The Mariners have already upgraded the right side of their Infield with the addition last week of Josh NaylorAnd while they continue to look in the competition for help with the other corner and in the bullpen, they are increasingly focused on the twins, reports Daniel Kramer from MLB.com. Seattle was interested in Willi Castro This past outside the season and has again had contact with Minnesota about the possibility of a Castro swap.
Castro, 28, the Mariners would give an option on third base, while the door still remains open to a possible addition of a prominent slugger like Eugenio Suárez. The Switch-Hitting Castro is versatile enough to be able to handle the second base, a short stop or one of the three outfield spots, although it can best be used as an emergency option in short or in the middle. In the first place he played second base and the outfield corners for the twins this season, but has 74 innings on third base (532 in his career) and 26 innings at Short (1213 career -innings).
The versatile Castro is in his last season of Club control and earns $ 6.4 mm. He hits .252/.343/.418 with 10 homers, 15 Doubles, a few triples and nine steals (in 12 attempts). It is Castro’s third consecutive productive season since it has not been sent by the Tigers and the signing of a Minor League deal in Minnesota. In two-plus years with the twins, he has cut .251/.336/.401 while he plays all over the diamond.
Castro is solid enough on the plate that even absent a more remarkable acquisition in the hot corner, he would still be a clear improvement compared to his own options. Rookie Ben Williamson Has been playing the third base in Seattle for a large part of the season. He has turned into sharp defense, but wears an anemic .256/.293/.315 battle line in 289 innings on the plate. The hope had been that Jorge Polanco Could play the third base for the Ms after the redesign of this past outside the season, but he is limited to DH work, undergoing a large part of the season after having undergone a knee operation after the 2024 campaign and a large part of the early part of the current season by playing a side/sloping issue.
In addition to their needs in the Binnenveld, the Mariners have fueled the trade market for help with High Leverage. Kramer notes that hard-throwing judges Jhoan Duran And Griffin Jax Sign up when it fits on paper and the type of arms that Seattle has searched. Both are in their first arbitration season and are checked until 2027. Duran earns $ 4.125 mm this season. Jax is paid $ 2,365 mm.
Although Duran is the better -known of the couple, given his status as a closer to Minnesota and his possession of one of the most difficult fastballs in MLB, both pitchers in industry are seen as elite bullpen options. Duran has a career 2.47 ERA and 30.6% strikeout percentage, although the 25.7% of this year (although still strong) is a career. It is an average of 100.2 mph to its four -fellow and a supplement to the sizzling range with a splitter/zinc shed hybrid (“splinker”) that is 97.5 mph.
Duran is perhaps known, but Jax is demonstrably even more attractive. In addition to his lower salary, he has a superior strikeout and walking speeds, which is 36.9% and 6.7% respectively. He has been chased by a .371 average on balls in the game, which helped to increase Jax’s Era to 3.91, but statistics such as FIP (2.00) and Siera (1.94) rank to the very best relievers of the game. Among the 651 pitchers (both starters and relievers) to even throw five innings in the Majors this year, Jax is bound to Aroldis Chapman For the fourth best swinging-strike percentage (19.8%). Josh Hader” Mason Miller And Fernando Cruz are the only pitchers with higher figures.
Adam Jude van de Seattle Times writes That while the Mariners indeed desires Duran and/or Jax – as well as Castro – there is very little chance that the Ms could pry both Castro and one of the best bull pen of the twins in the same trade. Jeff Passan van ESPN reported last week that the twins were several top 100 prospects looking for Duran or Jax separately. Jude belongs in the same way. Adding Castro, one of the more attractive rental players on the market, would only increase the asking price even further.
Jude proposes left -handed Danny Coulombe As a viable alternative in the Bullpen Minnesota. This year he has thrown 31 innings and has registered an unspoilt 1.16 ERA with a strike output of 25.4% and a running speed of 7.4%. The 35-year-old Southpaw signed a one-year-old, $ 3mm deal with the twins in the winter second stint in Minnesota and is a free agent at the end of the season.
Speculatively, the Mariners could also watch Righty Brock Stewart. The 33-year-old earns only $ 870k this season and, like Duran and Jax, is checked until 2027. He is excellent since signing a Minor League deal with the twins three years ago, but also missed a lot of time due to an injury. Stewart Touts An ERA of 2.33, 31.7% Strikeout percentage and 9.5% running speed in 77 1/3 innings that dates back to opening day 2023. Stewart is an average of 96.1 km/h on his four-seizer, and while his 15.1% waving ironing is not entirely at Jax’s Elitaire’s Jason Adam For the 28th of the 373 big league -throwers who have thrown at least 30 innings this year.
The Mariners are well positioned to land almost every trade goal that they are desires it is just a matter of how much they are willing to thin out what is considered one of the best agricultural systems of baseball. Seattle has eight of the top 100 prospects of Baseball America. Minnesota does not start a complete rebuilding, but wants to retool and fight again in 2026, so they would probably prefer prospects that are closer to main class tools for their top trading ships (although they did settle on a 19-year-old catch prospect in Chris Paddack Trade of yesterday).
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