The Seattle Mariners put out a respectable effort on Friday night, but they lost anyways to the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park.

With the loss, the Mariners dropped the first game of a crucial four-game series, fell to 51-53 on the season, and are now 1.5 games back of Texas in the American League West.

Also noteworthy is that the Mariners are now just 0.5 games ahead of the Houston Astros for third place in the division, and they are 2.5 games back of the third and final wild card spot.

In other words, the pathway to the playoffs is getting more limited, and the pressure is getting greater. And while three more games in Texas and the subsequent three against the Los Angeles Dodgers are no picnic, it leads into an absolutely dreadful August schedule.

Add it all up and you have people wondering: Is this group even worth investing in at the trade deadline?

It's a fair question, and for me it's yes, but with a caveat.

The Mariners should make moves at the deadline, but only moves that also help in subsequent years. I would avoid rental players, at least at premium costs. If they can get a reliever, a bench bat, or a platoon bat, for a low price, then I would do it too, but I wouldn't give up anything of major value for a rental player.

You can make those kind of moves when you're good enough to go all-in, and right now, this team isn't. The roster clearly needs help in 2027, and there's no guarantee that free agency will provide it, so if the best way to help yourself now - and in the future - is through the trade market, then the M's should be looking to do it.

Can they acquire Heliot Ramos to help now and be their right-handed replacement for Rob Refsnyder next year? Can they acquire Casey Schmitt to potentially replace J.P. Crawford in the lineup next season? And if they bring Crawford back, can they have Schmitt serve as an alleviation to the all left-handed infield?

And then there's Mason Miller, who could pair with Matt Brash and Andres Munoz and Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier to make up a really nice bullpen.

All of those moves make some sense, because they all come with some future value too. And while the present still provides a playoff opportunity, the future may end up being all the Mariners have in short order.

These thoughts were echoed on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast by ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney.

"I have not gotten that vibe from the Mariners front office. I think they're scratching their heads, like a lot of people, where they're looking at it going, "Why are they not better? Why are we not performing better?"

So I do think they'll look to make tweaks.

Now, the one part where I do think the lack of performance so far this year with this group of players might affect trade deadline decisions, I wonder if the Mariners might be more inclined to go for guys who are under team control beyond 2026, so to steer away from the rentals, if that makes sense.

This is speculation just on my part. I haven't had anybody tell me this, but I think with the Mariners at this point, you have to be having at least serious questions about how this group is performing.

If you're looking to upgrade the team, I think you're not only looking at 2026, but you're looking ahead toward 2027. And that means getting guys who you're going to control beyond this year, especially with someone like Randy Arozarena headed to free agency, and some of the other decisions that they'll have to make in the offseason."

The latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast, featuring ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney is out now. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.

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