Jorge Polanco, Eugenio Suárez ST buzz will have Mariners fans feeling FOMO

When it comes to sports, there's plenty of fans who have opinions they will not falter from — hills that they are prepared to die on. For example, Michael Jordan is the best basketball player of all time, Jim Brown is the best ever running back in the NFL, or in the case of the Seattle Mariners, that Ken Griffey Jr. is the best player in franchise history.

Then there are those who will vehemently disagree with each of these proclamations and come up with their own unshiftable stances, whether it be LeBron James, Barry Sanders or Ichiro Suzuki respectively. However, there's a third group of people who rather than think purely in black and white, realise that things are never truly so clear cut, with plenty of grey areas and movement for more flexible takes.

This third perspective is particularly important when it comes to two recently departed Mariners who find themselves with new homes, in Eugenio Suárez with the Cincinnati Reds and Jorge Polanco in New York with the Mets. Yes, the M's have a roster capable of reaching the World Series, but fans still have plenty of conflicting opinions (and emotions) when it comes to these two players no longer on the team.

The ups and downs of Eugenio Suárez and Jorge Polanco

With Suárez, fans remember a player who last season equalled his career-high of 49 home runs, had a new personal best of 118 RBI and gave the Mariners their biggest hit in franchise history. However, M's fans also acknowledge that after returning to Seattle ahead of the trade deadline, the two-time All-Star did little else other than that grand slam in Game 5 of the ALCS, as he produced the worst form of his career at the plate.

As for Polanco, we're talking about a player who similarly produced the worst offensive form of this career in Seattle, but in his first season with the Mariners in 2024. However, this was then followed by a resurgence last year after being brought back on a cheaper deal but with extra incentives, and the 32-year-old responded by becoming an important part of the lineup as the M's won their first AL West title since 2001.

With such mixed takes regarding the duo, you can well imagine plenty of Mariners fans are unsure what to make of the news coming out of spring training from the Reds and Mets camps. You only have to listen to comments about Suárez and Polanco to elicit feelings of a fear of missing out.

Beginning with the Reds, this is Suárez's second tour of duty in Cincinnati and it sure sounds a lot like when the Mariners welcomed his back following last July's trade. As per Mark Sheldon of MLB.com, his teammate from his previous tenure in The Queen City, catcher Tyler Stephenson, said:

"We know what he’s capable of. I think, on and off the field, he is going to have so much value. One, the experience and I think just the presence, especially for the younger guys. He’s as good of a person. Everybody – Reds fans and here – knows who he is. He’s always going to come in with a smile on his face. He’s going to fit right in."

Tyler Stephenson

Meanwhile, as per Rotowire, the word is that Polanco is a strong candidate to hit cleanup for the Mets. If the 2019 All-Star can find his form from particularly early last season or late on, he figures to rack up the RBIs, especially with Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Bo Bichette set to fill the first three spots in the lineup.

More of those grey areas for the Mariners

As mentioned already, this is a good Mariners team capable of making it to the World Series, but there's still a good-faith discussion to be had about whether they would be better if they still had Suárez and Polanco. In fact SoDo Mojo's Zachary Rymer wrote about just this, in the process providing more evidence about the grey areas surrounding opinions connected to sports.

On the one hand Suárez and Polanco have very real floors as replacement-level contributors and recent signing Brendan Donovan can do two things they couldn't, in fixing the leadoff spot and upgrade the infield defense. On the flip side, the departed duo combined with Josh Naylor for a 128 wRC+, 95 home runs and 9.6 fWAR, compared to a hypothetical 124 wRC+, 39 home runs and 7.0 fWAR by Naylor, Donovan and another offseason M's signing Rob Refsnyder.

The point is, if Suárez and Polanco are as good in 2026 as they were overall last year, then the Mariners are going to have to be VERY good to keep fans' attention on the team that is. Otherwise, those same fans are going to be thinking about what could have been, which is obviously something Jerry Dipoto, Justin Hollander and the rest of the front office don't need.