TEREN'S TAKE: Mariners Need to Take Advantage of Cal Raleigh's Historic Season

As of Wednesday, Raleigh's scored 47 runs and hit 13 doubles with 27 home runs and 60 RBIs. He's slashed .266/.374/.624 with a .998 OPS in 71 games. His 27 homers are one away from tying Johnny Bench for the most by a catcher before the All-Star Break. Bench accomplished that feat in 1970.

Tuesday was the latest chapter in a season that is on pace to be the greatest by a catcher in MLB history. And it's also made one thing clear: the Mariners can't let it go to waste.

Seattle has been flirting with playoff contention for the better part of five seasons. The club has one playoff berth to show for it, which came in 2022. The Mariners were eliminated in the final week of the season in 2021, '23 and '24.

Last season, Seattle was aggressive at the trade deadline and acquired outfielder Randy Arozarena and first baseman Justin Turner to make a final push, but fell one game shy of the postseason.

In 2024, the Mariners had the best starting rotation in baseball. It was the only unit in the game that had four pitchers start 30 or more games and led the league in quality starts. But even with how great the rotation was, it wasn't historic like Raleigh's season is currently.

Seattle needs to continue to be aggressive like it has been in past years. But Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and the rest of the front office can't afford to be just aggressive. They have to hit home runs, no pun intended.

There's few major leaguers outside of the perceived untouchable players (Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, etc.) that could entice teams to deal All-Star level players, especially with so many squads still in the playoff hunt, but Seattle has one resource to deal from that's better than any other franchise in the league: its farm system.

The Mariners have nine top 100 prospects according to MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, which Dipoto has mentioned in recent interviews. Dipoto said in an interview with Seattle Sports 710 on Sunday that the team usually shops for the best players in the league, and he anticipates the team doing it again.

The Mariners like to plan for the future and many of those prospects fit into long-term plans, but Seattle needs to think in the short-term, at least for this season.

It's time for the Mariners to show even more commitment to Raleigh and the rest of the team and do whatever they can at the trade deadline to not let a historic season go to waste.