Seattle Mariners Pitcher Felix Hernandez Exhibits Rare Sports Trait: Loyalty

The Seattle Mariners have been one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball three of the last four seasons and haven't made the playoffs since 2001. The last two seasons alone, Seattle has won just 128 games and lost 196. Yet, despite the horrific stats, Mariners ace pitcher Felix Hernandez has no intention of leaving anytime soon.

"King Felix" recently addressed team officials that he doesn't plan on going anywhere.  

For the Mariners and for all baseball fans nationwide, King Felix is displaying a very rare kind of trait seen in today's professional sports athletes: the idea that a player can be loyal to a team rather than the green.

In the last two seasons alone, Hernandez has 27 wins, 26 losses, a Cy Young Award, 454 strikeouts and an ERA of just 2.87, and that's with an offense that has ranked dead last in batting average, home runs, runs, hits and RBI during that time span.

And yet, despite the lack of any offensive firepower whatsoever, Hernandez has expressed contentment with being a Mariner. Last season, King Felix signed a five-year deal worth $78 million to keep him in a Mariners uniform until 2015.

Hernandez is just 25 years old, and Seattle knows a player's happiness can quickly change when that player believes the team he's on may never prosper, especially considering that inter-division rivals Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels made monster moves this offseason, all but setting up the Mariners for another season of playing at the bottom of the division.

To try and add some much-needed punch to a punch-less offense, Seattle traded pitcher Michael Pineda to the New York Yankees for catcher Jesus Montero, the Yankees' top prospect who, in 61 at-bats as a rookie, hit .328 with four homers and 12 RBI.

Seattle has now built up a young team lead by an ace pitcher who has expressed happiness in staying with the team. In return, Seattle has started to call up its young prospects in hopes of one day returning the favor that King Felix has shown them: loyalty.