Happy New Year’s Eve from all of us here at The Light Bat. We’re publishing a bit later today because I’ve decided to let the staff take the day off. Fear not, however. Your usual assortment of Mariner news, non-news, and the various esoterica that clutters my aging brain rolls ever on. Have a great, happy, and safe holiday. I have some fun plans for The Light Bat in 2025, and I am very excited to share them with all of you.
The Week in Mariner
I am quickly running out of fresh verbiage to describe the continued advance of the No Moves Movement as the Mariners steadfastly and earnestly twiddle their thumbs while Winter quickly passes by. Is this a sign of the plan’s divine blessing? Would it be too much to say that No Moves represents a populist movement of the proletariat; one sure to reclaim Trades and Moves for their original intent - to get good baseball players - and wrest the machinery of transaction away from the cold and callous hands of our feckless overlords? I certainly would not be so hyperbolic, but if others are saying it (and who is to say they’re not?) who am I to disagree?*
*The Mariners made no meaningful moves or transactions last week. The team continues to look fairly ok for the 2025 season, barring like half the positions in the lineup. But that’s fine. It’s all part of the plan.The closest the team came to something resembling the swirl of rumor continued to be concerning starting pitcher Luis Castillo. With Corbin Burnes signing with the noted big-money behemoth Arizona Diamondbacks the availability of quality starting pitching continues to dwindle, and Castillo would theoretically still possess strong value should the team trade him. While I do not believe they should do that, if they do push forward with the idea I imagine it will happen once Roki Sasaki chooses a team, which is expected around the middle of January.
Speaking of Roki, the Japanese star returned home after meeting with at least a half-dozen teams in Los Angeles. While the reported list of teams to have an in-person meeting with Sasaki did not include the Mariners, I don’t find myself feeling any worse about the team’s chances. There are so many unknowns about what exactly Sasaki’s priorities and desires are from a major league organization. This provides a lot of room for speculation for those who like to speculate, but I don’t find a lot of value in the exercise. We don’t really know much about what matters to Roki Sasaki, and we aren’t going to know before he makes his decision.
What we do know is that this is the rare free agent scenario in which Seattle’s unforgivably miserly ownership will not eliminate the team from consideration before the process even begins. While the Mariners have many factors working against them in luring prospective talent - geographic isolation, travel, lack of pedigree, Jerry’s Whole Deal, etc. - in a money-neutral competition they also hold significant advantages. Seattle is a wonderful, vibrant city located in one of the most beautiful places on earth. T-Mobile is a fantastic home ballpark, particularly for pitchers. The organization has a terrific track record not only in developing successful pitchers but in keeping them healthy, maybe Roki really would like to read Malcom Gladwell books and build a backyard pizza oven, who knows?
Cards on the table: I don’t think the Mariners will end up being the organization Roki Sasaki chooses to play for. But I also think they have a better shot than a casual glance and experience-fueled cynicism would imply. Unlike the team’s obviously disingenuous feint towards making a run at Shohei Ohtani, this feels like a real thing. So we’ll let it play out and then comment. Sasaki’s choice to make the process private and “fair” makes any other path foolhardy. We know too little.The 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is one of the most Mariner-infested ballots to date. While I believe Alex Rodriguez is both deserving of induction and the greatest baseball player the Seattle Mariners ever had, the early ballot results will be of interest primarily to see if Ichiro can (correctly) receive unanimous induction and if Felix Hernandez can get enough votes to stay on the ballot.
A friend pointed out this morning that 2025 is going to be the Year of Ichiro, and if he is correct I welcome it. In addition to being an impossibly great and ludicrously entertaining baseball player to watch, Ichiro is at least as fascinating a human being as he is a baseball player. I do earnestly believe he belongs in the conversation among the most important baseball players to live since Jackie Robinson debuted. For all of their endless frustrations and inadequacies few baseball teams have packed as much individual greatness into short histories as the Mariners, and none are greater than Ichiro.
As for Felix, it’s going to be a long road, but one I truly believe ends with his induction. You can make a great case that for an entire decade (2006-2015) Felix Hernandez was the best pitcher in baseball, and that’s with the park adjustment. Additionally, as the nature of pitching in MLB continues to evolve, voters will need to redefine what a Hall-worthy career looks like. The eras of 300 wins, 3000 strikeouts, and 250+ inning seasons are gone, and most likely not coming back. In this environment Felix serves as a worthy baseline. He was truly excellent for a full 10 seasons, undeniably cool and charismatic, threw a perfect game, won one Cy Young, and likely would have won at least one more had his team ever given anyone outside of Seattle a reason to remember he existed.
For myself, I view Felix Hernandez and Edgar Martinez as the two greatest Seattle Mariners of all-time. Felix is my favorite Mariner pitcher, and my favorite baseball player of the past quarter century. No player in franchise history gave more of himself to the Mariners, ever. He played his entire career with the bleakest rosters the franchise assembled post-1990. He cared. Probably more than he should have. I look forward to traveling to Cooperstown with my family someday to celebrate his rightful induction. If you dabble in vibes - the original cryptocurrency - invest now in Kin$coin.eth. The payoff is going to be amazing.
Historical Massive Mariner Dinger of the Week
The Time: May 27, 2015
The Place: Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay, FL
The Pitcher: Brad Boxberger
The Distance: 432 feet, traveling through not only air but water
I will let you in on a secret here. As long as I keep using historic Mariner home runs as a regular feature on The Light Bat you are going to see a lot of Nelson Cruz dingers. If I were to try to describe what made late 90’s/early 00’s baseball an awesome viewing experience I could use a lot of words and charts, or I could just show you a bunch of Nelson Cruz home runs. Because he is a relic from that era; a colossus whose blasts stood astride the stadiums and teams he hit them against.
Also, Aaron Goldsmith said “we’ve got a floater in the pool”. Aaron is one of the funniest, smartest, hardest-working, and kindest people I know. And I hate that about him.