Buy or Sell: The Seattle Mariners

Should the mariners buy or sell? Sitting at 21-28, 10.5 games back in the division, and 5.5 games back in the Wild Card race at the time of this writing, begs the question: Should they trade some of their veterans, or should they trade for players to help them this year? I will be making the cases for each and then telling you my opinion. 

The Case for Buying
     The Mariners do have some really productive players. Ty France is hitting .355 J.P. Crawford is hitting 298, Julio Rodriguez is hitting .269 and on a hot streak, and Logan Gilbert has 2.29 ERA. These performances give you hope that if you add a few veterans around them, they could go somewhere. If you do trade for someone, I'd look for an outfielder, a third baseman or a catcher, and a couple of bullpen arms. If you do this, the mariners might go somewhere. 

The Case for Selling

     With the record the mariners have, why try to help a lost cause. Besides, some of the key players you were relying on aren’t contributing.  You also don’t want to stunt the growth of your young guys. You can just trade players such as Sergio Romo (6.23 ERA), Chris Flexen (4.47 ERA), and Jesse Winker (209 batting average). These are guys other teams might give up a solid prospect or two to help in the future. 

The Bottom Line

     I believe that the Mariners, if they are to make a big trade, should do it now. They can’t stumble much more and expect to compete this year. So if they don’t start winning, start looking at trading a couple of guys at the end of their contracts. It’s their decision and they got to make it quick.