2020 Seattle Mariners Deadline Suggestions and Demands

 

Still shot from "Trading Places: The Jerry Dipoto Story".

By Stevil, August 19th, 2020 

The deadline is just barely double-digit days away and Mariner fans want to know who might be shipped off and who might be brought in. We can't offer answers, or even valuable opinions, but we can share potentially bad ideas and speculate as wildly as ever. Here's what we're thinking...

 

1. Kyle Seager, 3B, and Taijuan Walker, RHP, to Atlanta; Patrick Weigel, RHP, to Seattle.

Kyle Seager is off to an incredible start and it isn't BABIP-driven. As of 11am, August 18^th, Austin Riley is batting .159/.206/.317 with a 33 K% and a 36 wRC+. That's not cuttin' it and Johan Camargo has been equally as underwhelming at the plate. Though Atlanta is in first place, they'll have trouble closing out this season and getting through the postseason even with full heads of hair if they don't make some upgrades. Kyle Seager and Taijuan Walker could be of help (huge help), and neither would break the bank or anything more than a mirror in the process.

Everyone knows by now that Kyle's contract has a clause that makes his 2022 team option a player option in the event of a trade. He's owed roughly two-thirds of 7.537m (prorated) this year and would get another 33.5m over the next two seasons if traded. That's not insurmountable, but it depresses his value. If Atlanta were interested in shedding the rest of Cole Hamels' prorated salary of a slaytanic 6.666m this season, Seattle could probably absorb that for a better return. We'll assume Atlanta is stubborn, though. To be fair, we'll assume Seattle is, too.

The focus of this deal would be shedding Seager's salary. The total savings would be around 24 million and we would hope to see that dough reinvested in the offseason. In fact, we would demand to see that reinvested in the offseason. But that doesn't suggest the return sucks.

Patrick Weigel has a plus fastball that sits mid-90's and tops out in the upper-90's, a slider that flashes plus, and an average curve and change. He could feasibly replace Walker in Seattle's rotation for the time being, though he's probably destined to be a reliever for the long-term. That's not a knock on Weigel, though. His fastball-slider combo could be invaluable in late innings. He has battled injury, but is currently healthy an lurking in Atlanta's player pool.

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There is no number two. We hope you enjoyed this post!