With the yearly trade deadline fast approaching, teams are deciding whether they are buyers, sellers or stand-patters.

The M’s players I have heard mentioned most in the “rumor mill” are . . .
Kendrys Morales, Raul Ibanez, Oliver Perez and, to a lesser extent, Michael Morse and Tom Wilhelmsen

Here are my reasons for wanting to stand pat when it comes to Kendrys and Raul . . .

We FINALLY have seen the elusive “veteran presence” actually come to fruition ~ and be effective ~ in Seattle.

• With Kendrys, there was good reason to expect he would provide a bit of a threat in the middle of the line up, and he has. What has been a somewhat pleasant surprise is the level of mentorship he has provided ~ reportedly, willingly sharing his knowledge and experience from the clubhouse to the dugout.
• Then there’s Raul, who we knew would embrace the mentorship role but, the pleasant surprise with regard to him, has been the amazing production on the field. Due to the spate of OF injuries, he’s been pressed into way more regular service than was ever planned – man, has he delivered!

So, here we have two veteran players who are not only helping the team with their on field production (which is in turn helping the young players develop by taking some of the pressure off them) but, who are also providing mentorship so critical to a young team.

I think these two vets are worth way more to the M’s (even though, short of a ’95 miracle, they have no true hope of playing in the post season) than anything they might acquire in trade. Especially considering they would be “rentals” (due to their one-year contract status) therefore, reducing their value to other teams. Also, there’s the new qualifying offer deal that ensures the M’s would get some sort of compensation if they chose to become free agents at the end of the season.

As for Michael, Tom and Ollie . . .

I’m not really sure why Michael has been rumored in trade, since he’s currently on the DL (not yet even assigned to a re-hab stint).

I would be surprised if any teams were really interested in Tom, given the struggles he’s encountered this season. That said, I hope he can work through the funk he’s been in. He’s still young and there’s certainly nothing wrong with his velocity, seems it’s more of a location/confidence (or lack thereof) issue. What doesn’t kill ya makes ya stronger, as they say – hopefully, if he can work all the way through this, he’ll be better for it.

It seems like Ollie is the most likely candidate for trade, as good set up guys are always in demand and the M’s could “reshuffle” the deck to replace him easier than they could the others – what with Stephen Pryor coming back soon and the fact that there are other arms down on the farm that might be ready for a cup of coffee. Just all depends on the quality of return.

So, tomorrow is July 22 ~ nine days and counting . . .