Mariners' free agent whiff just got more infuriating after Dodgers' latest decision

Losing a bidding war for a free agent always hurts. But it especially hurts when you lose to a team that doesn't even need the guy. And vis-à-vis Hyeseong Kim and the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Seattle Mariners know this all too well.

Though Kim batted .407 this spring in his bid to be the Dodgers' everyday second baseman, the two-time defending World Series champions still optioned him to the minors anyway. It had something to do with strikeouts, which [looks and sees eight strikeouts in 27 at-bats], OK, fair enough.

Even so, is it fair for the Mariners to look at the Dodgers and see them wasting a perfectly good infielder?

Let's just assume it is. After all, the Mariners were reportedly a finalist for Kim last winter before he landed with Los Angeles on a three-year, $12.5 million contract. And whereas he's mostly been a spare part for the Dodgers, it doesn't take huge imaginative leaps to see how he could be a key player on Seattle's roster right now.

Mariners left to wonder 'What if?' as Dodgers keep Hyeseong Kim on the sidelines

That the Mariners were interested in Kim during the 2024-25 offseason came as no surprise. He was a .304 career hitter and four-time Gold Glove winner, and his primary position was a clear need for Seattle at the time.

Second base was meant to be a strength for the Mariners in 2024, but Jorge Polanco's down year scrambled those plans. The position yielded a .658 OPS and 2.2 rWAR.

Granted, Seattle's eventual reunion with Polanco paid off to the tune of a 134 OPS+ in the regular season and a series of heroic moments in the playoffs. But he wasn't so much the answer at the keystone as the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option after Ryan Bliss got hurt and Cole Young failed to establish himself.

Albeit with no power, Kim hit .280, stole 13 bases and racked up nine Defensive Runs Saved in 71 games with the Dodgers. That kind of production would have made a real difference in Seattle, where second base somehow regressed to 1.4 rWAR in 2025.

Even now, with Young finding his stroke in a major way this spring, the Mariners could still use Kim. He has more versatility and upside as a super-utility guy than Bliss and Leo Rivas, and he'd be the perfect emergency stand-in for J.P. Crawford if his shoulder keeps him off the Opening Day roster.

Granted, maybe all this sounds like a mix of sour grapes and Dodgers Derangement Syndrome. And in all fairness, it is exactly that.

It's nice to have nice things, though. And when another team has more nice things than it knows what to do with, envy becomes not just valid, but unavoidable.