The Seattle Mariners are once again searching for the bare minimum amount of offense required to make a postseason push.
After a strong start to the season as a team, the Mariners' bats have cooled off dramatically. Only Cal Raleigh owns an OPS above .800 among the team's qualified hitters, while Julio Rodríguez's starts with a six.
Fortunately, the American League looks weak this year, and the Mariners hold a one-game lead over the Boston Red Sox for the final Wild Card spot entering play on Wednesday. But the Houston Astros have blown past them in the division race, and Seattle needs to make sure it doesn't get left in the dust.
Seattle just needs to find a big bat of some kind, and one baseball analyst sees them bringing in one of the biggest that projects to be available at the trade deadline.
On Tuesday, Greg Amsinger of MLB Network predicted that the Mariners would acquire Baltimore Orioles first baseman/outfielder/designated hitter Ryan O'Hearn, who was just named a first-time All-Star in his walk year for the last-place O's.
"Ryan O'Hearn, I'm a big fan of his," Amsinger said. "Awesome to see in his early thirties have a breakout year. I do think he gets traded, the O's have to cash these chips in.
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"At the moment, the Seattle Mariners, in my eyes, are a playoff team. I think he goes to Seattle and he forms a platoon (at) DH. Which I don't think he wants to do, but O'Hearn, left-handed bat, I think that's where his power is, and then you have Mitch Garver, who can spell him."
O'Hearn cooled off slightly over the last month, but he still owns an excellent .840 OPS on the season. He's got 11 home runs, 32 RBI, and a hard-hit rate of 48.1 percent.
Because he's in his final year of arbitration and didn't have much of a star track record, O'Hearn is only making $8 million this year. The Mariners would owe him $2.5 million if they acquired him at the trade deadline, truly a drop in the bucket for an All-Star bat.
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