The Mariners are staring at an awkward pair of postseason honors: Freddy Peralta won ALCS MVP, Jake Bauers won NLCS MVP, and Seattle once had both in its system.
That’s the kind of detail that can make a fan wince a little. Peralta helped pitch the Rays into the World Series.
Bauers helped the Brewers sweep the Dodgers. The awards are deserved, but they also leave Seattle tied to two big October runs in a way that invites uncomfortable questions.
The most obvious one is what the Mariners actually got out of either player.
Peralta was sent to Milwaukee in December 2015 along with Carlos Herrera and Daniel Missaki in the trade for Adam Lind. At the time, the move made sense on paper: Seattle wanted a proven first baseman, while Peralta was still a lower-level prospect with plenty of uncertainty attached to him.
Lind’s Mariners stint was short and modest. He hit .239/.286/.431 with 20 home runs in his only season in Seattle. In return for that, the Mariners gave up a pitcher who went on to build a substantial major league career.
Peralta’s latest postseason spotlight only sharpens the sting. He won twice against Cleveland in the ALCS, including the pennant-clinching Game 6.
Seattle can and should be willing to trade prospects when the upgrade is real. But if a team is going to part with years of future value, the return has to justify the cost.
The Lind deal is a clean example of how expensive an ordinary lineup fix can become.
Bauers gives the Mariners a different kind of headache. He was already a big leaguer by the time Seattle got him, and the version the Mariners saw was not the one collecting hardware in October. In 2021, he hit .220/.297/.275 with two home runs in 72 games for Seattle.
That’s not the profile of a player who forces a club to carve out a long-term role and wait for the payoff. What Milwaukee got was a better version. What Seattle had was a hitter trying to hang onto a job.
There’s another layer to the weirdness, too. Bauers made his major league debut with Tampa Bay.
Peralta debuted with Milwaukee before getting to the Rays by way of the Mets. Now both are chasing a World Series against the franchises that gave them their first big league chances.
Seattle gets to watch the whole thing from the outside.
None of this means two LCS MVPs can define an organization. But the timing is hard to ignore.
Peralta’s rise should push Seattle to be more exacting when it deals away young pitching. Bauers’ surge should push the Mariners to ask harder questions about the hitters they bring in and how they try to help them improve.
This offseason ought to bring those answers. The Mariners need a clearer sense of whether the value coming back in trades matches what they’re giving away, and they need a more credible plan for helping acquired hitters take a step forward.
For now, Seattle can claim a tiny slice of both postseason stories. The problem is that the bigger prizes went elsewhere.
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For Seattle, the appeal is pretty clear. The next manager will inherit a roster that mixes established veterans with younger pieces still trying to settle in, and that kind of bridge role can matter as much as dugout experience. Kanzler fits the profile of an instructor and evaluator, though he does not bring major league managerial experience to the table, which makes him an intriguing name as the process moves forward alongside Joe Espada and Rocco Baldelli. [Read more 🡒]