The anticipation and hope of a new baseball season is upon us, with pitchers and catchers reporting this week for the Mariners in Peoria. The depth chart looks extremely enticing for a team which came within eight outs last year of their first World Series berth.
There's no denying that the predicted Mariners lineup for Opening Day is better than in 2025, and part of the reason for this is the recent trade with the Cardinals for All-Star utility player Brendan Donovan. However, as much as he was a necessary addition, the return package to obtain him was criticized in some corners as possibly being too much.