The Seattle Mariners: America's Farm Team

Can't stress enough how bad I feel for the people of Seattle sometimes. They had the NBA stolen from them, they have money stolen out of their pockets everyday by paying more for Starbucks over Dunkin Donuts, and they had a Super Bowl stolen from them. I'm talking about Super Bowl XL vs. the Steelers btw, not the one you're probably thinking of.

In reality, it's the Marlins get a reputation as baseball's farm system more often than anyone else. If I had a nickle for every "Giancarlo Stanton sure will look good at Fenway in 2018" take I've heard...well maybe I could actually afford the price of Starbucks. The Florida/Miami Marlins have had more firesales since 1997's World Series than the Rolling Stones have dropped albums (3-2, if you really wanna know the score).

Lots of people know about the 116-win Seattle Mariners of 2001, and while that team ultimately came up short, they accomplished what they did without Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., or Alex Rodriguez.

The Mariners traded the Big Unit at the deadline in 1998 and actually got great value (Freddy Garcia and Carlos Guillen, who were fixtures in '01, and future Red Sox great John Halamalama ding dong). Griffey was gone in the winter of 2000 for a decent return, a package headlined by Mike Cameron and Brett Tomko, and you can't argue Seattle made the right decision not matching Texas' offer for Rodriguez.

The Mariners aren't America's farm team because of letting those three high-profile superstars go...rather, they serve as America's farm team for a reign of error dating back over 20 years now, a notion that crossed my mind while watching last night's Baltimore-Toronto game.

Note: I wrote most of this in the early innings of the O's-Jays game. I said Buck Showalter made the worst managerial decision since Grady Little by not going with Zach Britton at the time, but after sleeping on it, this move was much, MUCH worse. At least Little put his faith in a future Hall of Famer (Pedro). Showalter put his trust in Ubaldo Jimenez.

Three significant Orioles (Chris Tillman, Adam Jones and Mark Trumbo) all headed to Camden Yards via Safeco Field, and I'm not sure which deals were more lopsided.

Mark Trumbo is your classic all-or-nothing slugger, but he hit 47 home runs this year -- 46 more than the man he was traded for, Steve Clevenger, and caused one fewer incident than what caused Skip Bayless to tweet this:

I am embarrassed to share the same skin color as Steve Clevenger https://t.co/cwo1ppO6Rx

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) September 23, 2016

Tillman and Jones, then prospects, went to Baltimore as part of a package for 2011 Red Sox hero Erik Bedard, who was 15-14 for the Mariners over four injury-riddle seasons. As esteemed Tavern reader/Baltimore enthusiast Shawn Sayia points out, the Birds also got an all-star closer in George Sherrill in the deal. Total oversight on my part.

No, the O's haven't won a World Series with Jones or Tillman as centerpieces, but they've been a big part of Baltimore's competitive resurgence since 2012...making the deal similar to a Dan Duquette heist from 1997, when the Red Sox grabbed minor leaguers Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek for Heathcliff Slocumb. Two players who would be centerpieces on a championship team -- two for Tek.

Where did the Duke turn to to grab Lowe and Varitek? Seattle.

Seriously, other than the Jay Buhner trade, when was the last time the Mariners were on the right side of a deal?

People get on the Twins all the time for releasing David Ortiz...well you know they weren't the only ones to give up on him, right? True story: the Mariners traded a 20-year-old Ortiz to the Twins for some cat named Dave Hollins.

There's a slew of other talented players on playoff rosters this fall that were one-time Mariners, including Adrian Beltre, Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-soo Choo, J.A. Happ and Michael Saunders. Beltre walked as a free agent after '09, while Cabrera and Choo were each dealt to Cleveland in separate deals in the mid-2000s for zip, zilch and nada.

Saunders was actually dealt to home to Canada for Happ in the winter of 2014, and Seattle later traded Happ to Pittsburgh at the deadline in '15. In related news, Happ was one of two 20-game winners in the American League this season (Pretty Ricky the other).

Kendrys Morales left Seattle via free agency after the 2014 season and won a World Series with the Royals as their DH and primary cleanup hitter.

Brad Miller is probably nothing special but he did hit 30 home runs for Tampa Bay this year after being exiled from Seattle, and he'll only be 27 next season.

Which is all to say, the next time you're wondering which MLB team has the longest current postseason drought and realize it's the Mariners...now you know.