Keith Law says Cole Young is Mariners’ best prospect to trade

Update 6:15 p.m. Thursday: The Seattle Mariners made their first move of MLB trade deadline season, acquiring first baseman Josh Naylor from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The post below was published before the Naylor trade.

The MLB trade deadline is just a week away, and not much has happened since the San Francisco Giants acquired Rafael Devers last month in blockbuster deal that will likely be the biggest trade this season.

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However, things are expected to heat up over the next seven days as teams load up for playoff pushes and others waive the white flag on their seasons. With a stockpile of talent in their farm system and firm position in the American League playoff race, the Seattle Mariners figure to be one of the teams gearing up for October baseball.

Insider Keith Law of The Athletic joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Thursday to discuss the Mariners’ prospects and the deadline. During a wide-ranging conversation, Law shared who he thinks the Mariners’ most tradeable prospect is. The caveat was that Law wouldn’t trade Colt Emerson, who he has as his No. 4 prospect in all of baseball.

Instead, Law pointed to another young middle infielder, and one who is already in the big leagues.

“Cole Young to me is the most tradeable guy because he has the best combination of actual value,” Law said. “He probably steps in and plays every day for a lot of teams – certainly a lot of teams that are selling right now.”

Making it all fit

Young may seem like a surprising pick since he’s currently helping out on the MLB roster.

After starting his career with a 1-for-19 slump, the 21 year old is batting .286 with a .736 OPS and all of seven of his extra-base hits in 34 games since June 7. His 112 wRC+ (100 is league average) over that span is 12th among 30 qualified primary second basemen.

Despite a solid start to his big league career, what makes Young expendable to the Mariners in Law’s eyes is the abundance of talented middle infield prospects in their farm system. Seattle has three middle infield prospects in MLB Pipeline’s top 100, with Emerson coming in at No. 15, Michael Arroyo at No. 59 and Felnin Celesten at No. 62 (Celesten is also No. 35 in Law’s top 60).

“The Mariners don’t need (Young). They’re drowning in middle infield prospects, and they have other guys who are or project to be better,” Law said. “What Cole Young really offers is he’s ready right now. Emerson’s not, Celesten’s not, Arroyo’s not.

“You’re willing to wait on those other guys and say, look, Young doesn’t really fit for us that well right now. We will trade him for an immediate upgrade knowing full well Young might be in – say that it was Arizona, he might be in their lineup every day for the rest of the season. You’re willing to make that trade.”

Even if it isn’t Young who ends up being traded, Law thinks the Mariners need to end up moving on from one their well-regarded middle infield prospects.

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“You can’t play all these shortstops, even though you’re going to move some to other positions. They’ve already moved Michael Arroyo to second base,” Law said. “But at the end of the day, somebody has to go. Somebody has to be available in trades.

“If Emerson and Arroyo and Cole Young and Felnin Celesten all work out, there’s just not going to be enough playing time for all of these guys at positions that make sense for them.”

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

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