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AG: Welcome back to The Wheelhouse. Once again, here with me is Jerry Dipoto. Jerry, now half the season under your belt! It's flown by, hasn't it?

JD: It sure has, Aaron. Obviously we've been thrilled with how things have gone so far, and we're certainly hoping to build on the success of the first half as we make a push towards hopefully the first postseason berth for the Mariners in 17 years.

AG: The Mariners are now 50-35 overall, which is the fourth best record in the American League, and the sixth best in all of baseball. It was a very successful week, as the M's went 6-1 against the Orioles and the Royals.

JD: It really was. Our guys did exactly what they needed to do against two teams that have had a tough time this year. As long as we keep winning series, we should be in good shape, and to get the sweep against Kansas City was icing on the cake.

AG: Well, let's talk a bit about the week before we zoom out and look at the season as a whole so far. It was another great week for Jean Segura, who won the AL Player of the Week, with 12 hits and two home runs.

JD: Yeah, Jean was huge this week. He really loomed large in three games this week, including the four-hit game against Baltimore, and then the next day he scored both our runs. Jean had a bit of a slump but it looks like he's broken out, and he's just been a force to be reckoned in the two-spot in the lineup.

AG: The other half of the infield also had a big week- Robbie Cano had 10 hits himself, including four in the 14-3 win against the Orioles.

JD: Robbie's been great, just incredibly consistent this season. It's just been a tough lineup for other teams to deal with, and that game was probably the best demonstration we've seen of that this season, with everyone in the lineup getting at least one hit, and the team getting 15 total.

AG: One interesting managerial move I wanted to highlight in yesterday's game. Take us into the fifth inning. James Paxton, your ace, on the mound. Two outs, the bases are loaded, a 5-1 lead, and Scott Servais takes him out? Did you talk with him about that?

JD: I knew you were going to ask about that, Aaron. It's tough, because it takes James out of line for the win, and no one likes that aspect of things. But you've seen this season, we really haven't managed to get the statistics, we've managed to win games. James is our ace, no question. And in that case, he had really gutted through the game to that point. He had gone to 3-0 on the previous hitter, Lucas Duda, before walking him, which was the second walk of the inning. He was up to 92 pitches. A right-handed batter coming to the plate. All of those indicators led us to feel that even though we thought that James could give us another inning or two if we needed him to, that getting a fresh arm in the game in Juan Nicasio gave us the best chance to win the game.

AG: That move paid off when Juan struck out Whit Merrifield. Then a similar moment in the eighth, when Edwin Diaz came in with two on, two outs, and a three run lead and struck out Jorge Soler.

JD: Right. You've seen all season, we are going to bring Edwin into the game in the highest-leverage situation, and as usual, he got the job done there.

AG: One roster move this week. Wade Leblanc, who had really given you some pretty good innings both in the rotation and as the long man in the bullpen this season, had refused a demotion back to Triple A, and ended up being traded to the Brewers.

JD: We were really pleased with what Wade did for us this season, and with Doug Fister with us, we really couldn't use both of them with all of our starters healthy. He was really just victim of the numbers game. We would have loved to keep him in the organization, but actually, we got some value back for him in third baseman Travis Denker, and minor leaguer Corey Ray.

AG: Ray a former first-round pick. What do you expect from him moving forwards?

JD: Hard to say for sure. Some of the luster has come off of him in the last few years, but if nothing else, he's some organizational depth in center field.

AG: Well, let's take a look at the season as a whole, and where the Mariners stand right now. As we mentioned, 50 wins and 35 losses. By any measure a very successful first half of the season. You're still ten and a half games behind the Astros.

JD: (laughs) Yeah, no one's catching the Astros. Those guys are just a juggernaut. The best offense in baseball. One of the top pitching staffs in the league. Carlos Correa is missing three months and they haven't missed a beat.

AG: But the Mariners are certainly in good position to capture one of the wild card spots this season. Right now it looks like Boston, Minnesota, Oakland and Seattle in the race for those two positions.

JD: Yeah. We've got nine more games against the A's the rest of the way, so we've got to get the job done against them, but we actually don't play the other two teams any more the rest of the way, so we've got just win our own games and hope things fall into place. We've got two weeks ahead of us where we play the Angels and the Rockies, both of whom are under .500, so we've just got to execute and do our part heading into the All-Star break.

AG: This is always a loaded question, but do you anticipate any trades as we head closer to the deadline?

JD: Well, we're always looking to upgrade our team, and as you've seen, a lot of those maneuvers this season have really been around the margins, the 22nd-thru-30th man on the club, designed to give us more depth, more resilience in case of injury. If we do make a move, it won't be likely to be just a rental, but rather someone who will help us not just this year, but next year and the year after that. We're always looking to improve our team if we can, it's just a question of whether the opportunity presents itself.

AG: OK, Jerry. Let's take a listener question. This one coming to you from Devon, in Kirkland, Washington. Devon's question is, what is Kyle Lewis's ETA in the major leagues?

JD: Kyle's made a great comeback from a pretty serious knee injury. He's spent the season in Modesto, in Single A, and has performed great, hitting .337, 10 home runs so far. He's just about to turn 23, and we expect to move him up to Double A soon. Most likely he'll end up joining the team in 2020, though 2019 is not totally out of the question.

AG: OK, Jerry. Well, we'll wind it up here. Thanks as always for joining us, and we'll see you next week on The Wheelhouse.