The next two weeks are going to be HUGE for the Seattle Mariners franchise, both in terms of 2009 and the future of the organization.

Seattle is currently 2.5 games back of the Angels.  The two remaining games against those hated Padre rivals will be a good opportunity to close the gap, but the three series that follow could make or break this team.  The M’s go on the road for nine games against the Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox; who in terms of best MLB record rank 1st, 6th and 2nd respectively.  Over this stretch the Angels get the flailing Diamondbacks, the tanking Rangers and the Orioles.

Luckily it’s only a nine game stretch for Seattle, but it’s a big nine games nonetheless.  What Seattle does with regards to the trade deadline could be determined by how they do compared to the Halos in this stretch.  The teams decision to become buyers, sellers or both will likely depend on what happens over the next 11 games.

Erik Bedard, scheduled tentatively to start against the Yankees, is also a big part of this.  And does Adrian Beltre rebound from his shoulder setback to resume his recent hot streak?

A couple interesting trade tidbits to chew on until we find out:

Prospect Insider tweet:

Now there’s talk about the M’s adding a starting pitcher and a left-handed bat at the deadline… very little chance they are sellers.

Larry LaRue, The News Tribune:

“Offensively, what you’d love to have is one more big bat in the middle of the order. If we had that, we might make it a lot more interesting in the American League West,” [Zduriencik] said.

*snip*

“We aren’t aggressively pursuing anything, but I listen,” he said. “Other teams call or I call them – it’s what GMs do. I want to stay in this race as long as possible, and I want to keep the big picture in mind. You have to think not only about right now but down the line, what’s best for this club?

“I want to be as good as I can be with this ballclub right here, right now. I want this club to stay in it and who the hell knows what will happen? An injury to another club or another player somewhere else changes an awful lot of things.”

Or will Zduriencik go out and get help before this big stretch?  Probably not, but just a thought.

Stay tuned kiddies.