The Seattle Mariners Need to Trade For Bullpen Help, And Not Enough People Realize That

On Monday, Jeff Passan of ESPN and Jim Bowden of The Athletic came out with their trade deadline primers. Those primers both mentioned the Seattle Mariners on several occasions, linking them to possible July 31 upgrades like Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor, Adolis Garcia, Taylor Ward, Jarren Duran, Ryan McMahon on others.

What did the two national outlets have in common? They neglected to link the Mariners to even one possible bullpen upgrade. And my question is why? I think it's very apparent that the M's need bullpen help, but the national media seems to not agree.

I discussed this further on the most recent edition of the Refuse to Lose podcast:

I'm here to tell you the Seattle Mariners have real questions in the bullpen and they have to start thinking about answers to those questions. Now, Jeff Passan came out with a a list of 50 players most likely to be traded and he listed all the best fits for every player... He only attached offense to the Mariners. I saw Jim Bowden of The Athletic do the same thing, only attach offense to the Mariners. And look I'm all for them acquiring offense, but the Seattle Mariners need bullpen help and I don't know why the mainstream media at large doesn't seem to understand that.

The Mariners have three guys right now you feel very good about: That's Andres Munoz, that's Gabe Speir and that's Matt Brash. Beyond that, everybody else is a question mark. Some days Carlos Vargas is great, some days Carlos Vargas is regressing, like Saturday against Houston. Some days, Trent Thornton is very good and some days he looks like the Trent Thornton of the first two months of the season. Some days Casey Legumina is striking out the side like he did on Saturday and some days he's getting knocked around like he did on Sunday, and like he did in New York. Eduard Bazardo has been very good but you're kind of just waiting for him to turn back into a pumpkin. The Mariners need bullpen help and no one on the outside seems to recognize that.

With the starting rotation struggling to maintain its dominance from 2024, the M's are playing close games, and they are often turning the game over to the bullpen in the fifth or sixth inning. They need to acquire another arm that can help bridge the gap to Brash and Munoz. And while Collin Snider's looming return from injury is a good thing, and while recent call-up Brandyn Garcia is exciting, they aren't sure things.

With exactly 62 games to go in a sprint to the playoffs, the M's need a sure thing. Acquire all the offense you want, but don't neglect the bullpen.

You can listen to the full podcast in the player below: