Orioles would be happy to be the solution to Mariners pitching drama

The Seattle Mariners have the opposite problem of the Baltimore Orioles. They have too many starting pitchers. The saying goes that you can never have too much pitching, and that is true until all your starting pitchers are healthy and there aren't enough spots in the rotation for all of them. That is what is going on in Seattle. While Bryce Miller was on the IL, their pitching staff was able to handle his absence because they had enough depth. Now that he is back, the Mariners don't want to take Emerson Hancock out of the rotation because he has surprisingly been their best starter and are trying to make it work by piggybacking Miller and veteran starter Luis Castillo.

Strategically, this worked, and Miller and Castillo combined to hold the Athletics to two runs in a Mariners' win. However, both pitchers expressed their dissatisfaction with being used this way, and there was video of Castillo throwing a temper tantrum in the dugout when he was told he was coming out of the game. Obviously, this can't go on, and the Mariners need to pick one of these starters and either trade the other or move them to the bullpen. That's where the Orioles can come in.

The Orioles and the Mariners have had been linked in fake trades for years, could now be the moment they finally connect?

Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto is known for being willing to make deals. If the Orioles came to him with an offer to take on these extra pitchers off his hands in this tense time in Seattle, he wouldn't immediately hang up the phone.

The question would be which pitcher the Orioles should try to pry away from the Mariners. If it were up to the Mariners, they would have the Orioles take Castillo and his contract in a heartbeat. The way Castillo has been pitching makes trading for him and his entire contract basically a nonstarter for Baltimore. If anything, the Mariners would have to give something up to get the Orioles to do that. Now, if the Mariners were willing to eat a few million off both years of the contract, that would get a lot more interesting.

Castillo is making $24 million this year and $24 million next year. He has a vesting option that for $25 million in 2028, but that only comes to fruition if he pitches 180 innings in 2027. If Castillo is good enough to pitch 180 innings in 2027, any team would take him for another year at $25 million, so that's not really a problem.

A Castillo trade would be dependent on a few things. One, that the Oriols would have to feel like his performance this season is just a temporary lapse, and that he'll bounce back to something close to what he's been for the last few seasons. There are reasons to believe this, as his FIP is not far from what it's been for years, and according to stuff+ and location plus, he's basically the same pitcher he was last year when he was an effective starter.

If the Mariners were willing to take eat $4 million this year and $4 million next year, the price point for Castillo would be very manageable even if he were to be a 4.26 ERA pitcher the way his FIP suggests he could be.

In return, the Mariners could snag a couple of interesting prospects from the Orioles system, like maybe Braxton Bragg, who's been out with Tommy John surgery since last year, and be rid of Castillo's contract and the drama.

If the Orioles aren't interested in Castillo at all because of the contract or concerns about him falling off, they could press for Miller, but that would be a very different trade negotiation. Instead of the Orioles dictating how much of Castillo's contract needs to be eaten for them to take him, this would be the Mariners dictating how much prospect capital it would take to get Miller.

Miller is under contract for three years after this season, which is a similar amount of control to what Shane Baz had when the Orioles traded for him. Unlike Baz, where the Orioles traded for him coming off a down year, Miller is pitching better than ever, and the Orioles would be acquiring him at near peak value. So, for an idea of what it would cost to get Miller, think of what the Orioles had to trade for Baz and add 50% conservatively.

It might take both Nate George and Ike Irish to get the conversation started, and that probably wouldn't be enough on its own.

That's a lot for Miller, but if the Orioles could pull it off, they'd have their core of Bradish, Miller, and Baz all under team control for multiple years and wouldn't have to spend so much money and prospects acquiring rentals and paying for one-year deals.

On the Mariners side, Miller has always been seen as a tier below their other starters, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, and Bryan Woo. If they could flip, maybe their fourth-best starter for a massive prospect haul, they could do real work shoring up some of the weaker spots on their roster.

Whichever pitcher the Mariners decide they're ok moving on from would be an upgrade for the Orioles rotation. The question would be whether it's a big upgrade or a small upgrade. Either way, it would be interesting to see the Orioles get proactive on trying to make this team better while they have some momentum.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow