The Mariners go into the final game of their series in Oakland on Thursday afternoon still eight games under .500, far from what Seattle hoped for out of this season.

It’s also a little under six weeks until the Aug. 2 MLB trade deadline, where teams make statements on their directions through the moves they do – or don’t – make.

The different ways Mariners can approach this year’s trade deadline

Has Seattle’s stumbles thus far impacted how general manager/president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and his team will approach the trade deadline? That doesn’t appear to be the case based off of his weekly conversation with Seattle Sports’ Mike Salk on Thursday morning.

“I know you’ve heard me say it through the years – our intent is always to go in and focus on making this team better and our future rosters better,” Dipoto said. “You’ll hear it from almost everybody in the league now, it’s the intent to try to be opportunistic, to buy and sell, to be in position to maximize whatever opportunities come your way. And we’re going to approach it that same way.”

OK, maybe not the most revealing comment. What Dipoto said next, however, seemed to be more of an indication of the position the Mariners see themselves in – perhaps influenced by the fact that with an additional wild card spot in the playoffs this year, the M’s still have plenty of time to make up the seven games between them and that final postseason berth.

“Our intent is to be good, and we want to be good now, and most especially we don’t want to do anything that pushes our goal line out into the future,” Dipoto said. “We’re here in the middle of what we think is going to be a sustained period of winning. Hopefully we’re getting some traction now, and whether 2022 is our year or not I can’t tell you, but I know the talent level on our roster demands that we view this team as a ‘now’ team and continue to add to make 2023, ’24 real opportunities for the Mariners, as well as ’22.”

We’ll have more on SeattleSports.com today from the latest edition of The Jerry Dipoto Show, which airs live at 8:30 a.m. every Thursday morning on Seattle Sports. You can listen to a podcast of this week’s show at this link or in the player below.

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