Hal Steinbrenner offered a pretty reasonable response to a superstar asking his organization for more. For Mariners fans, his handling of Aaron Judge’s challenge brought back an uncomfortable memory of Cal Raleigh’s own.

After Judge called for the Yankees to go all-in, Steinbrenner said he wasn’t upset. Players should expect ownership to do everything it can to assemble a championship contender, he acknowledged. He described expectations between players and ownership as a “two-way street.”

That’s fair. If a franchise expects its best player to spend every winter preparing to win a championship, that player should expect a similar commitment from the people building his team. Cal Raleigh deserved that same understanding in 2023.

Instead, part of Seattle’s conversation became whether its catcher had gone too far by saying the Mariners needed more established talent.…