Trade deadline season is officially upon us, as the Seattle Mariners got the late-July feeding frenzy started with a trade for Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Josh Naylor on Thursday night. Naylor had flown a bit under the radar thanks to all the attention paid to his similarly available teammate, Eugenio Suarez, but he's having an excellent season in his own right, and you could argue that he was the best non-Suarez bat for sale this summer.
In fact, it's enough to make you wonder why several other teams weren't the ones to step up and get a deal done instead. The price that Seattle paid, while not nothing, was hardly exorbitant. And these teams in particular should be regretting not paying it for a player who could make all the difference for them down the stretch.
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1. Boston Red Sox
Arguably no team was a clearer fit for Naylor than Boston, with Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro leaving a lot to be desired in the wake of Triston Casas' season-ending knee injury. The Red Sox were in need of a permanent solution at first base, and while Naylor's swing wouldn't have been a perfect fit for Fenway Park, he would've been a crucial addition to this lineup (as well as some potential protection should the team decide to move on from Jarren Duran).
It's hard to figure out what Craig Breslow was thinking here, if we're being honest. The price the Mariners paid — two pitching prospects, one already 25 years old and one at High-A, both of whom face serious questions about their ability to be starters at the big-league level — was eminently reasonable, and one the Red Sox could've paid if they wanted to. This feels more like Breslow continuing his long-standing pattern of refusing to engage in midseason bidding wars, and that might wind up costing Boston dearly.
2. Toronto Blue Jays
The Jays don't need any help offensively right now, as their buzzsaw of a lineup just dropped 11 more runs in a win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night. But the news on Anthony Santander continues to feel pretty ominous: He hasn't even started swinging a bat again yet, and the most manager John Schneider would offer this week was that he thought his star slugger would "be back this season". Okay then.
Again, Toronto's lineup is clicking right now. But it remains pretty righty-heavy, anchored by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Alejandro Kirk and George Springer, and Naylor would've slotted in quite nicely as a full-time DH who could balance things out a bit and mash right-handed pitching. Priority No. 1 is a starting pitcher, but you can never have too much offense.
3. Cincinnati Reds
Speaking of which, the Reds seem hell-bent on coming away with at least one impact hitter before July 31, as they look to supplement a rotation that already has Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo and Chase Burns firing on all cylinders and will welcome back Hunter Greene sooner rather than later. That's a group more than capable of going on a Wild Card run, but Cincy needs to find more offense if they want to make that happen.
This is, again, a righty-heavy lineup; Gavin Lux, Elly De La Cruz, Jake Fraley and TJ Friedl are the only lefties on the active roster. The team has cycled through DH options after both Jeimer Candelario and Christian Encarnacion-Strand flamed out, and Naylor would've brought some needed stability and balance to this lineup. It's going to be hard keeping up with the rest of the rugged NL unless they land another bat.
4. Texas Rangers
Don't look now, but the Rangers have won eight of 10 and entered play on Thursday just 1.5 games back of the Seattle Mariners and the Red Sox for a Wild Card spot in the AL. To get over the hump, though, they're going to need to score some more runs; Texas' pitching staff has far and away the best ERA in the Majors, but their lineup has the fourth-lowest OPS, and they're getting a scarcely believable .523 OPS from their DH spot this year.
Ezequiel Duran and Co. simply aren't cutting it at those two spots, and even when Jake Burger and Joc Pederson come off the IL, they'll still need a bat like Naylor to really help this lineup pop. Unfortunately, the list of options just got a whole lot smaller and less appealing, and the Rangers can't afford to let a rotation this good go to waste.