What Would a ‘Buyer-to-Buyer’ Trade for Mariners Look Like?

It’s almost the All-Star break. That means it’s trade rumors season. It’s an exciting time for all 30 MLB teams. If your team is in contention, excitement builds about which players your team’s general manager might acquire from another team. Fans enjoy conjecturing trade packages that would benefit their team.

Even if your favorite team is seemingly out of the race (although with now three Wild Card spots, that pool of teams is smaller than ever), there are still reasons to tune in. Die hard fans of teams not in contention start stalking the prospects of other MLB organizations, guessing which teams might trade for their best big leaguers to merit exciting young talent in return.

This season is a bit unique. The American League, as a whole, has been very mediocre. Only one team in the entire AL (Angels) is double-digit games back of a playoff spot. Even the 38-54 Royals are 8.5 games back of the last AL Wild Card spot. This leaves the August 3 trade deadline in a weird spot.

That led to Seattle Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto having an interesting quote on MLB Network Radio, saying, “I think there are enough contending teams with real holes or needs to fill that you might actually see more action with contender trading with contender like, buyer-to-buyer type trades to fill voids.”