MLB Trade Rumors: The Seattle Mariners have starting pitcher George Kirby generating trade interest, per Jeff Passan, who says that teams think that he is “available and could be moved” at the trade deadline. Passan also says that Emerson Hancock and Luis Castillo could also be moved.
Seattle has reportedly been shopping Castillo for a while. However, Castillo has been awful this season and is under contract for $22.75 million this year and next year, with a $25 million vesting option for 2028 that
is triggered if he throws 180 innings in 2027, so the Mariners would have to eat a good chunk of his deal just to give him away.
Hancock, 27, is having a decent year after being replacement level or worse in his major league career previously, putting up a 3.26 ERA while seeing his K rate jump and his walk rate decrease. He still has a 4.15 xERA and 3.74 FIP, however, and is giving up a fair amount of loud contact.
Moving Castillo or Hancock would not be that noteworthy — Castillo would be a salary dump, Hancock is someone they’d potentially be selling high on, and if they traded either one they’d still have a full five man rotation. Kirby, though, would be more significant. He’s not been as good the past two seasons as he was his first three years in the league, but he’s still a reliable mid-rotation starter who is under team control through 2028, and is making just $6.55 million this year.
Seattle is currently three games back in both the American League West and in the Wild Card race, although they would have to pass four teams — currently Cleveland and Minnesota, who are tied for WC3, as well as the Rangers and the Orioles — to get a Wild Card spot. Fangraphs still has them with over a 40% chance of making the playoffs, so they aren’t out of the race by any means.
It could be that the Mariners, who lost the first of a three game series at home against the Twins on Friday, are simply testing the waters to see what is out there, or preparing for a worst case scenario if a bad weekend drops them farther down in the standings. It is also possible, though, that the Mariners front office sees a landscape with a bunch of teams fighting for playoff positions, few sellers, and the ability to reap significant returns by dealing starting pitching, with an eye towards positioning themselves better for 2027.
Of course, the Rangers could find themselves in a similar position. Evan Grant said yesterday that, if the Rangers do poorly this weekend, Joc Pederson, who is set to hit the free agent market this offseason, will be in much demand. The Rangers would be 2.5 games back in the division in the event of a sweep, and probably a similar amount back in the Wild Card race, and one would hope that that would be close enough that the team wouldn’t end up in full-fledged sell mode.
On the other hand, ownership has seemingly indicated a desire to save money. Dealing Pederson wouldn’t just get a decent prospect or two back, it would shed roughly $6 million in salary over the remainder of the season. And we’ve already heard unpleasant rumblings about the possibility of Texas looking to move Corey Seager to save money…and if the Rangers decided to be sellers and deal Seager on Monday, would Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom sent packing as well, in an effort to make Ray Davis & Co.‘s bottom line as black as possible?
It occurs to me that if the Rangers take the next two games in Houston — or even split — there will be pressure on the team to buy, to add payroll, to make a push to try to win a very winnable division. Losing the next two games would potentially provide cover for the Rangers if they decided to go into sell mode, reaping benefits of the concomitant payroll savings that would ensue.
And leads me to wonder…what outcome do you think Ray Davis, deep down, is rooting for this weekend?
