Happy Service Time Manipulation Day Seattle Mariners Fans
Meet Your 2021 Seattle Manipers
The Seattle Mariners are in a similar(ish) situation to the San Diego Padres, and the Chicago Cubs had above, with Jarred Kelenic. Someone mouthed off (Machado for the Padres, Boras for Bryant and the Cubs) and sent the media into a tizzy. Former M’s President Kevin Mather said what everyone was thinking, and then what no one was thinking, and finally, stuff that just made everyone mad.
Kelenic’s agent Brody Schofield did his best Scott Boras imitation when he said to USA Today, “It was crystal clear to Jarred, then and now, that the decision not to call him up is based on service time. There is no question that if he signed that contract, he would’ve been in the big leagues.”
This prompted a retort, a rebuttal of sorts, from GM Jerry Dipoto. “We feel that is the furthest thing from the truth… we’ve laid out a plan for Jarred, we’ve been very transparent in sharing that with him all along.” They both are probably lying, honestly. See what I did there?
The short of it is, “you guys don’t care about winning.” The response is, “that’s a lie.” it’s the 2015 Cubbies all over again. Here’s the really cool thing about being a Mariners fan though, we get to go through this next year with Julio Rodriguez, Emmerson Hancock, and George Kirby. 2023? Noelvi Marte. 2024? Jonatan Clase and whoever we select in the 2021 MLB draft.
Mariners fans will be so well versed in service time manipulation that I’m going to start a petition to call the Seattle baseball team, the Seattle Service Time Manipulators, or Seattle Manipers for short, and we’ll all know what it means.
It’ll be our inside joke. We could all put “Happy Seattle Manipers Day” in the comments and see if anyone gets it. April 16, 2021, is now Seattle Manipers Day.
Optics
Is it unethical? No, Scott Boras and Scott Boras sympathizer it’s not. Is it negatively impacting the brand of baseball? No, it’s not, or at least no more than MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s, 4,000 proposals on how to improve baseball. Is it inconvenient? Yes, about as inconvenient as cheering for Taylor Trammell, not to strike out. It’s not fun, but someone has to do it.
So today, April 16, 2021, marks the first day that the Seattle Manipers (remember, it’s our inside joke, don’t ruin it) can call up Jarred Kelenic. It also represents the reality that Seattle now has control of Jarred Kelenic’s contract through the 2027 season, no matter when he gets called up. The question now is whether Kevin Mather was right, or to save face will Dipoto keep Kelenic down until Tacoma starts playing some games?
Jarred Kelenic’s ‘service time’ is officially up as of today so he could be called up soon.
Think the Mariners are still going to play it off by waiting a few days/weeks but his time is close… pic.twitter.com/AWxf7cYkfT
— Certified Sports Cards (Max) (@certifiedcards) April 16, 2021