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FanPost Friday: Purgatory continues for the 2023 Seattle Mariners

“trapped in purgatory / a lifeless object alive”

By sanford_and_son
/ new
Seattle Mariners v Minnesota Twins
in purgatory, the gatorade baths are room temp and boring

Hello and welcome back to FanPost Friday. Even at a comparably high water mark of a whole TWO games above .500, the 2023 Seattle Mariners are firmly seated in a purgatorial position about four days from the trade deadline. What is to be done? What can realistically be done?

Earlier this week, John Trupin comprehensively covered the range of realistic trade deadline outcomes for our devoutly mid Mariners (also hit ‘em with the “Sea Us Sell” tagline, damn. The truth hurts). Go read it if you haven’t yet. Ezra Roberts also wrote up some excellent potential trade targets today. Personally, like John, I’m a big fan of moving anyone and everyone in the bullpen. Always trade relievers, especially if they have closer experience.

I’m also (sadly) on board with moving Teoscar Hernández and Ty France if the return is right. Again, it feels bad and weird to talk about doing a sell of any kind after the Mariners just won series (emphatically!) against direct Wild Card competitors the Blue Jays and also the AL Central fail-sons the Twins. I mean Teoscar just gave us this incredible moment against his former team and an all-time great Mariners photo.

Toronto Blue Jays v Seattle Mariners Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Side-prompt: I invite all memes in the comments using this crop of that photo, go nuts.

Steph Chambers/Getty Images

But anyways, in spite of the very bare bones selection of free agent right fielders this coming offseason, there’s no guarantee Teoscar will choose to resign with the Mariners. As tough as it feels to have to part with him now, if there is a good trade return to be had, the Mariners have to make that move. If he signs somewhere else next season, then it’ll be just another huge missed opportunity.

Speaking of making tough moves, I’m also on board with moving Ty France for the right return, which is sadly probably not going to be much at this point with how slumpy he’s been this season. The team could roll the dice on seeing if he rebuilds his value the rest of this season and then move him in the offseason, sure, but maybe packaging him with Teoscar is the way to go. Sorry, this is getting more speculative than I intended, but my main message here is that I don’t think Ty France is the best choice for first baseman on a contending Mariners team anymore.

Let’s take a look at last week’s polls regarding the potential of a soft sell:

So, if you pair answers 1 and 3 together and 2 and 4 together, it turns out that the “Wait and see” crowd have the slight edge, which is pretty impressively optimistic for Mariners fans. After two series wins, that stance is probably even stronger.

But, in the end, it seems we are all pretty much in agreement (besides that 22 percent of eternal optimism) that these Mariners are not suited to make a real playoff run.

So, onto some PURGATORIAL POLLS!

Poll

Did the series wins versus Toronto and Minnesota change your stances from last week at all?

This poll is closed

  • 44%
    Yes, I now believe a bit more
    (218 votes)
  • 16%
    No, I always believed
    (83 votes)
  • 38%
    No, I still don’t believe
    (188 votes)
489 votes total Vote Now

Poll

I would like the Mariners to trade Ty France before the deadline if the return is good

This poll is closed

  • 51%
    Yes
    (258 votes)
  • 25%
    No
    (129 votes)
  • 22%
    Wait until offseason to trade him assuming he rebuilds value the rest of this season
    (113 votes)
500 votes total Vote Now

Poll

I would like the Mariners to trade Teoscar Hernández before the deadline if the return is good

This poll is closed

  • 75%
    Yes
    (381 votes)
  • 11%
    No
    (58 votes)
  • 12%
    I want to resign him for next season
    (64 votes)
503 votes total Vote Now

Poll

I think the Mariners will win the next three series versus Arizona, Boston, and Anaheim

This poll is closed

  • 23%
    Yes
    (119 votes)
  • 29%
    No
    (148 votes)
  • 47%
    Win two series out of three
    (238 votes)
505 votes total Vote Now

All right, have a great weekend and let’s see if Jerry can pull off some trade deadline magic.

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