Lefko: Cal’s commitment changes the feeling about Mariners’ future

Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is reportedly sticking around with a six-year contract extension, and it puts a new spin on hope springing eternal on the eve of the 2025 season.

BY MIKE LEFKO

Mar 26, 2025, 10:29 AM

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We throw around familiar phrases and clichés when it comes to sports because they are easily relatable, always relevant, and seem to concisely sum up a situation instead of needing a long, rambling explanation (sorry, that part is still going to happen here).

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There is a reason an aphorism – “hope springs eternal” – surfaces at the start of every baseball season. It’s a beacon of light emerging out of a dark winter, something to cling to amidst the long, helpless existence of being a baseball fan.

It was the first phrase that sprung to mind on Tuesday after a serendipitous 70-degree, sunny day in Seattle coincided with the news that Platinum Glove-winning catcher Cal Raleigh and the Mariners had reportedly agreed to a six-year extension. There were so many good things happening at once that I had to go outside and soak in the sun for a while* while attempting to ascribe the proper context to the news.

(*If my bosses are reading this, then “a while” means an appropriate amount of time that in no way took away from the work I was supposed to be doing.)

At the outset of the 2025 season, does it do anything to change the immediacy of the Mariners’ chances this year? Of course not, but it should dissolve some of that gnawing fear about what had looked like a rapidly closing window of contention.

Since his emergence in 2022, Raleigh has been the linchpin of what the Mariners are trying to build with their young core. The overriding fear was that it would come to a screeching halt after 2027, when he hit free agency. That fear has disintegrated and vanished, a bad dream to not worry about again.

Raleigh has steadily ascended to the peak of his position, a mix of offensive power and defensive prowess that is irreplaceable to both the middle of the lineup and the entire pitching staff. And now, he has chosen the Mariners. A guy from North Carolina, who grew up idolizing a Red Sox catcher, said see you later to Scott Boras and instead chose Seattle.

For a guy whose voice already carried weight in the clubhouse, imagine what those young pitchers are feeling after seeing Raleigh make the commitment to be part of the organization for years to come.

That cascades down to the minors as well, where the big league impact for a farm system loaded with tantalizing promise coincides with the length of Raleigh’s contract. Imagine early-season lineups in 2026 or 2027 with Cole Young and Colt Emerson in the infield, Lazaro Montes alongside Julio in the outfield, Raleigh behind the plate, and the armada of arms on the mound every day.

Maybe it’s the thankless nature, the grueling toughness of the job, which so endears that position to a fanbase and a city, but the history of baseball is rife with iconic catchers who seemed to be the embodiment of their franchises. From Yogi Berra and Johnny Bench to more recent mainstays like Ivan Rodriguez, Joe Mauer, Yadier Molina, Salvador Perez, and of course the man now tasked with managing the Mariners.

Cal Raleigh had already etched his place in Mariners immortality: Sept. 30, 2022 ensured him of that honor. But he now has the chance to be mentioned in the same breath as those catching greats and reach the pantheon of all-time Mariners legends.

There is plenty of time for negativity during a baseball season, and at some point you will probably go through the Five Stages of Fan Grief, (anger, denial, sadness, existential angst and acceptance). Maybe that is months into this season, maybe it’s just a week. But it’s definitely not now, not yet.

Not when the ultimate dream stretches out on the horizon, gradually becoming more visible by the day.