By The Herald Editorial Board
Along with the rallying cries of “Tridents Up,” and Seattle Mariners catcher — and MLB home run leader — Cal Raleigh’s “Might as well win the whole (expletive) thing,” perhaps the sagest advice came last month during the franchise’s retirement of all-time great outfielder Ichiro Suzuki’s No. 51.
In what may be the lowest-volume rallying cry in baseball history, Suzuki urged his former team and its fans; “I am confident you can seize the moment,” then with a far louder, “Now, let’s play ball!”
And the Mariners have. Prior to their last three games in the regular season against the Los Angles Dodgers this weekend, the Mariners notched 17 wins in the previous 18 games, assuring the M’s the American League West title — its first since Ichiro’s first full season in 2001 — and at least the No. 2 seed in the league playoffs. Oh, and there’s that record 60-home run season by Raleigh.
For fans of the Mariners’ High-A affiliate, the Everett AquaSox — still celebrating their first Northwest League Championship since 2010 — there’s some additional pride in being able to say of several select Mariners, “we knew them when.”
At least 10 of the Mariners’ 40-man roster played part if not all of one or more seasons as Everett AquaSox, including catchers Raleigh (2018) and Harry Ford (2023); infielder Cole Young (2024); outfielder Julio Rodriguez (2021); relief pitchers Emerson Hancock (2020-21) and Matt Brash (2021) and four-fifths of its starting rotation, pitchers Brian Woo (2022), Logan Gilbert (2018), George Kirby (2019), Bryce Miller (2022).
Two others played rehab stints in Everett: infielders J.P. Crawford (2023) and Jorge Polanco (2024). Even Manager and legendary Mariners’ catcher Dan Wilson made a rehab appearance in Everett in 2000. Such brief stays with a minor league club are not insignificant toward a major league club’s success; Everett — as well as the AAA Tacoma Rainiers — provide Seattle with a low-cost and conveniently located option for helping get a player back in form after a stay on the injured reserved list, as well as giving fans a closer look at all-star players.
And it’s not just current big leaguers who got their start in Everett. Of the Mariners’ five top minor league prospects this year — and nine Mariner players of the top 100 prospects as ranked by MLB Pipeline — three, including shortstop Colt Emerson, outfielder Lazaro Montes and pitcher Ryan Sloan, played stretches of the 2024 or 2025 seasons in Everett. (Sports Illustrated’s minor league writer was a little perplexed by the Mariners No. 3 farm system ranking by Pipeline this August, considering the Los Angeles Dodgers (No. 1) and the Minneapolis Twins (No. 2) have only five players among the top 100 prospects, compared against the Mariners’ nine.)
Here’s why farm clubs, such as the AquaSox and Rainiers (AAA) and Seattle’s other affiliates — Arkansas Travelers (AA), Modesto Nuts (Single-A) and rookie leagues in Arizona and the Dominican Republic — are key to a big league team’s success; they allow teams to develop competitive rosters (see Mariners, Seattle) at more affordable salaries — “affordable” is a relative term here — while staying under Major League Baseball’s luxury tax threshold. (For 2025, the league set a threshold of $241 million dollars; teams paying their rosters more than that pay a “tax” that’s split between player retirement accounts and the league commissioners’ discretionary fund, which aids smaller market teams.)
Seattle’s investments in a productive farm system have placed it squarely in the middle of the American and National leagues; not the cheap seats, but not the luxury boxes, either. Seattle’s roster payroll — $161 million for this year — is 15th among the 30 major league teams, less than half the payroll paid by the Los Angeles Dodgers ($349.9 million) and New York Mets ($341 million). Also paying the tax this year: the Philadelphia Phillies with $290 million and the New York Yankees at $299.6 million.
A strong farm system also allows a team to offer good younger players in mid-season trades to improve teams for playoff runs. Among the trades Seattle made this year in late July were the acquisitions of sluggers Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez from the Arizona Diamondbacks for five of Seattle’s minor league players, including infielder Tyler Locklear who spent part of 2023 with Everett.
It’s also had its role in Everett’s first Northwest League Championship since 2010 earlier this month, and Tacoma’s first-ever 86-win season and the Pacific Coast League championship series, won 2-0 by the Las Vegas Aviators on Wednesday.
All of this is not only to croak loudly for the Frogs’ role in the Mariners’ success this year — OK, maybe a bit — but to make the case for the team’s continued presence in Everett and the need for the Seattle Mariners and its owners, the Baseball Club of Seattle, to aid the construction of a new outdoor multi-sport stadium in downtown Everett.
Following the move by the MLB to cut ties with about 40 of its minor league affiliates in 2021 — in part to improve pay for its minor league players — the MLB also informed its 120 remaining minor league teams to meet a list of upgrades to stadiums, fields and player and other facilities, including larger clubhouses for home and visiting teams with direct access to and from the dugouts, kitchen and dining facilities as part of the clubhouses, training rooms, batting facilities and more.
That spurred a look at renovations to the AquaSox current facilities at Funko Field or construction of a new park elsewhere in the city. City officials since have settled on a downtown location adjacent to the Angel of the Winds Arena with plans to build an outdoor stadium for an estimated $82 million that could host both professional baseball and soccer teams as well as other events.
In a public-private partnership, the AquaSox owners, the city of Everett, as well as Snohomish County and Washington state Legislature have committed funds to the project, with Everett officials pledged to not raising taxes or spending general fund dollars on the stadium’s construction, though it’s expected to issue bonds that would be paid back through event revenues.
Major League Baseball has taken a hands-off approach to its mandated improvements, leaving more than $2 billion to be spent or budgeted by minor league teams and communities for the new or refurbished stadiums.
Fair enough, the MLB has concentrated its efforts on improving pay and conditions for its minor league players, leaving the question of stadiums to minor league teams and communities that benefit from the economic and quality-of-life advantages of professional sports.
But nothing in its rules prevents individual teams from assisting their affiliate clubs.
It’s hard not to look at what the Mariners’ farm club system has saved the Baseball Club of Seattle in affordable player salaries, while still allowing it to build am extremely competitive team on the cusp of an American League title and perhaps its first World Series appearance in the team’s almost-50-year history. Additional support of the downtown stadium in Everett for the AquaSox by the Mariners’ owners should continue to pay dividends through the increased value of the major league club.
As Ichiro advised: We are confident you can seize the moment.
Now, let’s play ball!
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