Mariners swing big—and bring back Geno

Eugenio Suárez, the best player on the market, returns to Seattle.

For the second year in a row, the best bat moved at the trade deadline is headed to Seattle. But unlike last year, the Mariners added a level of impact commensurate with the size of opportunity that stands before them.

The Mariners make good trades. Usually. Even some of the trades I don’t care for are actually, plucked from context, net positives. The context matters, though.

You don’t want to sell when you should’ve bought, bought when you should’ve sold (bless you, Angels)—and you don’t want to misjudge the appropriate level of commitment to your chosen path.

In 2022, the Mariners bought big and ended their drought—but left a lot of what-ifs floating around after 18 scoreless innings in the only home playoff game in decades.

In 2023, they soft-sold on Paul Sewald, came up just short and got verbally shredded by their cornerstone catcher.

They bought last year, but not enough. They got Randy Arozarena, the best bat moved but by the most objective measure imaginable, the standings, it wasn’t enough.

They didn’t have a choice now. To us, they didn’t.

But stilllllllll it was not looking great as the Jhoan Duran pursuit collapsed within sight of the finish line.

The Mariners did it, though. They made the trade deadline move I feel like I’ve been waiting on since I was a kid.

For once, they made that big late splash. They took a solid team, added another good player and once they got a taste for improvement, for really contending, they pushed on.

To make it officially here, present, in the record, the Mariners acquired Eugenio Suárez from the Diamondbacks for 1B Tyler Locklear (#9 org prospect but not Top 100 per MLB Pipeline), RHP Hunter Cranton (#16) and RHP Juan Burgos (#17).

Locklear could hurt. Any one of them could hurt. But Locklear is particularly pressing because, after a monster recent tear through the Pacific Coast League, he’ll make his Major League debut immediately in a friendly hitting environment.

Still, it’s not one of the Mariners’ best prospects. This is why you build up a great farm, because your ninth- or tenth-best prospect might be better than most guys some teams have.

And when you move those guys, you get impact. Even when he’s not a Top 100 prospect—though those can sometimes lag behind industry reality—they can bring in impact if you’re willing to part with them.

The Mariners played the market right and landed the best player on the board.

I know there are folks who would have been more than fine with Willi Castro, from the Twins, and it certainly would’ve been better than nothing—which it was looking like it was going to be.

But nah.

Here, take a quick look at how there’s clear stratification in three guys’ performance this year. At the bottom you have Ben Williamson, then you have Willi Castro about halfway up and then, just as far above Castro as Castro is above Williamson, you have Geno.

I don’t know if the hellacious sin of trading away Suarez for salary relief has completely been atoned for with this trade, but we’re not far off.

For as obnoxious as that trade was, whatever the machinations, and for as annoying it is to give up prospects now for a guy who should’ve been in Seattle all along, getting the band back together is a great bit.

It feels like the type of thing great teams do. Players may go away but they still have their guys. Maybe it took the Mariners a little while to realize it, I don’t know.

But a load-bearing piece of the team that broke the drought returns to a club that stands to be even better.

Do they get even better now still?

I’m posting this quick tonight because I want to have something and things could change quickly. It has that vibe.

It’s interesting Tyler Locklear was already up in Sacramento with the big club, albeit officially replacing the ailing Luke Raley. They had to know they were close on landing Geno most of the day…when they were clearly in and in big on Jhoan Duran?

As of 10:30 p.m. on the eve of the deadline, the Mariners still have all their league-leading eight Top 100 prospects. Do they still have the appetite to shop at the top of the reliever market, too?

Well I don’t see why not.

Could grab a back-end starter, too. Should be a relatively robust market for those in the waning hours.

The American League is as wide open as it’s been in a generation. And for what feels like the first time in a generation, the Mariners look like they aim to play for it.

The Mariners can open the homestand, and the big four-game series vs. the Rangers, with a roster that’s clearly a (the?) top threat for the pennant.

The path is there. And it isn’t always present.

So take it now.

(I swear if they made a big move between starting writing this, finishing it and proofing…..alright we’re good.)

Hell yeah.

Go M’s.