Freddy Peralta won the ALCS MVP. Jake Bauers won the NLCS MVP. What probably shouldn’t come as a surprise is that the Mariners once had both in their organization. That might give Seattle fans a lousy rooting guide for the World Series.

We can appreciate two players earning their postseason moment. We could also wonder why Seattle’s part in their stories feels like something we would rather skip.

Peralta helped pitch the Rays into the World Series. Bauers helped the Brewers sweep the Dodgers. Both earned their league’s championship series award, leaving the Mariners with an uncomfortable connection to baseball’s biggest stage.

The departures deserve separate scrutiny. Seattle traded away a young pitcher whose best years were ahead of him. Years later, it gave a struggling hitter an opportunity that produced little.

Those decisions lead to a question about how much value did the Mariners actually get from having either player?

Freddy Peralta Makes the Mariners’ Adam Lind Trade Hurt Again

Seattle sent Peralta, Carlos Herrera and Daniel Missaki to Milwaukee for Adam Lind in December 2015. No need to question the appeal there. The Mariners wanted an established bat at first base. Peralta was still a lower-level prospect, carrying plenty of uncertainty.

Lind slashed .239/.286/.431 with 20 home runs in his lone Seattle season. That was a pretty thin return for a package containing a pitcher who would build a substantial major league career.

Peralta’s latest award adds another sting. He won twice against Cleveland in the ALCS, including the pennant-clinching Game 6. We should expect Seattle to trade prospects when a meaningful upgrade is available. Contending requires accepting some risk. But the immediate return has to justify giving up years of potential production.

The Lind deal remains a useful example of how expensive an ordinary lineup fix can become.

There’s also another twist: Bauers made his major league debut with Tampa Bay, while Peralta debuted with Milwaukee before reaching the Rays by way of the Mets. Now each is trying to win a World Series against the team that gave him his first big league opportunity. Seattle gets to watch both.

Jake Bauers Raises a Different Mariners Development Question

Bauers requires more honesty about what Seattle actually had. He slashed .220/.297/.275 with two home runs in 72 games for the Mariners in 2021. There was little production demanding a real place in the lineup.

We remember the player celebrating in Milwaukee now. Seattle had the version that was trying to keep a major league job. Five years passed between his Mariners stint and this postseason. It would have been hard to justify the Mariners holding a roster spot for that long waiting for this kind of outcome.

Still, his success deserves curiosity inside the organization. What eventually helped him become more productive? Which adjustments could Seattle reasonably have identified? 

Mariners Must Turn October Regret Into Better Offseason Decisions

Two awards cannot diagnose an organization. But they should give us reasons to examine said organization more closely. Peralta’s story should sharpen Seattle’s standard for spending young pitching. Bauers’ story should sharpen its evaluation of hitters who arrive with potential and leave with little to show for it.

This offseason, we should expect clear answers about the value coming back in trades and a credible plan for helping acquired hitters improve.

Seattle got its chance with both LCS MVPs. Other teams got the pennants. The Mariners clearly need more decisions worth celebrating.