Mariners Cut Ties With Kyle Seager... By Email

Kyle Seager gave his heart and soul to the Seattle Mariners for 11 seasons. Today, the team informed him they would not be picking up his contract option, making him a free agent. Seager received the news by email from the assistant GM.

BREAKING: Longtime third baseman Kyle Seager was informed that the Mariners would not exercise his 2022 option in an email from assistant general manager Justin Hollander, sources tell @RyanDivish. https://t.co/jUo8NFWD4j
— Seattle Times Sports (@SeaTimesSports) October 31, 2021

That this is the way Seager's time in Seattle came to an end might not have come as a surprise to the third baseman, who says communication over the years with Mariners' GM Jerry DiPoto has been... lacking.

“I haven’t heard anything,” Seager told @RyanDivish back in September. “We haven’t had a conversation in years, probably four years. We don’t communicate at all. Not even passing by in the hall ….”

To be fair to the Mariners, reports say that DiPoto attempted to reach Seager by phone and by text to tell him of the team's decision, but those attempts failed, so he informed Seager's agent instead. Then they sent the email "as a formality."

Realizing he had likely played his last game in Seattle on the final day of the season, Seager bid a tearful farewell to fans and teammates, when manager Scott Servais made the classy move of removing him in the 9th inning, so he could be treated to a standing ovation.