The Mariners are 5-4 due to an enjoyably chaotic hodge podge of good sequencing, surprisingly effective bullpenning, and hilariously inept baseball at the worst possible time from their opponents. While early injuries and an overall lack of depth – born from what I can only assume is forgetting how to switch Jerry Dipoto’s phone back from straight to voicemail the last three offseasons – are almost certainly going to slowly drain hope like a pin prick from a sandbag, a fun and positive start is always welcome.

One of the early bright spots has been the play of Mitch Haniger. Coming off two years of injury and inaction, there was plenty of reason to take a wait and see approach. The last time Mitch Haniger was healthy and playing baseball the world was about six months pre-COVID, or precisely 2.5 lifetimes ago, culturally. 

Haniger’s skills have never really been in question since his 4-win season in 2018. A well-rounded player who grinds out at-bats, has good power, hits the ball to all fields, and plays an above average rightfield, Mitch’s many talents provide him a particularly high floor, even when balls aren’t finding grass. All that’s needed has been health, and a chance to prove all that time off hasn’t diminished all those skills.

Baseball is a funny game. It takes months, often years for statistics to offer anything meaningful when projecting a player’s future. However, a player’s skills are often identifiable fairly quickly. A good swing is a good swing, and a keen eye a keen eye. At the risk of going full Scout Brain, if you’ve watched enough baseball those skills flash early. It’s why, for example, hype started to build around James Paxton and his new-found 100 MPH fastball back in 2016, even as he was struggling. 

It is early, but Haniger’s skills don’t appear to have declined and, outside of a small sample size-fueled low walk rate, all his early statistics fall perfectly in line with established norms. His plate coverage remains excellent, he stubbornly refuses to ever be an easy out, and most importantly appears to have recovered strength, range of motion, and overall health. He’s a good player, and an asset on a quality team.

With Taylor Trammell beginning to show flickers of production, Kyle Lewis returning from injury, and The Mighty Outfield Teens lurking in the wings, Haniger may at first glance seem like an extraneous piece in the Mariners future plans. I’ve already seen plenty of people arguing a healthy and productive Haniger should be flipped at the trade deadline, and with two years of arbitration still between him and free agency the argument is certainly there for the team to do exactly that. However, I’m going to argue that if the Mariners are ever going to see their rebuild begin to be a, well, build they need to start investing in quality veteran talent. Mitch Haniger provides them an excellent place to start doing just that.

A healthy Haniger is possibly Seattle’s best outfielder for all of 2021 and, depending on how much fire there is to all of Jarred Kelenic’s smoke, 2022 as well. The Mariners, dutifully and deservedly awash in bad optics and public relations for practically every reason a sports team can be, should be desperate to establish the credibility of their highly publicized “sustainable” contention window as soon as possible. Offering to buy out Haniger’s last two years of arbitration and, say, a year of free agency at something like 3 years/$45 million dollars puts a much-needed face on the team’s woefully transient present, and begins the process of healing the utterly broken trust between the organization and players/fans from the Kevin Mather fallout, and all the other organizational scandals of recent history.

A counterpoint to this idea has been the fear of “blocking” the aforementioned outfield depth, and that the team has positions of greater need to spend on. To that I say, as someone who has ~closely watched this team for the vast majority of my life, I would absolutely love it if the Seattle Mariners found themselves with more good players than positions on the field. The next time I see it will be the first. As for payroll, there is none. The Mariners have practically no financial commitments of note after the current season, and locking in a 2.5-4 win outfielder during his age 31-33 seasons provides zero impediment to the pursuit of literally any other talent they choose to target.

Mitch Haniger was a late bloomer who has battled years of injury to return to the field. His doing so provides the Mariners with an opportunity to retain a quality player at a reasonable rate, and extending him now shows that the team is capable of looking at its players beyond the soul-sucking, “efficiency uber alles” fashion it has seemingly come to hold so close during the Jerry Dipoto Era.

Extend Mitch Haniger, Mariners. It’s a win for him, and a win for you. Yes, such a thing is possible.