While news on the major league front has been lukewarm this offseason, updates on the Seattle Mariners’ minor league system have been immensely encouraging. They’ve already landed several names in Baseball America’s top 100 as well as MLB Pipeline’s list of top prospects. This should give fans an optimistic view of the future, but why hasn’t the front office tried to convert their future value into winning in the present?

In a recent virtual press conference, Jerry Dipoto said the organization has received trade interest regarding all of their starters and quite a few prospects. He didn’t name anybody specifically, but both pieces of information should be unsurprising. Nearly all trade talk this offseason has involved one of their rotation arms, and there have been some rumors of offloading talent in positions of surplus/depth.

So if the demand for the Mariners’ prospects is as hot as Dipoto described, why hasn’t the team done anything to capitalize on what seems to be a seller’s market? One reason could be a hope that the top talent is on the cusp of breaking into the majors, and given the concentration of talent it could be a meaningful step forward for the team. Seattle has become well-known for their ability to develop top-of-the-line pitching, but has struggled to find the same success when it comes to fostering offensive production.

This makes it all the more surprising that none of the Mariners’ best farmhands are pitchers. Instead, four of them (Colt Emerson, Cole Young, Michael Arroyo, and Felnin Celesten) are middle infielders. Finding a full-time second baseman that can come up with league-average production at the plate has been a difficult endeavor, so if their current infield mix can’t get the job done they could turn to one of the aforementioned names instead.

Throughout the winter, Dipoto has been adamant about his confidence in the abilities of the team as is, citing it as a primary reason the offseason has been quieter than fans would otherwise have hoped. A big driver behind his rock-solid confidence seems to be his focus on the team’s offensive performance after a big staffing shakeup brought Edgar Martínez back as a hitting coach. In the month of September, the Mariners had a team OPS of .780, the third-best in baseball. When adjusting for the extremely pitcher-friendly conditions of T-Mobile Park, it seems that his confidence is even more reasonable than the surface-level numbers suggest.

So, not only does the front office seem content with the quality of the overall roster, there’s a potential hope that at least one of the top names will become a major-league contributor throughout their years of team control. Dipoto didn’t mention relying on calling anyone up specifically, but his strong faith in the intrinsic talent of the team could carry on down through the minor leagues.

If he’s right, Seattle could be in for a pleasant surprise come October. If he’s wrong, this may end up as a missed opportunity to sell high and build a winning roster.