As second half begins, Mariners are likely picky buyers in trade market

After being gracious hosts for the 2023 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the Mariners are rewarded with 10 games at home starting on Friday night at T-Mobile Park.

The “second half” of the season starts with seven games against teams from the abysmal American League Central and three games vs. the Blue Jays — a team directly in Seattle’s path back to the postseason.

Those 10 games won’t define the season, but they could be highly determinant on what baseball operations president Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander do at the trade deadline.

On June 28, the Mariners were shut down by Patrick Corbin, who hasn’t shut down anybody in the last few seasons, in a disappointing 4-1 loss to the lowly Nationals, which also meant a series loss to a team that is something worse than rebuilding. They were booed loudly and deservedly after the final out.

It was the low point of an already underachieving season.

“I think our players were embarrassed,” Dipoto said. “We were embarrassed collectively, and they got together, they spoke with one another, they didn’t need help or guidance. And I think they found themselves in the struggle and I think that’s mostly the story of every good movie you’ve ever watched. That’s all good sports stories. It’s over a 162-game season. That’s what you do. You’re constantly going through the trials and the tribulations in the effort to find yourself. I think we did and then we’re certainly playing like it right now.”

But whether it was the players-only meeting held two days later or just the realization that they had nowhere to go but up, the Mariners finished the “first half” strong, winning seven of their last 10 games, including winning a three-game series vs. the Rays, who had the best record in baseball, a road series in San Francisco and taking three out of four games from the Astros at Minute Maid Park, a place they never win.

Seattle went into the All-Star break with a 45-44 record. The Mariners sit six games back of the Rangers in the AL West. Texas lost 11 of its last 15 games going into the break. The Mariners sit four games back of the Blue Jays for the third wild-card spot, with the Red Sox and Yankees ahead of them.

For the Mariners to win 90 games, which they have done the past two seasons, they would need to go 45-28 to finish the season. It wasn’t until the last 10 games before the break where they resembled a team capable of doing that.

They have a slim chance at still winning at the division and a slightly better chance at winning the wild card.

“We’ll see what happens over the course of the next two weeks,” Dipoto said. “That may change our position in the standings, but we’ve done a nice job of making ourselves relevant in the playoff race in the second half after we made it challenging on ourselves through a lot of April and into early May. We’ve generally played better over the course of the last few weeks and very well the last 10 games. (I’m) very excited to see where it goes. Maybe that was a turning point for our club and we can start doing the things that we’ve always been capable of doing.”

Those 10 games along with a road trip to Minnesota and Arizona leading up to the MLB trade deadline, which is on Aug. 1, will help the Mariners decide if they are buyers or sellers or somehow both.

“We’re still waiting to see where we end up in this thing,” Dipoto said on his weekly radio show on Seattle Sports 710. “Our plan, at least the way it has been for years, has always been to find ways to get better. We tend to think longer term than short term. Even the Luis Castillo acquisition at the trade deadline last year, we weren’t looking at it as this is the boost that gets us to the postseason. It was the boost that brings an ace to town and we’re going see if we can lock him up for a while. We’ll continue to look at the market, likely more players that have a chance to move forward with us then what you would call short term or rental types.”

The Mariners obviously need to add at least one hitter that is capable of providing an impact to a lineup that is lacking in consistency. Seattle most certainly must have Julio Rodriguez, Teoscar Hernandez and Eugenio Suarez pick up their production to expected levels. But even then, that is not enough.

There is one slight problem — due to the expanded postseason, fewer teams are looking to sell off players in trades.

It’s a seller’s market where teams can look to try bid up suitors looking for help.

The Mariners have been linked to the Cardinals, who have an abundance of young outfielders with multiple years of club control and are in desperate need of pitching help.

The Nationals, Rockies, Pirates and Cubs will likely sell off certain players and the White Sox should consider moving a few players as well. Most of the players that those teams are looking to move don’t necessarily fit the Mariners’ profile of being more than a short-term rental.

Sources indicate the Mariners won’t be too aggressive in adding a starting pitcher, despite wanting to control the overall innings pitched for rookies Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo.

Seattle also might not have the prospect capital to acquire major players with multiple years of club control after big trades the past few seasons, including giving up four players for Castillo.