Mariners’ Dipoto on early trade deadline moves: ‘I think we’ll do that again’

The Seattle Mariners have not been shy about making in-season trades ever since they turned the corner from rebuilding to contending for a playoff spot. And they haven’t exactly waited to make those moves, either.

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Last year, that meant swinging a deal on July 25 with Tampa Bay to net outfielder Randy Arozarena, who was perhaps the most notable hitter to move before the 2024 MLB trade deadline on July 30.

And in 2022, there was a surprising late June deal with Kansas City for first baseman Carlos Santana, which proceeded the blockbuster with Cincinnati for All-Star starting pitcher Luis Castillo about a month later.

Could an early move happen again this year? Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto gave that indication in a Trident Talk conversation that aired Sunday morning on Seattle Sports.

“We’re finding out that, like we expected, there’ll be teams that are looking to move early. As we’ve shown in the past, we’re kind of an early mover,” Dipoto told Mariners broadcasters Aaron Goldsmith and Gary Hill Jr. “Once we decide what our need is, we don’t mind being the first team to move. And we feel like we’ve got one of the deepest farm systems in the league, we have obvious needs that are starting to clarify, and this is an area where we’ve not been particularly conservative is how we deal in July at the deadline.”

The Mariners (36-34) are looking to make a push to regain the AL West lead, which they recently ceded to the Houston Astros (41-30), who enter Monday up 4 1/2 games in the division. And that could mean a significant move – or several – thanks to Seattle’s well-stocked farm system that includes a league-leading nine players ranked among MLB.com’s top 100 prospects.

“We usually shop near the top of the market and we’re as aggressive in trying to get it done early as anybody, and we’ve been doing that now for the last three or four years,” Dipoto said. “And I think we’ll do that again.”

Dipoto said the M’s front office has the “freedom” from ownership to fill their needs before the 3 p.m. July 31 trade deadline.

“We have put ourselves in a good position as we approach the final, we’ll call it, two months leading up to the deadline,” he said. “We have reached the point in the season where we have identified where our biggest needs are, and we are in the process like most teams in the league of identifying players around the league who we feel like can help us fill those voids. Fortunately for us, it’s not seven voids.

“I know we have the freedom to do it, that ownership is gonna give us the flexibility to do it, and it just matters who’s available.”

The difficulty of the trade deadline

As has been the case since MLB added another wild card team to the playoffs in 2022, it’s hard to identify teams who are clear sellers at this point in the season.

“Right now, there’s so many teams that would qualify as, wow, they’re kind of in it, and we’re one of those teams,” Dipoto said. “So hopefully the rest of them all stink for the next, you know, 40 days or so and we can gain some clarity. But we think there are going to be players on the market who will fit what we’re trying to achieve and who we feel like we can go out and acquire, because we have as much to offer as as anybody else in our position.”

One other thing makes early trades tough to pull off, which is the timing of the annual MLB Draft. Previously a June staple, the draft has been part of the MLB All-Star break in mid-July since 2021.

“June is usually the month where a lot of the formative conversations are taking place,” Dipoto said, “because right around the first of July, last couple of days of June, 29 other teams like us are going to go into hibernation for the draft meetings. And for about three weeks, you’re going to be thinking about the future of of the Mariners, not necessarily what happens at the deadline.”

Catch Trident Talk, a weekly, hour-long magazine show covering the Mariners, an hour before the pregame show each Sunday on Seattle Sports and other Mariners Radio Network stations.

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