The Mariners could prove guilty of misjudging Harry Ford's trade market

The Seattle Mariners probably have one more move left to make, but there's no mistaking the larger status of their offseason shopping. It's mostly over, which makes now a good time to look ahead with grand hopes… and also behind with hopes that there won't be any regrets.

To the latter end, there are already some missed opportunities that stand out. Failing to sign Jorge Polanco before the New York Mets crashed his market is the big one. The Mariners also could have pushed harder for Kazuma Okamoto and Ketel Marte, who are now off the table.

Then there's the one that could prove to be a missed opportunity: the trade that sent Harry Ford to Washington in exchange for Jose A. Ferrer in December.

Mariners might have misjudged the strength of Harry Ford's market

As of now, the Mariners have no regrets whatsoever about the Ford-for-Ferrer swap. They've been talking up Ferrer as a major score, with Jerry Dipoto even referring to him as "the No. 1 trade target on our list."

They have reason to be high on Ferrer. The lefty is a relatively anonymous reliever with a career 4.36 ERA, but he throws strikes and his arsenal consists of a 100 mph fastball and a changeup and slider that both miss bats. With the right tweaks, he can be a major weapon out of the bullpen.

There are nonetheless two things worth calling attention to, starting with how Baseball Trade Values rated the trade as a major overpay for Seattle:

Harsh, but fair. Ferrer indeed has potential, but so does Ford. He exited last year as MLB Pipeline's No. 42 overall prospect, and is now their No. 9 catching prospect at the outset of 2026. There are doubts as to whether he can stick behind the plate, but he stands to become one of the more dynamic two-way backstops in MLB if he does.

Because Ford was always going to be blocked by Cal Raleigh in Seattle, some sort of trade nonetheless made sense for the Mariners. But this brings us to the second thing worth calling attention to: Could the Mariners have made a better trade?

To this extent, there does seem to be strong demand for catching around MLB this winter. The Philadelphia Phillies needed a catcher before they sunk $45 million into a deal to bring back J.T. Realmuto. The Minnesota Twins likewise had a need before they signed Victor Caratini for $14 million.

And now, reports from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Sean McAdam of MassLive have the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox in the market for catching upgrades. And with the free-agent market picked clean, the trade market is the best bet for both clubs.

This is really where one's imagination begins to run wild. Given the Rays' past interest in him, could the Mariners have used Ford to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates to Brandon Lowe? If he was still with the team now, could they have interested Boston in a trade involving Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu, or even a lottery ticket like Kristian Campbell?

If these moves were never possible for reasons relating to Rays' and Red Sox's priorities, then this house of cards falls to the floor. Yet one nonetheless feels confident saying that these are the kinds of trades the Mariners should have been trying to make with Ford at the center. And if they were possible, then the move for Ferrer is a case of either short-sightedness or outright blindness.

Again, this isn't so much a complaint as it is blatant concern trolling. Either way, the only thing Mariners fans can do now is the same thing they've been doing since Ford left the organization: cross their fingers and hope Ferrer is what the team says he is.