Salk: Naylor trade gives Mariners leverage for more moves

From the Seattle Mariners’ perspective, there’s seemingly nothing not to like about their trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks last Thursday for first baseman Josh Naylor.

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For one, the Mariners lengthened their lineup by adding one of the better bats available on this summer’s trade market. Naylor has a consistent track record of production, batting a combined .272 with 79 home runs and a 122 OPS+ over the past four seasons.

The Mariners also didn’t have to dive too deep into their talent-laden collection of prospects. Neither of the two pitching prospects Seattle sent to Arizona – Brandyn Garcia and Ashton Izzi – were top-10 prospects in the Mariners’ farm system, according to both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline.

And as Mike Salk pointed out Friday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, the deal gives the Mariners more leverage for any other moves they could try to make ahead of Thursday’s MLB trade deadline.

“(You got Naylor) without having to use too many of your chips that could be still used elsewhere to continue to make your team better – all the while lessening your need to do other things,” Salk said. “So you’re in a better position leverage-wise than you were (before), because anybody trying to hold you over the barrel for Geno (Eugenio Suárez) or (Willi) Castro or whatever, you don’t need them in the way that you needed them (before).

“You want them. And I know the Mariners are still actively trying to get more deals done. They are not looking to be done. But they don’t need to do anything at this point, certainly offensively. … That’s a much better place to be.”

As Salk said, the Mariners are seemingly now in a better position to navigate potential trade talks with Arizona for Suárez, whose 36-homer season has made him the most coveted trade target on the market.

“When you have continued conversations with Arizona and they’re like, ‘All right, well, we want X, Y and Z’ and … they’re looking for two top-100 prospects for Geno, you’re like, ‘Yeah, that sounds great, but I’m not gonna do that. Sorry, like, I already got Josh Naylor. I don’t need to do that. I want to, but I don’t need to.’

“And so good on them. They put themselves in a better position.”

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

Seattle Mariners news and analysis

• Drayer: Ichiro shows wisdom, gratitude, humor in HOF speech
• How Josh Naylor helps Seattle Mariners in multiple ways
• If Seattle Mariners want to go big on a bullpen trade, there are options
• Mariners: Where Suárez market stands after Yankees trade for a 3B
• Ichiro Reflects: How his toughest moments with Mariners led to his best

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