For years, Alex Rodriguez has been the easiest target in Seattle baseball. If he showed up at T-Mobile Park with the Rangers or the Yankees, the boos were ready before he even took the field.
This weekend, though, the reception is supposed to be different. Rodriguez will be back in Seattle as part of the Mariners’ 50th season celebration, and for once he’s expected to stand there with the franchise’s other greats and get cheered instead of buried under noise.
Rodriguez said earlier this week that he never really saw that kind of turn coming.
“I’ve been getting booed there for 27 years, so I kind of had lost hope that this story would come full circle,” Rodriguez told Brock and Salk of Seattle Sports.
That long-running grudge traces back to the same old place: he left. But the more you look at it, the less that old anger holds up.
Rodriguez was the Mariners’ star in the 1990s, the kind of player who looked like he belonged to a different class entirely. By the time he left, he had piled up 38.1 rWAR before turning 25.
Only he, Mike Trout, Ty Cobb and Mickey Mantle had ever done that, and only one of them got to hit free agency afterward.
What came next was the Rangers’ 10-year, $252 million contract, a deal so huge that the source material notes it would be worth close to $500 million in today’s dollars. Nobody says no to that kind of money.
And yet the reaction in Seattle went far beyond disappointment. Fans didn’t just feel let down; they felt betrayed.
The story that stuck was that Rodriguez had once said his departure “wasn't about the money.” The problem is that the reporting here says there’s no evidence he ever said that.
What there is evidence of is the opposite. He was a Scott Boras client, and when the Rangers introduced him, Rodriguez called it a “financial decision.”
The Mariners, meanwhile, never got close. After the 1999 season, they were said to have offered him an eight-year deal worth $15 million per year. As a free agent, they reportedly put a five-year offer on the table at $17 million per year.
That whole “selling out” frame belonged to another era, one where the 1994-95 strike was still fresh and fans were primed to see players as the greedy ones. Back then, the argument was that a small group of millionaires was trying to squeeze money from an even smaller group of billionaires and multi-millionaires. The logic didn’t always add up, but the emotion did.
Now the temperature around these departures feels different. MLB fans may still support a salary cap in the next collective bargaining agreement, but the anger today is aimed less at players and more at the imbalance in payrolls across the sport. The complaint is about the system, not just the star who leaves for a bigger check.
Shohei Ohtani is the clearest example. When he took the Dodgers’ 10-year, $700 million offer in 2023, Angels fans didn’t turn on him.
They cheered when he came back to Angel Stadium for the first time. The blame landed on owner Arte Moreno, who had the chance to match the Dodgers and didn’t.
He apparently valued Ohtani in the $400 million range, and now Ohtani is a two-time World Series champion while Angels fans want Moreno gone.
Juan Soto shows the old feelings still exist in some places. His move from the Yankees to the Mets came down to $5 million and a suite, and Yankees fans have every reason to be angry at both sides - the Yankees for not matching and Soto for taking the extra money instead of trying to become a legend in pinstripes.
But if Rodriguez had made the same exit in today’s climate, Seattle probably would’ve looked more like Anaheim did with Ohtani than the furious scene that followed him for years. The old “selling out” label doesn’t carry the same punch anymore. Babe Ruth was onto that a century ago when he said, “A man ought to get what he can earn.”
So maybe the timing was the real problem. Rodriguez didn’t leave Seattle in an era that was ready to forgive a player for taking the best offer. And for all the things Mariners fans can still hold against him, taking the money really shouldn’t be one of them.
In Other News...
George Kirby May Have Been Closer To A Mariners Exit Than Fans Knew
George Kirby stayed put when the MLB trade deadline passed, but ESPNs reporting suggests his name was part of a wider market conversation even if Mariners fans never saw it play out in real time. Detroits talks on Tarik Skubal were shaped in part by the possibility that if those negotiations dragged, other clubs might redirect their attention toward Kirby, whose appeal is obvious to any front office hunting for a frontline starter.
For Seattle, the important part is simple: Kirby is still in the rotation, and the Mariners kept one of their most valuable arms rather than turning a deadline debate into a roster shakeup. The reporting also underscores why he drew such attention in the first place, with his age, affordability and long runway of team control making him exactly the kind of pitcher rival clubs would monitor if the market for an ace started to move. [Read more 🡒]
Jerry Dipoto Faces New Heat As Mariners Questions Keep Growing
David Forsts dismissal in Oakland has only sharpened the spotlight on baseball operations around the division, and it inevitably turns the conversation back to Jerry Dipoto in Seattle. Forst spent 27 years with the Athletics and 11 seasons as general manager before being let go, with assistant GM Dan Feinstein now overseeing baseball operations while the club searches for a replacement.
For the Mariners, the comparison is hard to miss because the questions around Dipoto have only grown as the team has continued to struggle on the field. Seattle has built its recent identity around patience and process, but results have a way of changing the temperature fast, and another front-office reset in the AL West only adds to the scrutiny on a group already under pressure to show progress. [Read more 🡒]
Rick Rizzs Finally Gets A Place In Mariners History
Rick Rizzs has been part of the Mariners soundtrack for so long that it is hard to imagine the franchise without him. Now, the team is formally giving him a place in its history, announcing that the longtime broadcaster will be inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame next season. He will become the 12th member and one of only two non-uniformed inductees, joining Dave Niehaus in that distinction.
Rizzs has been connected to the organization for 41 years and has served as the lead radio voice since 2011, but his impact has gone well beyond the booth. Through his Toys for Kids charity, he has also been a familiar presence in the community. The Mariners have not yet announced when the ceremony will take place or what it will look like, leaving one more chapter in a fitting honor still to come. [Read more 🡒]