariners’ recent injury luck.
“It is a challenge day to day right now,” Hollander said Monday, after discussing injuries to Refsnyder, Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley. “But there’s 29 other teams that have challenges right now. No one’s going to feel sorry for us. Our charge is to go win more games than we’ve won.”
If the Mariners are going to do that, and if they’re going to win the weakened AL West for a second consecutive season, Hollander and Dipoto should attempt to improve in any way possible. But Band-Aids don’t solve snake bites, and marginal chess moves can’t save the Mariners.
This team, flawed and frustrating but unquestionably capable, will have to save itself..