Finally, the Seattle Mariners did what fans had been waiting for for years: they brought in a player to play every day, not a platoon puzzle. Brendan Donovan is the kind of player every competitive team needs — high contact, good OBP, versatile, and fills the gap in the lineup.
From a purely professional standpoint, this is a commendable trade. Even a big hit. And the Mariners aren’t being stingy: they paid a premium for Donovan. That in itself is a statement of ambition.
But the problem is: the Mariners didn’t just buy Donovan — they sold a part of the story they themselves had built.
Seattle traded Jurrangelo Cijntje, the 2024 first-round pick, along with Tai Peete, traded Ben Williamson to the Rays, and the Cardinals acquired Colton Ledbetter and other competitive balance picks. It wasn’t a roster adjustment. It was a real all-in.
And if you’ve gone all-in, the question isn’t “should you do it?”, but rather: have you pushed the right chip?
Just a year ago, the Mariners picked Cijntje at number 15 overall, bypassing Trey Yesavage. The reason was clear then — a switch-pitcher. A rare, almost unique upside. A decision that felt like a “genius gamble.” Like seeing a limited-edition sneaker and forgetting you still need to buy groceries for the week.
The problem is: that dream didn’t have time to mature before it started to falter. When Justin Hollander admitted Cijntje would focus on throwing with his right hand “in the near future,” the Mariners inadvertently said what everyone understood: the core differentiating factor of this pick was disappearing.
And before the organization could even try to figure out what “right-handed Cijntje” really was, they… traded him.
And that was it. The 2024 first-round pick became a tradable asset. The “unique value” used to justify the draft decision is gone. This is the kind of story rival fans will bring up whenever they need to mock for the next 10 years.
The real pain lies elsewhere. Trey Yesavage—the Mariners overlooked—was drafted at 20th place in Toronto. By October 2025, he’ll have started the World Series, set a record, and look like the cleanest answer to the question Seattle ever asked.
Now imagine the worst-case scenario: Cijntje becomes an ace in St. Louis. Then, the Mariners not only missed out on Yesavage—they handed away a pitcher who developed exactly as expected. A two-part nightmare, running in parallel.
Even if Cijntje doesn’t become a star. Just being “good” is enough to make this deal painful. Because the Mariners failed to capitalize on any of the growth potential from a first-round pick — something the strongest organizations always consider a long-term strategic asset.
The irony? All of this could still be true, while the Brendan Donovan trade was still a real step forward.
Seattle got the stick they needed. But to get it, they may have left a hole behind — and Mariners fans know all too well: holes like these rarely fill themselves.
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