President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto spoke about the team's deadline, including several more trade attempts that didn't come to fruition.
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners entered Tuesday for the first of a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers at T-Mobile Park, the second leg of a nine-game, three-series homestand for the home team.
The series against the Tigers comes after an "off-day" for the Mariners, which coincided with the 2026 MLB trade deadline.
However, for Seattle's front office, it was anything but.
Days after the Mariners dealt veteran starting pitcher Luis Castillo to the Chicago White Sox in return for reliever Seranthony Dominguez, the M's also acquired outfielder Taylor Ward from the Baltimore Orioles in return for prospects the day of the deadline.
On Tuesday, in a news scrum before the game against Detroit, Seattle president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto affirmed that Ward will be an everyday player for the Mariners and will eventually transition to right field after a couple days getting reacclimated to the position. Ward has played mainly left field the last several years of his career and was slotted at designated hitter batting eighth for Tuesday's game against the Tigers.
Ward was drafted by Dipoto while the latter was in his final month as the general manager of the Los Angeles Angels in 2015.
Dipoto said that Ward was a player that the M's had interest in for several years, but a trade never came to fruition due to the lack of mutual interest in a deal between the Angels and Seattle.
After it was reported the team traded for Ward, there were several reports that Seattle was still in the market for another reliever. However, aside from a rumor that the team had reached out to the San Diego Padres regarding closer Mason Miller (which included a report the Padres wanted top pitching prospect Kade Anderson in return), nothing came to fruition.
Dipoto confirmed Tuesday that the team attempted to land another reliever. But another arm, or another deal in general, wasn't close to getting done.
"There were more starting pitchers available in this market than there were impact relievers," Dipoto said Tuesday. "That's the way it played out. More left-handed bats available than right-handed bats. So our unique needs weren't naturally available on the market. We were very creative in some of the discussions we had with various teams. We didn't really consider anything that was likely to move from the top of our prospect system. ... In order to move those players, we were going to have to get something seismic to move this team that was controllable going forward. That wasn't available on this market."
Dipoto also offered the belief that the team, who entered Tuesday third in the American League West and 2.5 games out of first place in the division, was a hard one to improve due to the talent level.
"I know this is going to sound insane, but this is a tough roster to improve," Dipoto said. "We've not played well, we've underperformed our talent level, but finding upgrades from a player perspective, meaningful additions, leads you back to the best player probably being one we have. With the exception being that we really wanted to add to that bullpen. ... (And) a right-handed hitter would be preferable."
Dipoto and the rest of the club will hope that the additions made at the deadline and returning players off the injured list, including utility player Brendan Donovan, will be enough for the M's to make a second consecutive playoff appearance for the first time since 2000-2001.
