Waiting for Dipoto to pull trigger

Jerry Dipoto is desperate for a Hall of Fame arm.

Unfortunately for the Mariners GM, there’s one right under his nose — but the arm belongs to Felix Hernandez, the club’s ace for 14 years but now just a guy throwing stuff you see in batting practice.

The context: Dipoto is looking for help before today’s 1 p.m. non-waiver trade deadline.

Under normal circumstances — that is, with Felix in career form — the M’s would have an excellent starting rotation as they face a two-month race for the American League’s second wild-card spot.

Or in a dream scenario, maybe they run down the Astros to win the West.

Felix’s woes also mean the M’s had TWO problems, since they still needed more reliable veteran arms in the bullpen.

They’re hoping that issue was solved Monday, when they traded for 30-year-old right-hander Adam Warren from the Yankees (for international signing bonus pool money), and lefty Zach Duke from the Twins.

Duke, 35, was 3-4 with a 3.62 ERA in 37 innings, and cost the M’s minor league pitcher Chase DeJong and infielder Ryan Costello.

Warren was 0-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 30 innings.

For what it’s worth, Warren is listed at 6-foot-2 and 224 pounds. In reality, he’s big enough that Ichiro might fit into one of his pants legs.

BACK TO the starter issue: There is no evidence that Hernandez can start every five days and keep the Mariners in a ballgame.

Last Saturday night in Anaheim, Felix managed to last only 2 2/3 innings while giving up seven runs as the M’s lost 11-5.

“It’s just embarrassing,” Hernandez said. “I have to do something better than this.”

Ironically, the rest of the rotation looks sweet.

James Paxton is one of the game’s best lefties. Mike Leake, Marco Gonzales and Wade LeBlanc have been consistently good.

Dipoto could choose to leave the rotation intact temporarily — praying for Felix to find some fastball command — while waiting on Erasmo Ramirez to finish rehab after three months on the disabled list.

If it goes that way, Hernandez would get perhaps two more starts — despite a 5.58 ERA that is the second-highest in the majors among regular starters — while Ramirez stretches out to become a starter.

HERNANDEZ’S apparent non-stop slide shouldn’t exactly be a shock.

Felix’s ERA has gone up each of the last five years, and now at age 32, it looks like he’s running on fumes.

After all, he’s thrown 6,215 innings and now been on the DL three times in the past two years.

Dipoto’s puzzle here is that the Mariners are a very good team, needing only to fill that rotation, perhaps grab a reliever for numbers — they’ve already acquired RHP Sam Tuivailala from St. Louis — and maybe add a utility player.

Remember, perennial All-Star Robinson Cano will be back from his PED suspension in mid-August.

Dipoto made a brilliant move early by trading for Dee Gordon, who has starred at second base in Cano’s absence. A gifted athlete, Gordon perhaps could move to center field when Cano is sharp enough to rejoin the lineup.

The M’s also grabbed Denard Span and solid set-up man Alex Colome in May transactions.

THAT’S ALL another way of saying that Dipoto has made some excellent moves to put the Mariners in this chase for their first playoff appearance in 17 years.

But if Dipoto decides to seize this year’s window and go for a quality starter for, say, first baseman Ryon Healy and two top prospects ...

Perhaps someone should remind him that this is the 20th anniversary of the Mariners’ most famous trade — sending Randy Johnson to a loaded Astros team for the 1998 playoffs, just minutes ahead of the deadline.

Johnson was super in that short stretch, but Houston got knocked out of playoffs and wound up with nothing.

Seattle, meanwhile, happily added two future All-Stars, Freddy Garcia and Carlos Guillen.

We can assume Dipoto knows the dangers of rental players — and gutting a farm system.

On the other hand, how many chances do you get to play in October, especially in Seattle?

Jerry?

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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.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com.

Twitter:@BrandNewDayCDA