It’s the first week of December, and the Seattle Mariners, who won 89 games last year and had a 90% chance of making the playoffs in late June, will look unrecognizable come Spring Training. As of this typing, they’ve sold their elite closer, their All-Star shortstop, their fringe Hall of Fame second baseman, and have no interest in bringing back the ageless Nelson Cruz.
Before we talk about the implications, let’s go back six years, when the Astros were in their last year of the National League, in which they won 55 games, and finished 42 games back of the Cincinnati Reds.