Seattle Mariners Starting Pitcher Comments on Trade Rumors

· Yahoo Sports

SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners earned a much-needed series win with a 7-6 victory against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday at T-Mobile Park.

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The Mariners will have six more games remaining on its current homestand, which will be of utmost importance with the team currently in third place in the American League West, three games behind the first-place Houston Astros.

Before Seattle gets to its final six games, which will start with the first of a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers at 6:40 p.m. PT on Tuesday, the M's have to get through the trade deadline, which takes place at 3 p.m. PT on Monday.

The Mariners have already made one big move. They sent veteran starting pitcher Luis Castillo to the Chicago White Sox in return for reliever Seranthony Dominguez, Triple-A outfielder Nolan Jones and catching/outfield prospect Boston Smith.

Castillo might not be the only starter dealt by Monday's deadline.

George Kirby and Emerson Hancock have both been floated in trade rumors over recent days.

Unlike other teams who had sat their starters involved in trade conversations, Seattle opted to send Kirby out for Sunday's win against Minnesota.

The 2023 All-Star ended up putting together a seven-inning gem. He struck out three, walked one and allowed five hits without surrendering a run.

After the game, Kirby admitted to the fact that he was aware of the rumors and was pitching with a slightly higher level focus today compared to the norm.

"With everything going on, just try to go out there and do my best," Kirby said in a postgame interview Sunday. "There was a little bit of motivation, I guess. I love this place. I want to stay here. I want to show them that I'm worthy of it.

" ... I don't have Twitter, so I'm not seeing anything, but you always hear stuff. Whether it's from my agent or just people, anybody. I do my best to try and not worry about that. But it's kind of something you keep in your mind, that you worry about a little bit."

Aside from Kirby, the entirety of the Mariners' starting rotation was drafted and developed by the organization.

Kirby was selected in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Elon college. He made his major league debut in 2022 and has been one of the team's most consistent pitchers since. He's posted a 3.76 ERA this year and has struck out 110 batters in 127 innings pitched across 21 starts. He has a career ERA of 3.61 with 731 fanned batters across 133 career starts.

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