As with everything Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto will do from now until spring training 2019 he must first know the answer to this question: when will the Mariners be competitive again. If, as so many of us assume, his answer is 2019, could it be time to lock up The Big Maple, James Paxton?
If Dipoto decides his team will not compete in 2019, then James Paxton must become a part of the rebuild by being traded to the highest bidder. Paxton would undoubtedly return a nice haul of prospects to the Mariners, likely somewhere between the Sonny Gray package and the Chris Archer package.