The Mariners’ offense is already reeling, and they’ll now be without two prominent hitters for significant stretches in the season’s second half. General manager Justin Hollander tells the Mariners beat that shortstop J.P. Crawford, who was placed on the 10-day IL yesterday with a fracture in his hand, will miss at least four to six weeks (X link via Adam Jude of the Seattle Times). A timetable for Julio Rodriguez, who landed on the IL at the same time due to a right high ankle sprain, will be reevaluated seven to ten days from now. That doesn’t shed much light on an exact return date for Rodriguez, but it seems clear he’ll miss more than the 10-day minimum with his injury.
Neither Crawford nor Rodriguez has performed up to their personal standards in 2024 — a large reason that Seattle’s lineup has been among the least-productive in the sport. Crawford is playing excellent defense at shortstop but is hitting just .204/.299/.347 on the season. For a player who batted .262/.352/.384 over the three prior seasons — including a career-best .266/.380/.438 just last season — it’s a major downturn in performance.
As for Rodriguez, he’s been about average at the plate this season (.263/.315/.372), but that’s still a precipitous fall for a hitter who burst into the majors with a .279/.338/.495 batting line and 60 homers through his first 287 games. Rodriguez swatted 32 big flies just last season but only has 11 on the year in 2024. His isolated power (slugging minus batting average) sat at .216 in 2022-23 but has plummeted to .109 this year. The timing of his injury is particularly difficult, as Rodriguez looked to finally be getting hot at the plate this month. In his past 48 turns at the dish, he’d delivered a scintillating .409/.469/.750 slash with four homers and three doubles.
With Crawford shelved, the Mariners will likely turn to Dylan Moore and Leo Rivas as their top options at shortstop. Moore’s .230/.307/.425 output against lefties is a solid enough mark, though virtually any defensive metric will agree that he’s stretched too thin playing shortstop on a regular basis. Rivas could take up the larger side of a platoon, in theory. He’s only had six big league plate appearances to this point in his career, but the switch-hitter is batting .288/.440/.397 in 195 plate appearances as a left-handed hitter this season.
In the outfield, Rodriguez’s loss stings even more. The Mariners can go with an alignment of Luke Raley, Victor Robles and Mitch Haniger on most days, with Cade Marlowe and Jonatan Clase as options on the bench. No one from that group can replicate the production of a healthy Rodriguez. For now, the team will hope for good news at his reevaluation, but it’s hard to imagine this pair of injuries won’t impact the Mariners’ outlook at the trade deadline.
Seattle was already known to be seeking a significant upgrade for a lineup that currently ranks 28th in the majors both in runs scored (389) and on-base percentage (.298). The Mariners are actually tied with the Guardians for the 12th-most homers in MLB, but their bottom-of-the-barrel OBP has led to a disproportionate number of solo shots. Seattle has an elite rotation and the makings of an excellent bullpen now that Gregory Santos has rejoined the mix, but the lack of bats is a glaring issue that was already expected to dictate their deadline trajectory. Now, with Crawford and Rodriguez out for a significant period, it seems all the more likely that the Mariners will strive to bolster the lineup in a meaningful way.
Brent Rooker on the way
Either be sellers bc this team is atrocious and an embarrassment to the game of baseball, or Stanton should sell to an owner who gives af about winning.
Sell the team! Sell the team!
Says every fan about every owner, just about. No owner is gonna subsidize the team operations.
“So what do you have for me, Jerry?” – Steve Cohen
There’s zero point in being sellers when tied for 1st place with the Astros floundering again, too, being unable to beat the Athletics. We all know Stanton isn’t selling. Just add marginally, cross fingers, and know that Cole Young, Harry Ford, Colt Emerson, Lazaro Montes, and more are on the way.
Also, they don’t have anything to sell. Not selling J-Rod, Cal, or the starters. No one wants the rest of the offense and not selling Munoz or Santos. Whose left? Stanek? Not a whole lot of interesting players on expiring contracts.
Some are convinced that we need to trade one of our starting pitchers but that seems bonkers unless we get a controllable all-star bat and I don’t envision that happening or one even being available this offseason.
The mariners are fine if they don’t trade their starters but also will probably still be fine if they trade one starter
I do think Logan Gilbert would be a good fit for the orioles (especially now that we have more pitching prospects after the draft) and someone like Coby mayo coming back would be a good fit for the mariners but no one has to do anything
Yeah, I just think trading a cemented all-star, near ace-caliber pitcher for a prospect is an unnecessary risk for a contending team.
I’m going to get flak for saying this but I feel like we can’t fix this lineup even if we burn the farm on this season
No way we get into the market for shortstops and MULTIPLE outfielders
The writing is on the wall at this point we should probably (try to) sell because this lineup is like 7 bats short of a WS
Coming into July I thought this wouldn’t happen but anything’s possible
No flak from me. They certainly aren’t out of it. If a couple of minor moves can improve the offense, without much of a it to the farm, sure. But I also wouldn’t reach too deep for a fix.
As outstanding as their rotation is, they only have one regular with a .700+ OPS, and he is only at .715. It feels impossible to fix, particularly without JRod and JP.
Get flack? At the moment you seem to be part of the consensus. =}
Mystery man Aaron Hicks? Angels stint was brutal, but came up huge for Orioles outfield when Mullins went to the DL last season.
Sell who? Not sure anyone in the lineup is desirable, and you aren’t going to trade Muñoz or the rotation.
Yeah Mariners are simply not set up to sell.
I hear ya 24TheKid. Slim pickings indeed.
A week ago Manfred was talking up allowing teams to trade draft picks. Exhibit A as to its validity here?
I’m totally in agreeance.
This lineup isn’t a stud or two away from competing. You could drop Robert & Vlad into the 3-4 slots and it’d still be putrid.
I don’t think there’s a point in selling when we’re tied for 1st in the west. We’ve seen time and time again that all it takes is a team getting hot to win the World Series. Buy marginally and hope for the best, but absolutely do not sell the farm or give up on the season. We’ve seen the latter done about 15 times in the past 20 years.
JRod injury an omen? Forced sabbatical gives him time for mental reset/refresher. Comes back lights out.
The Mariners are still in first place despite having one of the worst offenses in the league. I don’t think they should dump the farm system for a bunch of hitters to go for it all now, but adding one or two big bats that are also under contract for 2025 will help now and later. JP, Julio, and Cal are still peak age and have solid track records despite their struggles now, so they should be able to bounce back. The rotation is one of the best in the sport and a huge reason why they’re even contenders still.
If they can swing big and get Luis Robert and Paredes that would be a much better offense than they had before and Julio hopefully will be back in a few weeks so I think that’s our only way to stay in the race
DeJong to Seattle
Remember what happened with dejong going to Toronto
Jed Hoyer on line 1. Cody Bellinger anyone?
Dude nobody is bailing the Cubs out of that contract.
That’s totally wrong. Somebody will. It’s more than likely in fact. Just might not be by the deadline. It will be much easier to deal this off season when it’s just 2 years and 1 opt out. A lot of teams would pay that. Since Busch has made him irrelevant at 1B the Cubs should move on and have other good 1B players OTW that are RH to complement Busch.
His value is going to decrease between now and the offseason not increase. He got paid based off his bounce back 2023 but he bounced the other way in 2024. Getting Busch was a really good move but signing Bellinger was not.
Didn’t mind them re-signing Bellinger. What I minded was giving him 3 years and all the opt out power over the team after his market disappeared. That was dumb. They might as well have handed him a NMC. Opt out players are easier to trade than NMC players, But it really limits the market. He deserved a raise yeah. 1 Year at 27.5 should have been good enough to get him back to see if they could make the playoffs.
Yeah obviously 1 year would have been better. The Cubs made 2 good moves with Busch and Imanaga you can’t win em all.
I’m not a guy in favor of eating money on a deal and paying someone to play somewhere else but that’s a deal where the Cubs should think about eating some of that deal, As long as it isn’t ridiculous. It would still save money. If they paid like 7 million a year and saved 20 they could keep Tallion and it would be like having him for free. The Giants would take that in a heartbeat.
The expert consensus seems to be that nobody is trading for Bellinger with his injury and multiple opt outs.
20 million is more than reasonable for Bellinger. Cubs aren’t attaching any prospects to him. they’ll keep him first. That’s a ridiculous take. The Giants are a bigger mess than the Cubs or the Mariners with all the dumb signings they made last off season. Cubs only made 1.
Says the guy who’s team gave Blake Snell 32 million to sit on the IL. Nice!
1 Year at 27.5 should have been good enough
======================
Yup. I thought he was okay, but who was going to top that? It almost felt like the Cubs made an effort to have Belli save face.
Could I interest you in Gabriel Arias and Estevan Florial?
We’ll take the Assistant Clubhouse Mgr. and some bratwurst just take the money commitment. As long as players don’t have to be on the 40 man fine , Otherwise no thanks.
Mariners should get Jesus Sanchez cheap from the Marlins. Then Marlins can try Griffin Conine,
At this point it’s foolish to start selling the farm to upgrade this lineup.
The counter argument is that the young, cheap core (Cal, Kirby, Gilbert) aren’t going to stay with this mess of an organization, so the competitive window might only be a 2-3 years
So are the Cubs so don’t feel bad. You have a better chance of making the Playoffs than we do.
Mariners farm system is far and away better than Chicago’s. Their farm is just decent, M’s is top 5.
Cubs is # 2. Don’t be a clown.
It doesn’t matter what the media thinks about their farm system so a #2 ranking is meaningless. It’s been said more than once that the league doesn’t seem as high on their prospects as the media.
Meanwhile, we have unnamed executives calling the M’s a top 2 farm system behind Baltimore, calling Colt Emerson the most underrated prospect, and suggesting the M’s should have ten top 100 prospects.
The Emerson comment was an unnamed NL executive so unless he’s moonlighting for the Rockies, I’m thinking not. Joel Reuter ranked the M’s #1 and Cubs #6 during his mid-season re-ranks and he knows more about prospects than everyone here combined.
Also, we don’t have a generational rotation at all.
Who the F is Joel Reuter? Your neighbor? LMAO. All the Major organizations that rank prospects have in some order The Orioles Cubs and Brewers 1,2,3..Way to pick a guy nobody has ever heard of. Wow! Hymie Stankowitz ranked the Cubs System the best EVER! I can do that too. I can’t stop laughing..
He’s a former Cubs columnist based in Chicago lmao. You call yourself a Cubs fan?
No one said he was. All those other evaluators know more than us, too. But what makes him different is that he’s a Cubs fan and former Cubs columnist. And since he evaluates prospects using legitimate resources instead of watching YouTube clips like all the people who comment here, he’s obviously more reputable on the subject than you or I or anyone else spending time posting on websites.
Joe Cowley writes about the Cubs too and he’s the biggest moron on the planet. So what?
Since you love the big publications so much, what do you make of the Cubs having only 4 top 100 prospects compared to the Mariners’ 8 in their top 100 re-rank?
Good thing there’s a Cade Marlow and Jason Vosler to fall back on!
At this point, it would violate the 8th Amendment to trade for a hitter.
Something is seriously wrong with the ballpark or something. Too many above-average bats turning to dust.
It’s a tough place to hit. The hitters aren’t as bad as they look and the pitchers aren’t as good as they look.
Crawford is hitting .204 with an 89 OPS+. Not sure he is a prominent hitter. Him going to the IL could be a blessing in disguise for the Mariners. Rivas is solid defensively and had a 122 OPS+ in the PCL. Jrod is about league average at this point, so I guess that will be hard to replace.
He’s a 2nd half player with nice underlying metrics who just wasn’t getting enough loft on the ball but had an otherwise nice statcast page. He’s not a superstar but with those unfortunate results he’s more than just an average player.
First place was fun while it lasted, eh Mariners…
Way too many holes in the lineup to even bother cashing in the prospects now. I see some other posters that disagree with what I’ll say next, but there’s no reason for us to hang on to Munoz at this point, or SP for that matter. I would not be surprised to see Munoz flipped for a prospect bat.
What a train wreck.
World Series staff, but no hitters 1-12 except for the odd homer by Cal Raleigh to go with his 2 Ks per game. With a SS need, there are now just too many holes to patch with Flex Tape from Tacoma. Plus you have a front office that has no relationships with the players, so there’s no reason for the good ones to stay beyond arbitration years (looking at Cal Raleigh).
What a waste. Just build that retractable fence in the outfield. Pull it closer by 10 feet for games between March through May and from September through the end of the season. Otherwise, it’s such a pitcher’s park that no hitter except maybe someone who’s actually from Seattle might take a chance (Conforto).
And if the starting pitching is only this good because of the home splits, maybe trading one isn’t a bad idea after all.