Baseball springs eternal, but are the M’s squandering an opportunity other teams would die for?

Major League Baseball's regular season is upon us again.

Thursday was the Seattle Mariners home opener against The Athletics. And now for the perennial question for all baseball fans, but perhaps especially M's fans: Do they have a chance this year?

To field that question and more, KUOW’s Kim Malcolm spoke to Washington Post sports columnist and Seattle resident Jerry Brewer.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: This week, the Mariners signed catcher Cal Raleigh to a six-year, $105-million contract extension. Clearly, they're banking on his leadership and his abilities on the field. What does that tell you about the direction they're heading in?

Jerry Brewer: It's an incredibly positive direction because they haven't spent a lot of money on free agents. I think part of their philosophy has been we want to reward the players that we've developed on our own. They took care of Julio Rodriguez early. This Cal Raleigh deal is a sign that they're going to keep their word, and they have a lot of really good young players who come through their farm system who are going to do deals over the next three, four, and five years. Not all of them will be re-signed, but it's nice to know that they want to keep a core intact.

I'm struck by you describing them as keeping their word to their players, because the leadership of the organization don't seem to have a lot of credibility with the fans right now.

No, they don't. We're talking about a Mariners team that, in terms of young talent and pitching, has been playoff if not World Series-caliber just in that department over the last four years. They've only made the playoffs once. They barely missed the playoffs a couple of other times, and they haven't gone out in free agency and spent money, especially for that bat or two bats that could get them over the top. And that's why fans are frustrated, because they know that if they don't make progress soon, they're squandering an opportunity that a lot of major league teams would die

The fans crave offense. They were looking for it in the off-season. They didn't see it. What would you tell fans who are fixated on this particular part of the team's fortunes?

Well, if they like to pray, I'll pray right there with them. If they prefer to scream, my vocal cords are in good standing, so I can scream with them. I get it. I'm incredibly frustrated as a sports fan, as someone who lives in Seattle who wants to see the Mariners make deep playoff runs, as a sports columnist who wants to cover home games. They could have invested more in this team. And I understand there's an incredible amount of issues in baseball's finances, particularly related to their television deal, that makes teams reticent to go for it.

But hey, you've been trying to do this for more than 20 years. I mean, you've been trying to get to the promised land since 2001, when you won 116 games and fell just short. Now is the time to get it done. These opportunities only come along once every 10 years or so, if you're a good franchise,

Can you put your forecaster’s hat on for us? Here's the question: What are the chances, in your opinion, that they make the playoffs this year?

I'm going to put it at decent, which is somewhere below good, but let's see how they start. At the end of the day, the Mariners still have one of the best three starting rotations in baseball, and that's going to keep you in games. That's probably going to get them at least 85 wins. You want to be around 90-92 if you're talking about making the playoffs, if you're talking about possibly winning the American League West, I don't know that they're that good yet, but let's give them a chance.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.