Why Salk says Mariners should trade for elite closer Mason Miller

Look, the Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline is going to be here before you know it, and the options for the Seattle Mariners have really not been very exciting. Thankfully, one name has shown up on a lot of lists that I think salvages at least the conversations leading up to the trade deadline, and that’s San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller.

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Do the Mariners need a bat? Yes. Are there exciting right-handed bats on the market? Not really. Baltimore’s Taylor Ward is a decent player. Is he going to completely change the temperature of this Mariners lineup? I don’t think so. I don’t think the Chicago Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki is going to go anywhere. San Francisco’s Casey Schmitt could be on the move.

Those guys are OK,  but I don’t know whether they are names that are going to really fix the weaknesses on this Mariners team.

So if you can’t fix your weaknesses, what do you do? Add to your strengths.

The pitching is obviously what this thing was built on. The Mariners already have a pretty good bullpen. They need more, but the top end of the ‘pen, the leverage arms are really, really good. What if you made them better? Mason Miller absolutely does that.

He is the most dominant reliever in the game. He might be the most dominant pitcher in the game. He is essentially unhittable. What if you were combining Mason Miller with Andrés Muñoz? With Matt Brash? With Gabe Speier? With Eduard Bazardo? With José Ferrer? All of a sudden, everyone is a leverage reliever. And every single night, you’re giving your team an opportunity to win late in games with great pitching.

Is it a perfect scenario? No. But Mason Miller is going to be around for the next three years of club control. He’s as dominant as it gets. The Padres need starting pitching. Hey, wait a minute – guess what the Mariners have? Too much starting pitching.

Am I giving up top pitching prospect Kade Anderson in a trade? Probably not. Ryan Sloan? Probably not. But George Kirby? I’m having the conversation. Am I adding some of the other young prospects that are in the Mariners’ system? Yeah.

I’m willing to have a pretty significant conversation in order to be dominant in one phase of the game.

This post is a transcript of the video at the top of the post. It is edited for clarity. Catch Mike Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

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