Morosi: Next opponent for M’s could be trade partner to watch

Jun 9, 2025, 9:21 AM | Updated: 10:16 am

Seattle Sports

It’s been a rough past month for the Seattle Mariners.

Since getting swept at home by the Toronto Blue Jays on Mother’s Day weekend, the M’s have lost six of their past nine series and fallen 2 1/2 games out of first place in the AL West with an 11-16 stretch.

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The Mariners’ struggles have come while the lineup has cooled off from a surprising month of April, but the pitching has had its share of hiccups as well. They come from both the bullpen and starting rotation, the latter of which being the most trouble for a team that had the best group of starters in baseball last season.

While offense remains an area of the Mariners to improve, MLB Network insider Jon Morosi told Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob he sees starting pitching as an even greater need for the team as it inches closer to the trade deadline.

“There’s been significant attrition to this point in the rotation, and I’m just a little bit worried about what the rest of the year looks like for the rotation given what we’ve already seen,” Morosi said. “And getting (Bryce) Miller back is great, but I would say that you need to address pitching first, and then you hope that some combination of your different internal options get better.”

Miller is one of three Mariners starters to either struggle or miss significant time this season. He recently returned from a brief stint on the injured list due to elbow inflammation in his pitching arm, but has yet to reach six innings in any outing while posing a 5.73 ERA in 10 starts.

The club has also been without Logan Gilbert since late April due to flexor strain in the elbow of his pitching arm, though he is on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma and could be close to returning. And George Kirby recently returned after missing the first eight weeks of the season with right shoulder inflammation. The right-hander struggled through his first two starts back before a solid third outing and a brilliant fourth start that featured a career-high 14 strikeouts.

Keep an eye on the Diamondbacks

If the Mariners do seek out help for their rotation, Morosi believes the Arizona Diamondbacks – who they start a three-game series with at 6:40 p.m. Monday – could be a team to watch.

“It’s probably not your year, if we’re being honest,” Morosi said of the Diamondbacks, who are in fourth place at 31-34 in the powerhouse NL West. “… They’re in a really difficult situation. (Jordan) Montgomery is a disaster to this point, (Corbin) Burnes is hurt.

“They need to fill out next year’s rotation with existing personnel, unless they go out and spend more. And I’m just not sure they have the appetite to spend more at this point.”

Morosi specifically pointed to right-hander Zac Gallen, who is in the final year of club control, as a potential trade chip for Arizona. Gallen has two top-five NL Cy Young finishes and an All-Star nod under his belt. But he has struggled this season, posting a career-worst 5.13 ERA over 73 2.3 innings pitched.

The underlying numbers do suggest Gallen has been a bit unlucky. He has a 4.53 FIP and 3.90 xERA.

Morosi mentioned the familiarity the M’s and D-backs have as trade partners, which also makes it worth noting bats like first baseman Josh Naylor and third baseman Eugenio Suárez as names to watch when it comes to the Diamondbacks, as well.

“Those front offices have known each other for a long time,” Morosi said. “I think that helps on some level. They also seem just to evaluate players similarly. Obviously, we know in baseball you tend to not trade in the same division all that often. It happens, but it’s rarer and I think that trading out of the division is usually good.

“And then you wanna deal with teams that you see to value players similarly and have good relationships and good trust (with). And certainly Jerry (Dipoto) has a background with the D-backs (he was their interim general manager in 2010) from a long time ago when he was there and knows the organization there very well. So I think from that standpoint, there’s a comfort level that I think would help.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-6 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.