How the Mariners view Hancock and Castillo as Deadline approaches

This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- For all their struggles in what’s been one of their toughest stretches of this era, the Mariners do still have a Trade Deadline to work with.

And it’s right around the corner, one week from Monday.

The Deadline has been one of the most effective roster-building measures of this front office, how a handful of cornerstone pieces have been acquired and, in 2022 and '25, an inflection point that helped push the club to the postseason.

The point being, an opportunity is out there for a struggling team to get better.

Yet, what’s been clear this whole summer is how unclear this market is shaping up. But it’s also clear that the Mariners will do something.

“I said it coming out of the All-Star break, we all need to be better,” president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said this weekend at Globe Life Field. “For all of us, it just has to pick up, because if we continue to play the way we're playing, we're not going anywhere.

“We can continue to be confident about the talent on this roster. But at some time, we have to stir the talent up and try to get it moving in the right direction.”

Seattle’s needs have been clear and unchanged for most of the past few months -- for a right-handed bat and at least one righty reliever, preferably one who's proven and who can miss bats.

To acquire that talent, the Mariners have been more open than ever to dealing from their rotation to address those needs, sources across the league have indicated.

The name that’s generated the most buzz over the past week has been George Kirby, and for understandable reasons.

He’d be a No. 1 starter in many rotations, might have the highest ceiling of their entire staff, is under club control for two more seasons and, among their young arms, is probably the least likely that the club could sign to an extension before free agency.

But the Mariners do not intend to move him, multiple sources with knowledge of the club’s trade discussions have said. The same goes for Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo and Logan Gilbert, the latter of whose free agency is rapidly approaching, after next season.

Seattle is, however, actively listening on Luis Castillo and Emerson Hancock, industry sources have said. And there’s a growing possibility that at least one of them will be moved before next Monday.

Castillo would be the preference but presents the more complicated situation of the two. He’s owed about $32.5 million through next year and has a $25 million vesting option for 2028 if he reaches 180 innings in '27. Moreover, many of the on-paper fits are big-market clubs that are approaching or beyond the competitive balance tax threshold, meaning that his contract becomes even more exacerbated.

Basically, even if the Mariners were open to eating some of that money -- which they would be for a legitimate return -- it might not move the needle enough for teams with CBT implications. There’s also the fact that Castillo turns 34 in December.

Hancock, meanwhile, fits virtually any team seeking a starter. He’s 27, earning league minimum (just under $800,000), under club control through 2030 and in the midst of a breakout season.

His trade value, especially in what’s shaping up to be an extreme seller’s market, might never be higher.

Subtracting one of these two would represent a shift in organizational philosophy, as the Mariners have adamantly not wanted to trade from the backbone of how their team has been built.

Yet, they are also anticipating a permanent arrival of Kade Anderson next year, and likely a temporary one over this season’s final two months. Ryan Sloan is further behind, but he’s also a huge part of the club’s long-term plans. They are MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 and No. 8 overall prospects, respectively.

Perhaps just as much -- as parting ways with assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes suggested -- the Mariners appear willing to take aggressive measures to salvage this season.

“We've spent two years adding legitimate personnel to our roster, and still we find ourselves in this position,” Dipoto said. “We've not played to the ability or the top end of what this roster is capable of. And we don't need our players to have career years to get where we want to go. But we do need them to contribute. And that's not been the case.”