Mariners Not Planning To Trade Arozarena, Could Still Move A Starter

The Mariners added a big right-handed bat to their corner outfield with this morning’s deal to land Taylor Ward from Baltimore. That’s apparently not going to be a precursor to a trade of their own impending free agent left fielder. Adam Jude of The Seattle Times reports that the M’s are not planning to trade Randy Arozarena. There’d been chatter over the weekend about Arozarena potentially coming available. The M’s closed the weekend by winning the final two games of their series against Minnesota. They’re in third place in the AL West but only three games back of Houston. They’re two games back of a Wild Card spot with three teams to surpass. Arozarena and Ward figure to handle left and right field, respectively, for the stretch run. One of Rob Refsnyder or Victor Robles could be squeezed off the roster before this evening’s deadline. The M’s are very likely to issue Arozarena a qualifying offer at season’s end. That’d ensure they receive a compensatory pick if he departs in free agency. The Mariners are revenue sharing recipients. They’d receive a pick after the first round if Arozarena declines a QO and signs elsewhere for at least $50MM. If he rejects a QO and signs for less than $50MM, the pick would be after Competitive Balance Round B (around 75th overall). While Seattle seems to have taken Arozarena off the market, they haven’t shut the door on another rotation trade. Jude reports that they’re still talking with teams about the possibility of a deal involving one of George Kirby or Emerson Hancock. His Seattle Times colleague Ryan Divish reports that the Mariners are engaged in the bullpen market and hoping to acquire two relievers before 5:00 pm Central. They could leverage the rotation surplus for relief help and/or poke around for a left side infielder with Colt Emerson struggling and J.P. Crawford injured. Divish reports that the Mariners inquired with the Padres about Mason Miller but aren’t willing to part with the sport’s best pitching prospect, Kade Anderson, whom the Padres wanted in return. Assuming the asking price on Miller doesn’t budge, the sides could pivot to conversations about another San Diego reliever like Jeremiah Estrada, Adrian Morejon or Bradgley Rodriguez. The Padres need controllable starting pitching and could leverage their bullpen depth to acquire it in lieu of trading from a bad farm system. View Comments (13)