The Seattle Mariners enter Sunday's game against the Texas Rangers at 51-54 and 2.5 games back of Texas in the American League West. Not only that, but they are now 0.5 games behind the Houston Astros as well, having fallen into third place.

With the trade deadline looming on Aug. 3, the Mariners are in a precarious spot. They still have enough of a chance to make the playoffs that they could add at the deadline. However, they could also make moves to sell and take advantage of a seller's market.

Furthermore, they could adopt a hybrid approach, selling in some spots and buying in others, likely with the future in mind.

We've spoken often of the Mariners' desire and potential to move starting pitcher Luis Castillo at the trade deadline, but it's been deemed hard to do because of Castillo's regressing numbers and inflated salary that sees him making nearly $25 million next season, in addition to the prorated version of that same number this season.

However, might there be a new match for the M's on the market with regards to Castillo?

On Sunday, Bob Nightengale of USA Today wrote that the Chicago White Sox are seeking starting pitching at the trade deadline, and while they don't want to give up any top prospects, they are willing to take on money.

The Chicago White Sox badly want starting pitching, but are telling teams that they will not trade any of their top 10 prospects. They would be willing to add onto their payroll, however, and assume the entirety of a player’s contract.

Enter the Mariners, who could offer up Castillo to Chicago as they look to make the playoffs for the first time since 2021.

Now, make no mistake: If the Mariners trade Castillo, and the White Sox take on the entirety of money, the Mariners aren't going to get much of anything in return. And maybe that's OK: Trading Castillo would open up $25 million in salary for next season that the Mariners could hypothetically use to improve the offense, while also opening up a rotation spot for super prospect Kade Anderson, who is knocking on the door of a big league promotion.

If you couple the $25 million from Castillo with the opened up money from pending free agents Randy Arozarena, Rob Refsnyder, JP Crawford and Mitch Garver, the Mariners would have more than $50 million to spend next season. Of course, some of that will be offset by contractual raises for a guy like Josh Naylor and arbitration increases.

And of course, no one knows what the financial situation will look like following the next collective bargaining agreement. And of course, there's also a chance that the Mariners can't trade the entirety of Castillo's contract and they end up only getting a portion of the above savings.

The Mariners will take on the Rangers on Sunday at 11:35 a.m. PT.

The latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast, featuring Seattle Mariners Insider Shannon Drayer, is out now. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.

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