I want to make this clear: There are still five weeks left until the Seattle Mariners hit the field in Peoria, Ariz. for spring training. In that time, the Mariners can still re-sign Eugenio Suarez or trade for Brendan Donovan or Ketel Marte.

But as of this posting, they haven't done those things, and they are currently set to roll with Cole Young, Colt Emerson and Ben Williamson as key parts of a 2026 team that is trying to get back to the American League Championship Series - and beyond.

And if the Mariners do break camp with those three playing prominent roles, then my message is simple: They better hope their internal projections are right.

Examining the Blue Jays and the Mariners' offseasons

The Blue Jays have had a very splashy offseason, signing star Dylan Cease and Japanese star Kazuma Okamoto. They also added bullpen help in the form of Tyler Rogers and got another starter in Cody Ponce. They've shelled out nearly $350 million in guaranteed dollars this offseason, and that is a great sign of urgency for a team that also came painfully close to winning the World Series.

Many Mariners fans want to see the team act with similar urgency, and my point is this: The Blue Jays do not have a good farm system. They do not have the ability to generate internal answers, so they have to spend their way out of problems.

The Mariners, at least as of now, are telling us that they don't. They just better hope they're right.

We discussed this on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose' podcast, which came out on Monday night:

Because as I just told you, the Mariners' window is now. They need these guys to be good pretty quickly, right? Colt Emerson might be a star in 2028, but if they're gonna play him now, they need him to be good. Cole Young might be Brendan Donovan in 3 years.

They need him to be Brendan Donovan ASAP if they wanna capitalize on this window, 'cause the rest of the American League is not going to wait for them to have these young guys hit their projection marks. This is the time, and because you don't know if you're ever going to get back, you need to be good with what you have now, and if Emerson, Young, and Williamson are gonna be a part of that and play a major part in that, then they need to be good as well now.

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