The Mariners won the trade deadline. The hope is, that leads to them winning the most meaningful games for the franchise since 2022.
Trading for Eugenio Suarez, the best bat available at the trade deadline and a player beloved be Mariners fans all over, is a win in itself.
It’s the message it sends.
To be clear, the Mariners have seemingly always been active at the trade deadline in recent years. Bringing Luis Castillo in 2022 and Randy Arozarena in 2024 to Seattle is proof of that.
But this year felt different.
After missing the postseason in back-to-back years, the fanbase is anxious, and rightfully so. They weren’t thrilled about the offseason acquisitions (or lack thereof) and had to hold out hope to the end of July.
That’s where the Mariners’ front office came through. And it absolutely had to.
Acquiring Suarez sends an unequivocal message that the Mariners will do whatever it takes to get back to October baseball in 2025. Of course, this is on top of trading for Josh Naylor from Arizona and relief pitcher Caleb Ferguson from Pittsburgh. Certainly, that’s always the goal, right? But the Mariners’ faithful, among the most passionate and patient fanbase in baseball, needed a return on that faith. This is it. A win-now move in every way.
Is it a slam dunk? Well, that remains to be seen, both in the way Geno produces and, of course, remembering that the Mariners let him go to Arizona in a move to lower salary ahead of the 2024 season. But you can’t even have that conversation unless you make the deadline trade the Ms have.
And for a Mariners’ front office that had drawn the ire of fans for not making the impactful moves they hoped for, this is a huge response both in message and in tangible response.
There are 53 games left this season, and how the Mariners fare in this home stretch will determine so much about the next steps of the franchise. But based on the information at this moment, the Mariners made the best moves available. There’s no argument to be made that they pulled punches.
They’re all in.
And that in itself is a win in this moment for a Mariners’ fanbase that’s sure to pack T-Mobile Park this weekend.
