A team could have always done more, but the Mariners brought in Seranthony Dominguez for the bullpen and Taylor Ward. Is it enough?
With the MLB Trade Deadline now come and gone, the Seattle Mariners have exhausted the meaningful avenues in which they can make their team better as they push for the playoffs down the stretch.
Seattle enters play on Tuesday at 55-58 overall and in a tie for second place in the American League West, 2.5 games behind the Houston Astros. The Mariners are also 2.0 games behind Cleveland for the third and final American League wild card spot.
The M's are certainly capable of making the playoffs, but it's going to be tough because of a brutal August schedule that continues on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers, and then really ramps up after that.
The Mariners will see the AL-leading Tampa Bay Rays, the wild card-leading New York Yankees, the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers, and the Astros, before seeing the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, also current playoff teams. The Yankees, Brewers and Astros will all be played on the road, making it even more daunting.
At the deadline, the Mariners acquired reliever Seranthony Dominguez from the Chicago White Sox and outfielder Taylor Ward from the Baltimore Orioles, while giving up Luis Castillo in the deal to Chicago and Alex Hoppe in the deal to Baltimore. Of course, minor leaguers were exchanged, but let's focus on the major league portion.
Did the Mariners do enough at the trade deadline?
Baltimore Orioles left fielder Taylor Ward (3) advances to third base during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn ImagesSimply put, no, but there's enough for satisfaction here
The Mariners needed another bullpen arm beyond Dominguez, and while they can certainly anticipate the arrival of Kade Anderson or the returns of Carlos Vargas, Matt Brash and Cooper Criswell from injury, that doesn't really help them right now.
A bullpen arm would have been extremely helpful, but they didn't get one beyond Dominguez. I like the way that Mike Vorel of the Seattle Times put it: The Mariners might have done enough to win the American League West, but they haven't done enough to become true World Series contenders - unless some of their current stars really elevate down the stretch.
So why satisfied?
Well, the Mariners did do the basics of what we wanted them to do, and they did it at a time that no one was sure if they were going to be buying at the deadline.
As recently as Sunday, I wasn't positive the Mariners would be buyers. But they ended up doing it, at least to a degree, and they accomplished just about everything we wanted.
The team needed another reliever who could work in leverage? They got that.
The team needed a right-handed bat, specifically one who could hit left-handed pitching. They got that.
The team needed to get out from Castillo's contract, and they did that, which allowed them to take on the money for Dominguez and Ward - and the savings will (hopefully) help them next year as well.
While I would have liked to see the team spend additional money to take on a reliever like Jeff Hoffman of the Toronto Blue Jays, I am generally satisfied that they've made an investment in the roster for the final two months when the alternative was trading away a guy like George Kirby, Emerson Hancock or Randy Arozarena.
Up next
The Mariners and Tigers will play at 6:40 p.m. PT on Tuesday. Hancock will pitch for Seattle, while Detroit's starter is TBD. They recently traded both Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal.
Of note
The newest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out, breaking down the Mariners trade deadline. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below:
