2017 All Star Break: How We Should Proceed
- Jul 13, 2017
- 3 min read
To buy or not to buy? That is the question. Every year at this point in the season, teams face the difficult decision of whether to invest in some quick-fix talent to hopefully provide a boost and push them into the playoffs – or sell off such talent in hopes of investing for future success. So what should the Mariners do: buy or sell? MM shares our respective opinions:
Anthony: Sell
It’s a cautious sell, but it’s a sell nonetheless. The AL is super weak this year, potentially to the point where we could still steal a Wild Card birth but also offload some unnecessary weight. I say we keep Cruz (who is probably our most enticing trade bait), but shop guys like Marc Rzepczynski and Jarrod Dyson, both of whom should be available for a decent price. Dyson isn’t a long term option in Seattle, and getting rid of him frees up Heredia to player center – as well as cuing the return of Leonys Martin. The same goes for Scrabble and the bullpen. Shopping Marc would leave some exposure, but Povse made a strong debut for Tacoma, Emilio Pagan has been good, and J.P. Sears has 15 Ks in 6.1 innings in Everett. Oh, and Thyago Viera throws 101 on average.
Travis: Buy
As Anthony’s sell was a cautious one, so too is this buy a cautious one as well. As has already been mentioned, the AL is extremely weak this year – weak to the point where a couple of winning streaks could give the Mariners a good chance to snag a Wild Card birth. And we’ve already shown that winning streaks are in our blood, haven’t we? We have a tendency to win five, six games in a row – and then are brought back to earth by the fact that we do not have a stable rotation to continue such winning ways. Therefore, the investment before the deadline does not have to be top-price in the slightest, because all that’s needed is an extra arm in the rotation to fill the void left by Hisashi Iwakuma.
Charlie: Buy
The Mariners are in a delicate place right now, having limped into the break after only just ending a 7-game losing streak at Safeco Field. But, like everyone else has already noted, the American League is wide open – at least, the Wild Card is (thanks, Houston). If the Ners can crawl back to a game or two under .500 with relative quickness after the All Star Break ends, their best bet would be to flip Dyson and then nab a starter. That’s all that I could see happening: the outfield is young and deep, the infield is for the most part solidified (Valencia is come-and-go), and the bullpen is in a position to be somewhat competitive. If the Ners can shore up the starting pitching a bit and find a way to stop these patches of hot-and-cold, they could definitely have a Wild Card birth in their future. I think all that’s needed is 85 wins, and I don’t think that’s out of the question in the slightest.
Patrick: Do Nothing
Until this team can get over .500 for more than a few days, it’s not worth upgrading in my opinion. The second Wild Card in the American League remains extremely obtainable at only a few games over .500, so the team as currently constructed may be just fine to do it. I’m not super concerned about the Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, or Tampa Bay Rays for the rest of the year – and those appear to be the teams that we are dueling with for this second WC birth. If anything, trade a low-level prospect for another innings-eating starting pitcher…but even then, the team as it is currently assembled is capable of making the playoffs. Don’t mortgage any long-term assets for this season please, Jerry.
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