Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Mariners Should Not Trade Felix Hernandez

I do not understand why every time that it is a trading season in baseball, people suggest that the Mariners should trade Felix Hernandez for prospects. Are the Mariners good right now? No, they are not good right now. Should they be looking towards the future? Yes, I think it's time to look towards 2012 and beyond, but this does not mean that giving up Felix Hernandez is a good idea.

First off, what kind of haul would make it worth their while? At first thought, people would think that Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, and Jesus Montero would be a great haul for the Mariners. But would it really? You're looking at two pitching prospects who always have the potential to break down and a hitter whose power has disappeared and if he improves his mobility, he might be able to play poorly at first base.

Does that sound like something the Mariners would want to do? No, that sounds like a ridiculously bad return for possibly the best pitcher in baseball. Yes, you can dream on prospects, but you don't have to dream on King Felix, because he's already awesome. And as great as building towards the future sounds, guess what? King Felix can help the Mariners in the future as well. The Mariners are not some small market team; they're owned by the same guys that own Nintendo, so if they need money, they've probably invented a real life Mario that can shit out gold coins.

On top of all of this, Felix is a goldmine for the Mariners as they have a whole section dedicated to his awesomeness every time he pitches. And he's a part of my favorite team commercial ever:

And when teams trade superstars, they almost always come out losers. Yes, the Rangers did do a hell of a job trading away Mark Teixeira to the Braves, but that is an exception, and I certainly wouldn't want to be the team that was betting on it happening again.

I realize there's this belief that every team that isn't the Yankees or Red Sox will lose their best players to those teams. Sometimes this is true, but when you have a generational talent like Felix Hernandez, you do not even think about trading him unless he makes it clear that he will not be resigning with the team. Judging by the fact that he is currently signed through 2014, I don't think they have much to worry about at the moment.

Long live Larry Bernandez.

-Joe

P.S. Since I'm talking baseball, here is an excellent article about the Braves' Brooks Conrad.

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