Ranking Mariners' Positional Needs 7 Weeks Out From Trade Deadline
Despite winning four of their last five series, the Mariners find themselves in a difficult position to project, entering June 13 fourth in the American League West at a record of 27-33. They currently sit behind five teams for the league's third and final wild-card spot and are either losing or have already lost their head-to-head tiebreaker with two of them.
This, of course, doesn't mean much at the end of the day. The season is still 62.9 percent incomplete, with 102 games left on Seattle's schedule. Things can—and will—change over the coming days, weeks and months, bringing the final picture more into focus. But for now, we're merely painting with broad strokes.
As such, we have no idea whether the Mariners will be buyers, sellers, a bit of both or neither when the trade deadline rolls around on August 2. And it's likely that, barring another disastrous stretch of losing or a remarkably extensive win streak, we won't know the answer for another five or six weeks.
But let's assume for a moment that Seattle, which has a 6-5 record in the month of June, continues to stay involved in the postseason race through the summer. What will general manager Jerry Dipoto need to target in order to push his club over the top and end its well-documented 20-year playoff drought?
Taking cost of acquisition, the viability of upgrading and other circumstances into account, let's rank the Mariners' five biggest positional needs with 50 days to go until baseball's trade market closes.