Major League Baseball's offseason is officially underway and the Seattle Mariners are officially on the clock with regards to fielding a better team in 2027 than the one that went 76-86 in 2026.

The Mariners will have about one month to make moves before the offseason shuts down for the probable MLB lockout, which will begin on Dec. 1 at 9 p.m. PT. 

The Mariners offseason "to-do" list seems fairly expansive. The Mariners need help in the bullpen and they need to acquire more athleticism. The M's also need to improve an extremely porous defense, and they need offensive help in the wake of Randy Arozarena and JP Crawford hitting free agency.

It's unlikely that the Mariners can fill all of these holes in free agency, and as a result, they'll probably have to turn to the trade market. That's something they've done regularly under Jerry Dipoto's leadership, acquiring the likes of Eugenio Suarez, Jesse Winker, Jorge Polanco, Josh Naylor, Brendan Donovan and Suarez again just since 2022.

So, if the Mariners are going to pull off any trades, how exactly can they do it?

As noted by Buster Olney of ESPN, the Mariners are "poking around," just gathering intel about what they could possibly get for a starting pitcher.

And while most of the M's starters would be desirable to other teams, there are some caveats here.

1) Logan Gilbert has only one year of team control remaining. With the possibility that the 2027 could be lost - or severely altered - because of the lockout, no one is taking the risk to acquire a one-year player, and they aren't giving up the kind of pieces the Mariners need to make it worth it. At least not until the lockout is over.

2) George Kirby has two years left, so he's more inviting than Gilbert, but the same thing applies. Will another team want to acquire him knowing the possibility of the season being impacted? And, as Olney has mentioned on the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast, what if the new CBA reduces team control from six to five years? That changes how much time Kirby has left. It's not a guarantee that happens, but it could.

3) Bryce Miller, Emerson Hancock, Kade Anderson and Bryan Woo all have more years of team control, at least three for each, but do the Mariners want to move them? Woo and Anderson represent tremendous upside and you'd probably be selling low on Miller. Would Hancock make sense to deal? Could the M's fulfill part of their shopping list by trading him?

4) The Mariners also have top prospect Ryan Sloan, who is among the best prospects in baseball, but it seems unlikely they move him.

Laz Montes and Michael Arroyo are still both ranked in the MLB Pipeline Top 100, and the team has another interesting infielder in Felnin Celesten. All three could be potential chips if the M's prefer to go this route. But of course, will these pieces net the kind of impact the Mariners need to become a World Series contender?