Mariners set themselves up for an all-time draft blunder with Jurrangelo Cijntje trade

The Seattle Mariners finally did the thing we’ve been begging them to do: go get a real, everyday bat who doesn’t feel like a platoon riddle.

Brendan Donovan is a big time add. A high-contact, high-OBP, plays-everywhere glue guy who makes a roster feel like it has fewer soft spots. And the front office clearly agreed, because they paid premium prices to get him. 

But the cost is where the Mariners turned a win into a fourth-quarter lead you still don’t trust.

Mariners’ Donovan deal quietly makes the Cijntje pick feel painfully loud

Seattle shipped out Jurrangelo Cijntje (the 15th overall pick in 2024) plus Tai Peete, and also rerouted Ben Williamson to the Tampa Bay Rays, while the St. Louis Cardinals also picked up Colton Ledbetter and competitive balance picks. 

That’s a full-on all-in move — and if you’re going to do that, fine. The Mariners have a window. You can argue Donovan makes them better right now. The problem is which chip they pushed in.

Remember, Seattle passed on Trey Yesavage in 2024 to take Cijntje, largely because the switch-pitcher upside was intoxicating. It’s baseball’s version of seeing a limited-edition sneaker and forgetting you still need groceries.

But the whole premise started wobbling fast. The Mariners basically acknowledged the quiet part out loud when Justin Hollander confirmed Cijntje would focus on throwing right-handed “for the foreseeable future.” So, the switch-pitcher dream was cool, but the results weren’t. 

And then, before the organization could even try to rehab the original vision or let the “right-handed-only” version develop into something real — they traded him.

So now the 2024 first-rounder is gone, and the “unique value proposition” that justified the pick is also gone. That’s how you end up with the kind of draft day that gets brought up every time a rival fan wants to be annoying for the next decade.

The brutal part is that Yesavage already looks like the clean answer Seattle skipped. Toronto took him 20th overall, and by October of 2025 he was starting World Series games and making history. Now imagine if Cijntje becomes an ace in St. Louis after the Mariners shipped him out? Congrats: you’ve created the rare double-feature nightmare. 

Even if you’re not fully convinced Cijntje becomes the guy, that doesn’t even have to happen for this to sting. If he becomes merely “good,” you’re still staring at a 2024 first-round pick that turned into a trade chip before the organization ever cashed in on the development value.

The most Mariners part is that this can still be true while the Donovan deal is a win.

Seattle finally got the bat, but they might’ve left a crater behind them to do it — and Mariners fans have watched enough “we’ll be fine, trust the process” seasons to know that craters don’t fill themselves.