Yes, losing Jorge Polanco stings. Especially after he looked like exactly the kind of bat the Seattle Mariners were begging for when the lineup hit those familiar mid-summer dead zones. And now he’s a Met on a two-year, $40 million deal.
But here’s the part Mariners fans can (quietly) exhale about: this might be the cleanest way Seattle accidentally buys itself flexibility.
Mariners’ Polanco exit could turn into a two-problem fix
Going into the winter, it felt like keeping Polanco was going to cost real money. It wasn’t hard to talk yourself into a $15M-ish annual number as the line where things got uncomfortable fast.