Dark horse Luis Robert Jr. could spoil the deadline for Phillies, Dodgers

MLB teams have over a month to figure out what they are going to do at the July 30 trade deadline. Some teams are obvious postseason contenders, such as the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers, that will look to bolster their rosters to ensure they go on a lengthy run to the World Series. Then, other teams are looking to trade away their top players to receive a haul of prospects in return to build towards the future.

One team that are obvious sellers is the Chicago White Sox, who hold an 18-53 record, the worst in all of baseball. The team desperately needs to rebuild, and they have players who are classified as the best available this season. One of them is outfielder Luis Robert Jr. While Robert does have injury concerns, he's a powerful slugger when healthy. With that, any playoff team looking to add power to their lineup will undoubtedly target Robert. But is there a dark horse looming?

Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote an article on Thursday giving his guesses as to where the top players on the trading block could be dealt by the deadline. When it comes to Robert, Heyman's best guess as to where he could land is the Seattle Mariners

MLB insider's 'best guess' is Mariners land Luis Robert Jr. at trade deadline

As of Saturday, June 15, the Mariners hold a hefty lead for first place in the AL West (41-31 record). While that's all well and good, Seattle does have a huge need as we get closer to the trade deadline -- hitting.

It's no secret that the Mariners have struggled to hit and knock in runs. Earlier this month, the Mariners fired offensive coordinator Brant Brown to try to spark some change. As of this writing, however, the Mariners are batting just .221, which is the third-worst in the entire majors, and have knocked in a total of 268 runs, 10th fewest in the majors.

A spark is needed in the lineup, especially if they want to get past the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles in the postseason. The thing is, Robert hasn't played much this season due in part to being sidelined for nearly two months with a right hip flexor strain.

Through 17 games this season, Robert recorded a .188 batting average, a .246 on-base percentage, a .547 slugging percentage, seven home runs, nine runs, 10 RBI, 12 hits, 26 strikeouts, and five walks in 69 at-bats.

While Robert didn't really show much this year due to being sidelined with the hip injury, he can produce for your team when healthy. That's why he will be probably the hottest commodity on the trade block. Will the Mariners be the team to land him? Or will another playoff team be able to put together a trade package to get the White Sox to accept?

This article was originally published on fansided.com as Dark horse Luis Robert Jr. could spoil the deadline for Phillies, Dodgers.