Time for the Mariners to ante up
Maybe a column full of poker-movie references can get Seattle's owner(s) to stop sitting on their wallets and give this team a freaking chance to get over the hump.
The Mariners have spent years getting to this point.
Wait. That’s not the right word to use because what they’ve spent seems to be an increasing concern.
Let me start again: It has taken the Seattle Mariners years to assemble this nucleus of young players that could — and I would argue should — be the core of a perpetual playoff team.
To put this in poker terms, they built a bank roll, meaning they’ve amassed sufficient assets that they can actually matter in this league. The fact that they’ve come this far is what makes it so frustrating, so downright infuriating, that the owner(s) are becoming so paralyzed at the possibility of losing money that they’re unwilling to make the bets that would give them a chance at actually winning.
I’m not mad that the Mariners got rid of Eugenio Suarez and Marco Gonzalez and Evan White. I’m mad because the Mariners had to get rid of Suarez and Gonzalez and White in order to give themselves spending room. I’m mad because they’re focusing on the balance sheet instead of the opportunity here.
So far, getting angry at the owner(s) hasn’t worked. Neither has trying to shame the owner(s). So maybe let’s try inspiration.
I’m calling on John Stanton, Chris Larson and anybody else who has a meaningful stake in the team to sit down this month and watch “Rounders,” the poker movie featuring Matt Damon, Ed Norton and John Malkovich as a track-suit wearing Russian with a penchant for listening to Oreo cookies.
I’m not going to tell you that “Rounders” is a great film. I don’t know if a lad who grew up in the wilds of Eastern Oregon is qualified to critique films, but I do know that of all the movies I’ve watched, what “Rounders” does better than anything else is champion risk-taking as not just necessary but invigorating and maybe if the Mariners owner(s) bathed in this idea for a few hours they might feel the friskiness necessary to stop pinching pennies until they scream.