Jake Peavy: Mariners, Padres GMs have had conversations

The Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline is just over a week away, and things have been quiet on the rumor front for the Seattle Mariners thus far.

Just don’t take that to mean the M’s front office isn’t hard at work trying to line up on deals with other teams in the league.

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Former National League Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy, who is now an MLB Network analyst, joined Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Thursday and shared some insight about the M’s and his former team, the San Diego Padres – an organization who brought him on as a special assistant to CEO Erik Greupner in 2025.

“I’ll tell you this, there’s conversations already been had (between) your general manager up there and my general manager in San Diego,” Peavy said. “I don’t know any more who likes to transact in the game.”

Peavy is spot-on about that. Seattle has made a whopping 205 trades since Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, who works closely with GM Justin Hollander, initially joined the team in 2015 in the GM position. Padres president of baseball operations and GM A.J. Preller, meanwhile, has built a reputation for making aggressive and flashy moves both in trades and free agency.

The M’s and Padres, who are well acquainted as spring training neighbors at the Peoria Sports Complex, haven’t made a trade with each other since 2021, but that last one was part of a trio of notable swaps in a 15-month period between the Vedder Cup rivals.

In August 2020, Seattle landed the haul of Andrés Muñoz, Ty France, Taylor Trammell and Luis Torrens from San Diego from Austin Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Adams, then sent reliever Taylor Williams to the Padres three days later for a player to be named who turned out to be Matt Brash. Then in November 2021, the Mariners acquired All-Star second baseman Adam Frazier from the Padres for minor leaguers Ray Kerr and Corey Rosier.

The M’s-Padres trade landscape

The Mariners are just 51-52 entering play Friday, but that’s enough to make them likely buyers ahead of the trade deadline as they’re just a half-game back of the AL West-leading Texas Rangers, who Seattle starts a four-game series against Friday.

The 50-53 Padres, meanwhile, are 15 games back in the NL West and four games out of the last playoff spot in the NL.

“The Padres are in a weird situation,” Peavy said. “… They’re on the brink of having to make a decision.”

Peavy identified tough lefty reliever Adrian Morejon, elite closer Mason Miller and standout starting pitcher Michael King as players who the Padres could trade if they decide to sell before the deadline. While the Mariners don’t have a need for another starting pitcher, they could certainly be in the mix for the kind of bullpen help Miller and Morejon could provide – but they wouldn’t be alone in that.

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“I can tell you this: When it’s Mason Miller and Morejon and Michael King, you’re talking to every team in the league, because they also think they’re a fit for any of those three names,” Peavy said.

Hear the full conversation with MLB Network’s Jake Peavy in the podcast at this link or in the player below. Catch Bump and Stacy from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

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