With reports surfacing Tuesday that the Seattle Mariners are interested and actual contenders in signing all-star second baseman Robinson Cano (formerly of the New York Yankees), it means something to the fans whether or not they are successful in obtaining the superstar second baseman.
Finally in the Jack Zduriencik era, the Mariners are willing and considering the option of battling and dishing out money in free agency. There has never been a true marquee player who has willingly decided to come to Seattle since Jack Z has been in town. Whether the reason is the team’s losing record, the constant turnover in management or the pitcher’s ball park, the Mariners have failed to bring a free agent All-Star caliber bat into Safeco Field. The closest thing we have to a big free agent signing in the Jack Z era was Chone Figgins, and we all know how that turned out.
The analysts and reporters have been telling fans in Seattle for years that the Mariners have cash and are willing to spend, yet every year the Mariners payroll gets cheaper and cheaper with hopes of winning getting slimmer and slimmer. The only person the team has locked up past 2015 is Felix Hernandez. So if the free agents won’t come to you it is time to give them enough money to make Seattle a credible destination.
With plenty of room in the books for the future, I could care less if the Mariners have to overpay to get bats into Safeco Field. I want them to make it happen. If you have to lock a 31-year-old up for eight years (one year longer than the Yankees are willing to give him) to get five quality years of hitting in Safeco, I am perfectly fine with that – of course I am saying all this with my wallet nowhere in the equation. But I promise you this: if the Seattle Mariners land guys like Robinson Cano and/or Matt Kemp, there will be a lot more fans willing to fill those empty seats in Safeco Field.
If you build it, they will come.
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