Don't rip M's failure to trade at deadline

The Mariners are reaching the point of no return.

Despite being 17 games over .500 at 74-57, the M’s have watched Houston and Oakland slowly moving off over the horizon in the American League West.

It’s no surprise in the case of Houston, but the A’s?

They were 34-36 on June 15, but then reeled off a 45-16 dash (prior to Monday night’s game in Houston) to bring themselves within hailing distance of the Astros — and shoving Seattle into a distant third-place hole.

The M’s either will be 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 games behind Oakland when they open a series in San Diego tonight.

There essentially is one spot open in the AL playoffs, a wild-card entry that will be awarded to the second-place finisher in the West.

The M’s have 31 games to rescue the situation, and frustration is setting in among fans in the Northwest.

Hey, without a September miracle, this will be Seattle’s 17th consecutive season without playoff baseball.

Specifically, M’s loyalists are wondering why general manager Jerry Dipoto refused to make any major moves prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

A LOT of things have gone south since the All-Star break, admittedly, but Dipoto’s common sense hasn’t been one of them.

Jerry did the right thing.

Let’s look back to late July ...

Despite the A’s playing six weeks of lights-out baseball prior to that point, the M’s still looked like the obvious choice to finish second behind Houston.

Oakland surely couldn’t keep up that ludicrous pace, after all.

Who knew?

But even if Dipoto had suspected that the A’s would stay on their blistering run, he probably would have stayed pat leading up to the trade deadline.

Why?

Three very good reasons.

First, the M’s were about to add two key pieces to the roster without giving up anyone.

Robinson Cano and his magic bat were due off the suspended list on Aug. 1, meaning that Robbie would be back in the lineup around mid-August.

And even though longtime ace Felix Hernandez was having an indifferent season, right-hander Erasmo Ramirez would be done with his injury rehab in late July — so just in case Felix’s struggles continued, Ramirez could fill out a decent five-man starting rotation.

SECOND, you need pieces to trade.

Dipoto inherited a creaky farm system in 2015. It was ranked 28th in MLB at the end of last season and is only 23rd now.

Jerry sent one of the system’s jewels, outfielder Tyler O’Neill, to the Cardinals in July 2017 for left-handed starter Marco Gonzales — a trade that looks excellent for both teams.

But in terms of more prospects to deal, Dipoto’s cupboard was nearly bare.

Plus, the only thing that might have made the Mariners notably stronger was a front-line starter — and teams like the Cubs and Yankees had far more to offer for difference-makers like Cole Hamels and J.A. Happ, respectively.

Third and finally, Dipoto followed a damn good rule of thumb: Go all-in to win a division and shoot for the World Series, but if the only plausible target is a single wild-card road game ...

Forget it.

Play the cards as they’ve been dealt.

IN 2014, the Kansas City Royals — riding a long playoff drought similar to the current Mariners — were a solid club but had little chance to win the AL Central.

GM Dayton Moore thus sat on his hands at the trading deadline.

Surprisingly, though, the Royals earned a wild-card spot (playing the one-and-done game at home), caught lightning in a bottle, and went all the way to the seventh game of the World Series.

One year later, the club had basically the same core but this time, they were in a position to gain command of the division around late July.

So Moore pulled the trigger — trading a handful of valuable prospects to rent ace starter Johnny Cueto and super utility man Ben Zobrist.

Each played just three months in Kansas City, but the Royals became a truly complete team — and won their first World Series in 30 years.

Dipoto followed a similar script, I think, refusing to tear up a rebuilding farm system — just for a long-shot chance at a wild-card game.

He made the right decision.

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Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press.

A Brand New Day appears Wednesday through Saturday each week. Steve’s sports column runs on Tuesday.

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