3 early-season trades Mariners must make

The first essential step for the Mariners to revitalize their offense is to acquire some legitimate star talent. As of now, the best protection they have for Julio Rodríguez is catcher Cal Raleigh. He is is an amazing offensive catcher, but still has a high strikeout rate and needs a good amount of days off because of his position. And if you’re looking for star power on the trade market this season, the White Sox’ Luis Robert Jr. just might be the best player available.

Robert hasn’t played since April 5, but the White Sox have said he should be playing in games at the team’s minor league complex by the weekend barring any major setbacks. When he’s fully healthy, he’s the most electric ballplayer in the entire AL Central. As much as White Sox fans deserve to see him play for their team, it’s a disservice to the sport as a whole to keep him languishing on such a directionless team.

Oh, but we can already hear you saying, “The Mariners already have a center fielder!” That’s the opposite of a problem. When Scott Servais closes his eyes these days, he’s probably daydreaming about having a second center fielder patrolling his outfield instead of Mitch Haniger or Luke Raley. The mark of true superstars is being able to adapt to the teammates around them and Robert moving to right field in deference of Rodríguez would show exactly that type of humility.

Acquire Pirates 1B/OF Connor Joe

Where the Mariners have failed as an offense in recent years has mostly been visible under the letter “K” in the postgame box score. They were second in the majors in strikeouts in 2023 with 1603 and are topping that in 2024 with a league-leading 453 in 44 games, making them the only team to average at least 10 punchouts per contest.

So acquisitions like the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Connor Joe serve a purpose. Even if Joe doesn’t have the highest upside bat on the market, he’d help the M’s cut down on those ugly strikeout numbers. Right now, he’s got a 79th percentile chase rate and 72nd percentile strikeout rate, which are both very good numbers even if they aren’t “elite,” per se. Plus, he’s having the best year of his big-league career in terms of traditional stats, with a .289 AVG and .861 OPS.

Where would Joe find his at-bats, seeing as he plays multiple positions the Mariners already have backlogged? That’s another perk of bringing him in, he’s ready to go wherever he’s needed. He’ll play first base or a serviceable corner outfielder, but he doesn’t need to be in the lineup every day to stay locked in. He’s gotten used to a platoon role in Pittsburgh and however many at-bats the Mariners would allocate to him, he’d be sure to make the most of them.

Acquire Tigers OF Mark Canha

For all the talk about the improvements the Detroit Tigers made to their roster in the offseason, they’ve quickly started to look like a bad baseball team once again. They are once again in the bottom five of team OPS and since starting 5-0, they’ve gone 16-22. As the fourth-place team in the AL Central, it’s very realistic the Tigers could become sellers. It’s the Mariners job once they do to scoop up on-base machine Mark Canha.

Canha is the type of hitter Connor Joe is modeling his career path after. He’s not the best athlete nor the best power hitter, but he keeps getting jobs because of his great approach at the plate and his ability to draw walks (88th percentile BB rate this season), with the occasional double or home run sprinkled in to keep things entertaining. And he’s at it again in 2024, with a .366 OBP, which is 27th-best in all of baseball.

And much like Joe, Canha can take at-bats as a left fielder, DH or pinch-hitter. And in any of those roles, he’ll be a pest at the plate and wear down opposing pitching staffs. He’d do all the things Haniger and Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver are failing to do when their names are called for the 2024 Mariners. Mark Canha is a winning player and the Mariners need a bunch more of those if they want to be serious title contenders instead of a “what if” year after year.