THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Don't mortgage M's future for (maybe) a taste right now
No, no, no!
I can’t make it any clearer to those fans, media members and assorted dreamers who want to see the Mariners call up a couple of their top prospects for the final 10 games of this wacky baseball season.
Why would you wish to summon gold-plated kids like outfielder Jarred Kelenic or right-handed pitcher Logan Gilbert for a VERY brief appearance in Seattle?
I hear some of you saying that, mathematically…
The Mariners are in a pennant race.
Indeed, the bizarre 2020 season will conclude with 16 teams — more than half of Major League Baseball — involved in the postseason bubble.
An agreement was made (for better or worse) to include the top two teams in each of the six divisions across the American and National leagues, plus another couple of wild-card teams from each league.
Right, so Oakland already has run away with the top spot in the AL West — but what seemed like the Astros’ almost automatic position as the division’s second team has been bumping around over the past two weeks or so.
HOUSTON’S free fall has allowed the Mariners — despite a record well under .500 — to creep within shouting distance of that No. 2 slot in the West.
And, of course, we all know about the drought.
The M’s have the longest stretch without a playoff appearance (19 years) in any of North America’s major sports leagues.
Long-suffering Mariners fans probably wouldn’t care about the goofy 60-game season or the expanded playoffs — or ANY kind of asterisk that might come along with snapping that seemingly endless run of futility.
Just to be in the postseason…
Well, it would scratch a 19-year itch, even if the Mariners’ participation in the playoffs was a quick one-and-done.
At least all those jokes would be over.
Having said all that, calling up Kelenic, Gilbert or any other true rookie who is part of the Mariners’ long-term future for this very short quest would be crazy.
Nuts.
First of all, Seattle’s shot at overhauling Houston is pretty close to a pipedream.
For the record, the M’s actually would have to pass the Astros.
A tie in the standings would put Houston in the playoffs, because the Astros have already won the season series between the two teams.
Consider…
Seattle is three games behind Houston already, so the Mariners would have to outplay the Astros by three games over the final 10.
Yes, the Astros do come to Seattle for a three-game series, but to reach the postseason, the M’s would pretty much need to sweep that series (they’re 2-24 over their last 26 against Houston), and hope for several more stunning results.
Seattle’s other stretch-run games consist of dates with sizzling San Diego (3; now all at the Padres’ ballpark instead of in Seattle) and powerhouse Oakland (4).
Houston, meanwhile, gets sad sack Arizona (3) and the near-hopeless Rangers (4).
Can we schedule all these games at Lourdes?
The Mariners would need a miracle.
EVEN IF you could somehow picture the Mariners having some wild shot at making up the needed ground, bringing prospects like Kelenic and/or Gilbert into the fray would make no sense at all.
Neither one has played a game above the Double-A level.
Plus…
Instead of having solid minor-league seasons this summer, each has been toiling at the club’s “alternate site” in Tacoma, as part of the Mariners’ 60-man working group.
Kelenic, yep, looks every inch like one of the top prospects in baseball.
Gilbert has been OK, too, working on secondary pitches he’ll need when he finally reaches the major leagues — but he’s also had a few struggles during intrasquad games.
If either of these high-end youngsters were called up, they would become official major leaguers, and remain under club control (not eligible for free agency) through 2026.
But…
If they stay off the M’s 28-man roster, and then get some needed minor-league experience for the first few weeks of next season (at the very least), before appearing with the Mariners…
That club control extends out to 2027, when they should be in the primes of their careers.
Scouting services — and the Mariners themselves — consider both players as potentially generational talents.
IN OTHER words, these are foundational pieces in the project Seattle is hoping will produce a contending team — not just once during a pandemic, but season after season.
That extra year of control could be so, so important.
Look, if you could guarantee me — rock-solid guarantee — that this regular season would come down to one game for that playoff position, AND that Gilbert would pitch brilliantly in just his second live game of 2020 — AND that Kelenic would homer in the ninth to end the playoff drought, well…
We’d all sign up for that.
But in the real, real world, you almost surely would be wasting crucial seasons for each of two future Mariners stars for…
What?
For a script that seems more far-fetched than buying a lottery ticket to plan your future?
And maybe picking out an island in the Caribbean that you’ll grab with those cinch winnings?
Sheesh!
Let’s all calm down here, forget winning the lottery and give these gifted young players a bit more serious development in the minors.
Then, let them earn their way to T-Mobile Park with “proper” resumes.
They can thrill us throughout many “proper” seasons to come.
Email: scameron@cdapress.com
Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.
Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball, once per month during the offseason.