SodoMojo’s Top-10 Most-Viewed Mariners Stories of 2014

Oct 7, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; Washington Nationals left fielder

(34) celebrates with catcher

(40) after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants in the 7th inning during game four of the 2014 NLDS baseball playoff game at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

9: Could the Mariners Pull Off A Blockbuster Trade for Bryce Harper?

The short answer to that question was ‘no,’ as the day after the post was published the Washington Nationals and Bryce Harper agreed on a two-year deal to avoid arbitration and even more animosity.

The blockbuster trade I proposed was, well, a blockbuster.The Nationals roster is loaded with guys on the last year of their contracts, many of whom will become too expensive for the Nats to resign. Two of those players were starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann and short stop Ian Desmond.

Both players had at one time been speculated as trade candidates for the Mariners. In fact, there was a deal proposed between the two teams that would have sent Ian Desmond to the Pacific Northwest.

In my idealized world, I wanted to see the Mariners go for broke and give the Nationals an offer they couldn’t refuse. My trade looked like this:

"The Washington Nationals send OF Bryce Harper, SS Ian Desmond, and SP Jordan Zimmermann to the Seattle Mariners for SP Taijuan Walker, SS Brad Miller, 3B D.J. Peterson, SS/2B Ketel Marte, and SP J.A. Happ."

Such a trade would have gutted the farm system for the M’s, but a rotation that included Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, AND Jordan Zimmermann would immediately be one of the very best in baseball.

Alas, the trade was largely speculative and unsubstantiated by plausibility. The Mariners instead took a few other trade routes, adding Seth Smith to the outfield, adding Justin Ruggiano to the outfield, and sending OF Michael Saunders to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitching depth in the form on LHP J.A. Happ.

The comments on the Harper trade were very mixed, with hopefuls like me throwing support, and realists– the smart ones– shooting it down for the unlikely speculation it was.

But it’s not always a bad thing to go bold, as number 8 on our top-1o list elected to do: