SEATTLE — Having already ticked the major boxes on their midseason shopping list, the Mariners made no further moves Monday prior to the non-waiver trade deadline at 1 p.m.
That doesn’t necessarily mean general manager Jerry Dipoto is done dealing. Trades can still be made, but those involving players on a club’s 40-man roster must now clear waivers. That makes it tougher but not impossible.
A year ago, the Mariners acquired outfielder Ben Gamel and relievers Arquimedes Caminero and Pat Venditte in August. Gamel currently ranks third in the American League with a .322 average.
“We’re always open,” Dipoto said. “The phone is never very far from me, and there are areas where we can improve. So we’ll keep our ear to the street.”
As for deadline moves, Dipoto outlined his goals earlier in July: He wanted to add a reliever, preferably a hard-throwing right-hander, while also lengthening the club’s rotation.
Dipoto also made it clear the Mariners wouldn’t be shopping at the high-end market for starting pitchers. Any additions would likely be Triple-A pitchers who are big-league ready or undervalued arms currently at the back of a rotation.
You can argue those goals were too modest and/or insufficient to offer genuine help to the Mariners’ postseason push, but credit Dipoto with this: He got what he was looking for.
— On July 20, the Mariners acquired right-handed power reliever David Phelps from Miami for four minor-league players: outfielder Brayan Hernandez and pitchers Pablo Lopez, Brandon Miller and Lukas Schiraldi.
— On July 21, the Mariners acquired left-hander starter Marco Gonzalez, a former first-round pick pitching at Triple-A, from St. Louis for minor-league outfielder Tyler O’Neill.
— On July 28, the Mariners reacquired right-handed swingman Erasmo Ramirez from Tampa Bay for veteran right-handed reliever Steve Cishek.
All three trades are geared beyond this season. Phelps is under club control through next year. Ramirez is under club control through 2019. Gonzalez is out of options after this season but under club control through 2023.
“What we’ve done over the last day and a half,” Dipoto said, “was circle back and see if there was an opportunity to buy low on any kind of rental upgrades, players who were pending free agents.
“Nothing really fit or worked for us. Ultimately, we decided to stand down.”
The Mariners also made all three trades while retaining the players they view as their three top prospects: outfielder Kyle Lewis, first baseman Evan White and right-handed pitcher Nick Neidert.
“I think we’ve been very conscious of preserving our talent pool,” Dipoto said. “We (didn’t) see this as a situation where we’ll go out and rent a player unless the deal was really up our alley.”
That opportunity never materialized.
“As we did last year,” Dipoto said, “we’ll remain attentive to the August trade-waiver period and see where the next month takes us. We’ll see how our team does.”
