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One of the guys I work with is a lifelong Yankee fan from the Bronx. He's lived in Seattle for 15 years and developed a soft spot for Seattle. We were talking about Prince yesterday and he made the excellent point that there is additional value to Prince beyond his numbers; Prince has the ability to (in a single signing) make Seattle a destination city for other free agents. The Zietgiest has spoken and told us that SuperStars no longer want to go at it alone. Team-packing is not a team only phenomenon. The players have to want it too. Michael Jordan frowned on LeBron for sharing the load in Miami, but it didn't take long for them to become a contender.
The teams from the Big East know how this works. Crawford, Texira, Gonzolez,  Sabathia and A-Rod could have all gone to become the "Franchise Face" for any number of teams. Yes they got paid, but they would have been paid by a lot of teams.
Seattle has been fine with this kind of thinking with Ichiro for years. 'Yes we pay him a lot, but think of all the Japanese attention and dollars we get.' Put that thinking into Prince terms: 'Yes we pay him a lot, but look at the extensions our Arb-eligible players are willing to give and the new class of free-agents who are willing to listen, if not sign with us.'
We have Felix to thank for starting the trend. Seattle needs to jump in and get serious about Prince if we want to see Hultzen, Ackley and Franklin stick around. God forbid little Timmy Lincecum signs with a BigEast team because his hometown Mariners aren't serious enough for him.
With LA in the dumper and LAAoA being an Anti-Boras corporation, Seattle could realistically be the West Coast City to be in for the next 5 years. We don't have to sign everyone who wants to come here, we just want our choice of everyone who wants to come here.