2 Takes: Are Mariners’ starting pitchers untouchable in trades?

Jul 11, 2024, 10:25 AM

Seattle Mariners Bryce Miller Minnesota Twins 2024...

Bryce Miller of the Seattle Mariners pitches against the Minnesota Twins on June 29. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

(Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

With every passing day, the anticipation grows for what the Seattle Mariners will do ahead of the July 30 MLB trade deadline.

Rost: Six bats that are potential trade fits for Mariners’ lineup

The first-place Mariners have an elite starting rotation that’s among the best in baseball, but a sputtering offense that sits near the bottom of the majors in most statistical categories. In order to capitalize on their talented, young pitching and contend for their first-ever World Series, it’s clear the M’s need to bolster their lineup at the deadline.

The general assumption is that Seattle will delve into its farm system for trade chips. The Mariners have a slew of highly regarded position-player prospects, with six such players currently ranked in Baseball America’s Top 100: shortstop Colt Emerson at No. 13, outfielder Lazaro Montes at No. 29, shortstop Cole Young at No. 41, outfielder Jonny Farmelo at No. 61, catcher Harry Ford at No. 72 and first baseman Tyler Locklear at No. 79. Right-handed pitcher Logan Evans also is a Top 100 prospect, checking in at No. 80.

However, could the Mariners potentially deal one of their back-end starting pitchers to help facilitate a trade for a big-time bat? During Wednesday’s edition of Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports, Brock Huard and Mike Salk dived into a spirited debate on that topic.

The context was whether the Mariners should consider trading No. 4 starter Bryce Miller as part of a deal for Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

It’s unclear yet whether the Blue Jays will be sellers at the deadline, and if so, whether they would be willing to deal their three-time All-Star first baseman. But if they do, Guerrero would be one of the most coveted trade targets on the market. The 25-year-old slugger has a rare combination of hitting for average and for power, and he’s under club control through 2025.

Miller, meanwhile, has been a key piece of Seattle’s talented rotation. The 25-year-old right-hander has a 3.63 ERA in 109 innings this season, while ranking seventh in the American League in opponent batting average (.217) and 10th in WHIP (1.06). In his start Wednesday night, Miller shut down the San Diego Padres’ talented lineup with six scoreless innings in Seattle’s 2-0 win. He’s just 14 months removed from his MLB debut and is under club control through 2029, making him an extremely valuable long-term commodity.

Here are the highlights from the back-and-forth discussion between Huard and Salk, with some portions removed due to length.

Should Mariners trade from their rotation?

Huard: “It’s going to be uncomfortable with Vlad Guerrero. It’s going to require major league starting pitching. I don’t think you’re going to get him with your top prospects. Not in this market. Not when I look at baseball right now. … There’s a lot of elite pitching out there, and you can grow and develop that, and the Mariners do that better than anything else. So to get Vlad, it’s going to be painful. It’s gonna be out of budget and it’s gonna be what you do not want to spend. But if that means Bryce Miller and a couple top prospects, I honest to goodness think I’m (doing that). And this isn’t one year of Mariners offensive woes or two years or three years. This is like the last five years. (It’s) the one piece that you’ve not been able to cultivate.”

Salk: “You’re losing me on the Bryce Miller part. I’m with you on you’ve gotta overpay. I’m with you on, yes, if you want something outside your range, you’ve gotta be willing to be uncomfortable to make it happen. And by the way, I think (Mariners president of baseball operations) Jerry Dipoto has in the past. I mean, I think that’s exactly what they did with Luis Castillo (in a 2022 trade with Cincinnati) to make a run there. When they had a team that they felt was worth that, they went as big as they could go to make sure they got Luis Castillo, but they didn’t give anything up off their major league roster. You’re here (in first place) because of your starting pitching. … You have Bryce Miller until 2030. And he’s just turning into the type of pitcher that you want him to be. There’s still more upside there.”

Huard: “So you’d rather trade Ford, Young and Montes?”

Salk: “Yeah, I’d do that deal.”

Huard: “I just don’t know if that’s good enough.”

Salk: “I don’t know whether it is or not, but I would definitely do that deal. The fact that I say yes as quickly as I do maybe means that you do have to give up more. Maybe you gotta throw Logan Evans into that deal. Maybe you gotta throw (reserve starting pitcher) Emerson Hancock into that deal. And you know what? I still probably say yes to it with either one of those two guys. Maybe they want both. I don’t know. I mean, the Blue Jays are gonna have a bidding war if somebody like Vlad is on the on the market and everyone and their mother is going to be interested in trying to make it happen. The Mariners should be in it, 100 percent, and they should be willing to, I think, be very uncomfortable (trading from) their farm system. But giving up one of your five starters? Brock, that’s why you’re here (leading the AL West).”

Huard: “You’re here, but you want to get there (to the World Series). You want to take steps that have never been taken.”

Salk: “And I’m totally willing to give up parts of my future in order to do it. I’m not willing to give up a major piece of my present. I’m not willing to rob Peter to pay Paul. And maybe Paul is slightly more valuable than Peter right now, but I’m still not willing to do that robbery. I’m not willing to take away from the whole reason that my team is even in this position to begin with. … I would’ve been more willing in the offseason when you could turn around and replace (Miller). It’s one thing to trade away Bryce Miller when you can go out and sign somebody else to be a reasonable facsimile, but at the trade deadline, you can’t do that. Now you’re giving up even more and more and weakening your major league pitching staff. … As much as everybody wants Vlad, I don’t know that (any team would be interested in) trading a Bryce Miller equivalent, because they all need those guys to compete for what they’re trying to get to. So I’m sorry, I’m not there. I’m not there on Bryce Miller. … You’re taking an awfully big risk giving up a player from your major league roster like that.”

Huard: “What if I told you behind the scenes (hypothetically) that they believe Logan Evans has every bit of Bryce Miller and (Mariners No. 5 starting pitcher) Bryan Woo, if not more? What if I told you that? Would you be more comfortable then? I mean, we saw Miller and Woo get called up from Double-A and be filthy. Sure, they had to make adjustments and you’d need to have to make some. But (what about Evans) for 60 games?”

Salk: “I don’t think you can take from your major league roster. If you do that, and now you’ve got Emerson Hancock up and one thing happens to a pitcher and now you’re on to another. Like, you’re not the Mariners anymore. This team is in first place. They may not be the best first-place team in the league, but they are in first place. They need bats, but the idea of completely changing your strategy midseason? I don’t know whether that makes any sense to me.”

Listen to the full conversation with with Brock and Salk at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.