The Seattle Mariners have been linked to several different first basemen in advance of the MLB Trade Deadline, which is July 31. There’s Carlos Santana, who formerly played for the Mariners (2022), Josh Naylor (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Ryan O’Hearn (Baltimore Orioles) as vidid examples.
Santana is a switch-hitter, but Naylor and O’Hearn are both lefties, which could complicate matters for the M’s. And look, I’m definitely not advocating for this, but as I opened on the most recent “Refuse to Lose” podcast, I’m wondering if Luke Raley could end up being a roster casualty of it all.
“I am legitimately wondering if the Mariners are going to trade Luke Raley. It’s not something I want. It’s certainly not something I’m advocating for, but I’m wondering if it can and will happen. And let me play a vision here in in our heads: Let’s say the Mariners go out and get Josh Naylor or let’s say they go out and get Ryan O’Hearn. They’re both first basemen. They’ve both been linked to the Mariners They’re both left-handed hitters. If Naylor in particular is here, he’s here to play every day .They would keep (Donovan) Solano as a right-handed bench option as far as I’m concerned. Naylor would play first, right field then would be what? It Would be (Dom) Canzone and it would be Raley You do not need all of the left-handed hitters nor do you have room for them. Now, the Mariners could play Luke Raley in right every day and send Dom Canzone down to Triple-A if they want to do that. Or maybe Arizona wants back one of those pieces in return. They’ve already had Dom Canzone, and Luke Raley would present them with a first base option for next year and an outfield option and several years of team control and power. For the same reasons that I like Luke Raley, they would like Luke Raley as well.”
Raley, 30, is hitting just .223 this season, but he does have four home runs and 17 RBIs. He spent more than a month on the injured list. A five-year veteran of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays and Mariners, he hit 22 home runs for Seattle a season ago. He also plays hard and is popular among fans for that reason.
However, if you don’t want to trade as much from a valued farm system, Raley could be a way to avoid doing that.