For the last few years, the Mariners had a decent enough formula to win games and be in the hunt for a playoff spot. However, this middle-of-the-road mentality ran dry in 2018, after Seattle blew a 10-game lead for the second Wild Card spot and appeared severely outmatched when playing the American League’s upper echelon of teams.
Much like the Seahawks this past season, the Mariners have decided to clean house and either trade a good chunk of their star players, or let them walk via free agency. While the majority of Seattle’s veterans were shipped out strictly for future financial flexibility, the likes of Edwin Díaz and James Paxton were dealt to capitalize on a young player’s success at an insignificant position (for a rebuilding team) to acquire a breadth of young, controllable talent roughly one-to-two years away from the Majors.