Could Paul Sewald be the reason Kris Bryant signs with the Mariners?

It’s a bleak time in baseball right now. I don’t think there is any reasonable argument against it. It’s the off-season, the basketball trade deadline just happened, the Super Bowl is coming up, and the Waste Management is happening for golf, which is an incredible event to attend. Then we have baseball, with a labor stoppage, an offseason, and nothing happening. It’s why the Mariners news about Paul Sewald and Kris Bryant is a welcome ray of light in the darkness.

Kris Bryant seems more likely (potentially) to go to the Mariners after hearing Paul Sewald talk about him.

Paul Sewald went on 710 ESPN in Seattle to talk a bit about the lockout, from the players perspective, and the conversation eventually turned to Kris Bryant.

"“Kris Bryant is a very good friend of mine…I know Mariners fans are listening very closely at this point…I convinced him to go to the University of San Diego with me and play with me there. I am doing the best that I possibly can to get him to be a Seattle Mariner for the next few years. I’m not in charge of how much money he gets or what deal he takes, but I promise … I am doing my best to be a middleman between him and the front office.”"

That should excite Mariners fans. It sounds like Sewald really does have Bryant’s ear. If he has been occasionally chatting with him throughout the stoppage, possibly getting some other Mariners players to talk up Seattle, then it could increase the likelihood that Bryant would listed to Dipoto and Crew and come to the M’s.

Bryant is the number one on most fans lists for the target that they most want to see signed in free agency. There is a handful out there who would prefer to see Trevor Story or Seiya Suzuki, but Bryant tops the list for most.

Is there anything that we can actually take from this? I think that there actually is. I don’t see Sewald going on the radio and lying about any of this. After hearing this, I feel a little bit better about the chances of the Mariners signing Kris Bryant once the MLBPA and owners come to a decision, and am kind of optimistic that it is actually going to happen. Maybe it’s just lack of baseball and me going a bit crazy. Either way… this news makes me happy, and it should for you as well.