Business Casual Day for the Mariners Front Office

Back in the late 1960s Stanford conducted what has come to be called "The Marshmallow Test ," whereby children were given the option of eating one marshmallow immediately, or waiting fifteen minutes and getting two marshmallows. It was an exercise in understanding the mental process behind delayed gratification and today, at the end of the trade deadline, it’s particularly applicable when looking at the action from the last few days. We’ve seen GMs chow down on that marshmallow (hey there, Dodgers), and we’ve seen GMs hold off in the hopes that those two marshmallows could bring great joy in the future (hi Brewers). We even got to watch as one team immediately snatched the marshmallow off the table, chewed it furiously, choked and frantically tried to spit it back out (how’s it goin, Marlins?). But baseball players aren’t marshmallows, and there’s no guaranteed success in baseball, so maybe this odd metaphor is all for naught. None of this paragraph matters anyway because, for all the rumors and "sources," Jerry and the Mariners did not complete any trades at the deadline today.

The highs: the Mariners kept Seth Smith! And Taijuan Walker! And their few, but precious, prospects! And they did not sacrifice the core or the future of what was, and maybe still could be, a very entertaining baseball team

The lows: the Mariners did not land Zack Cozart. They did not get a new starting pitcher. They did not trade for Yasiel Puig (although I think that idea was a staff-wide fever dream). And Norichika Aoki will continue to run around left field like he’s participating in a one man fire drill.

If you were looking for a sexy trade deadline day you might be better off turning your attention elsewhere. For the M's this was a practical khaki day and, you know what, sometimes that's what the occasion calls for.