As we approach the halfway point of the season, the Mariners find themselves in a strange position – too good to start having a firesale, yet not good enough to consider taking on salary. Quite simply, the M’s have been paralyzed into inactivity by their own modest success.

At 37-35, Seattle has exceeded all expectations thus far, but they’ve done it with a will-it-last? combination of great pitching, a surprising bullpen, Russell Branyan and a lot of grit.

But now, the Mariners face their toughest stretch of the season – a nine-game road trip against the Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox starting Friday that could turn Seattle into buyers or sellers as we approach the July 31 trading deadline.

The M’s have gotten back into contention by beating up on bad teams, which is exactly what mediocre teams should do to get better. They’ve nabbed 23 of their 37 wins against teams .500 or worse, which means facing L.A., N.Y. and BOS back-to-back-to-back will certainly be a change of pace from Baltimore, San Diego and Arizona.

This gantlet is critical though, because even if Seattle manages to go 5-4, I feel like they can honestly say they are a factor for the rest of the season and go about their business of adding pieces to try and steal the AL West from the Angels and Rangers.

If the M’s were to add, obviously they’d love to get a proven bat with some pop. While it seems as if Branyan’s going to keep it up, it would be nice if someone, anyone in the lineup could protect him. The Griffey experiment hasn’t been a total bust (especially when you consider his clubhouse presence), but he (or anyone else) hasn’t been able to boost Seattle’s anemic offense.

And what would be the cost of adding? Well, that’s the conundrum. You wouldn’t want to take away Erik Bedard if you decided to go for it, so it would have to be some combination of Yuniesky Betancourt and a prospect (would the M’s consider trading Clement?).

Now, if they go 1-8 or something catastrophic, and given their other flaws (lackluster offense, suspect defense), you can’t blame Jack Zduriencik for pulling the plug and saying, “Let’s get something for the guys we have.”

Everyone is saying the trade market is dead this year, but I find it hard to believe that there won’t be takers for Bedard or Jarrod Washburn, two lefty arms that were bandied about in trade talks last year when they sucked. If Bedard’s injury isn’t a big deal, Seattle could get some decent prospects for him.

And Adrian Beltre, a notorious second-half hitter, has been heating up, and interested teams would be getting a Gold Glove-caliber defender at third. Yeah, he’s getting paid a lot of money, but someone would be willing to take a risk.

I don’t think anyone outside of Don Wakamatsu was expecting much from the Mariners this season, so the fact that we’re simply having this discussion is cause for celebration, and has made baseball season compelling again. Beating up on patsies is one thing, however. Let’s see how they stack up against the big boys.