THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Like Cal said, spend some money, and hope the big hits follow

So, has the fire from Cal’s rant died down?

No.

Fans have taken to social media in droves to support the action proposed by Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh in the heat of the moment is exactly what the club should be doing after this season of disappointment.

On Saturday night, shortly after Seattle was officially eliminated from the American League playoff race via a 6-1 loss to Texas, followed shortly thereafter by Houston's win over Arizona, the normally reserved Raleigh voiced the frustration felt both by his teammates and heaven knows how many supporters.

Boiling it down to the core request, Raleigh basically begged the Mariners ownership to go get some more talent.

Or, to strip the request down even further, Cal was asking the organization to spend some money on players who can help an already solid group reach the World Series.

He even pointed directly at the Rangers, who were celebrating their spot in the postseason at that very moment.

Texas actually wasted millions on pitchers who weren’t ever healthy enough to help — Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and others — but the mega-rich, long-term deals handed out to infielders Marcus Semien and Corey Seager prior to the 2022 season have been spectacular successes.

ON THE face of it, you’d think Seattle’s terrific pitching staff was a group that could carry the club deep into the postseason.

Perhaps to the World Series.

The Mariners had the lowest ERA in the American League (3.74) despite losing former Cy Young winner Robbie Ray for the season and longtime starter Marco Gonzales for most of it.

As for spending money, yes, several of Seattle’s key starters this year were homegrown and most of the relievers were terrific reclamation projects, but Ray was a free-agent signing prior to 2022 and Luis Castillo was handed a deal worth more than $100 million after he was acquired via trade that same year.

Ah, but the offense.

“We spent a lot of the year looking for big hits, and sometimes they were hard to find,” said manager Scott Servais.

For a club whose mantra was “Control the Zone,” Mariners hitters often couldn’t manage it — racking up the second-worst strikeout mark in either league at 9.9 whiffs per game.

The Mariners also were 29th in leaving runners in scoring position from game to game (3.74).

“We could live with the strikeouts if our hitters were doing real damage when they put the ball in play,” vice present Jerry Dipoto said.

Obviously, that wasn’t happening enough.

What particularly grated on the fan base was that — although the Mariners run a financially excellent business, and Forbes magazine determined that the franchise jumped in value more than any other club in MLB, they spent next to nothing on free agents during the past offseason.

Dipoto traded for power-hitting outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, who did hit 26 homers and drive in 93 runs — but led the majors with 211 strikeouts.

Ironically, the addition of Hernandez (from Toronto for relief pitcher Eric Swanson), wasn’t a real source of complaints.

On the other hand, Seattle also started the season with second baseman Kolten Wong, outfielder AJ Pollock and infielder Tommy La Stella.

Among the three, they accumulated a WAR (wins above replacement) of minus 2.2.

That number jumps out when you consider that Seattle missed the playoffs by just two games.

RALEIGH waited just one day to apologize for his remarks, but he was mostly sorry, it seems, for potentially offending any teammates.

He’d still like the organization to add some lightning — even players with high price tags.

The most obvious free-agent target this year would be Angels’ all-universe, all-purpose megastar Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani has just undergone Tommy John surgery, so he can’t pitch in 2024, but he still should command something near $500 million just as a hitter.

Maybe the Mariners can open the vault and land Ohtani, and maybe not.

But the club also has incredible depth in young pitching that could be traded for high-dollar, experienced talent.

Most fans (and Raleigh, presumably) would like to see the Mariners be aggressive in pursuit of top-quality pros.

It bothers some people that the only deal made at the trading deadline involved sending popular closer Paul Sewald to Arizona for second baseman Josh Rojas, rookie outfielder Dom Canzone and minor league prospect Ryan Bliss.

To be fair to the Mariners, they weren’t really in serious contention at that time, and moving the 33-year-old Sewald wasn’t a killer because of their bullpen depth.

Rojas became a solid piece at second, Canzone is raw — just 59 games in the majors — but has a really live bat, while Bliss looked fine at Triple-A Tacoma (.251 in 47 games with 10 homers and 20 steals).

However reasonable that trade might have been, the feeling is almost unanimous that the Mariners now have to step up and take a big swing.

Or multiple swings.

However awkward the timing, Raleigh was right about one thing.

It’s time to act.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”