I've talked before about having fenceposts in a lineup: dudes who will be here as Core Mariners Players for a long chunk of time, who can help settle positional and hitting-order questions (or TOR questions in the case of pitchers) and who can give your team an identity.
Felix, until last offseason, was our ONLY FENCEPOST. When we added Beltre and Sexson, we were hoping they would enable us to build an offense around them, but the park hindered one and age caught up to the other. We had Ichiro for a decade, but I'm leery of fenceposts at the top of the order.
Seager and Cano give us two solid MOTO stakes to tether a lineup around. I'm looking for one more.
Edgar-Griffey-Buhner.
Edgar-Griffey-Alex.
Edgar-Ole-Ichiro (Boone for a couple years too).
The key component? Edgar. That third dude in the heart of the lineup, and the constant we haven't been able to figure out since. If you view Cano in the Edgar role (9 more years, right?) and Seager as the glove hitting MOTO dude, then we're looking for an Ole type, now and in future years. Maybe that's DJ, or Kivlehan. Maybe its Upton (because of course he wants to sign a $120 million extension with us, and of course we'll spend the money).
But regardless, the Ms identity on offense is now built around Cano and Seager: dirt dogs, hard-working infield grinders who make tough things look routine and who don't chew their own ears off at the first sign of a slump.
For the next 5 years, at least, these are the Felix-Cano-Seager Mariners. The pitching staff of Buffalo Wild Wings staffers and ex-potheads are demolishing the AL, hubbed around Felix and his irrepressible fight that they can't help but emulate. Cano and Seager bring professionalism to the lineup (in addition to large heapings of skill) and Seager now has the MOTO position and locker room cache of $100 million backing up his voice. He's not one of the kids anymore.
We're gettin' there, Jack. Hammer another couple posts into the ground and then string the rest together around that. After this coming year I'd love for Paxton to be another fixture in the rotation, and then we'll see who the third post in the lineup is.
Dynasties start once you can move the little pieces around the productive fixtures. The Ms have had but a brief moment in the sun as a team to be reckoned with - '94 to '03, basically. I'm ready for another moment.
One that lasts a good long time.