Yankeetorial: Should we have acquired more from our trip to Seattle?

There's nothing like a trip to Seattle. Win two of three. Visit the Space Needle. Sip some Starbucks froth. Grab a star player.

Over the years -- before the Jesus Montero debacle, that is -- trading expeditions to the Great Northwest Territory were one of the most anticipated aspects of the Yankee holiday season, which runs from July 20-31. A trip to Seattle was like a panty raid. And the good-hearted Seattilians never became bitter, like those nose-punched ingrates in Kansas City, who still whine green bile about trading us Roger Maris, Bobby Shantz, et al, for the likes of Jerry Lumpe. Seattle has stayed classy.

Ichiro is the latest boxcar in the underground freedom railroad from Seattle to New York -- acquisitions that include Arod, Tino, Rafael Soriano, Luis Sojo, Randy Johnson and countless others. (Note: Even though this blog publicly favored signing Johnny Damon for the 2012 DH - and still does, sort of - we like seeing former Mariner Raul Ibanez twirl the Pinstriped stick of vengeance. We have retroactively changed our position: We now -- all-along -- favored the Yankees signing both players. Please make the correction in your home journals.)

But this year, should we have gone further? Did we get enough? That former firstbase prospect - Justin Smoak or Smoat or Smoke, whatever -- should have demanded him, too? After all, we did trade them Jesus Montero for Venus de Milo and his pony pal Pokey. Couldn't we have demanded another throw in, maybe if we added a Cust or Branyan from the Traveling Wilkes Barres?

OK, I know what you're thinking: Good grief, el Duque, how many former Seattle Mariners can a team possibly collect? They're not Star Wars action figures. They're real people. They have wives. They have children. They live, they love, they watch shows on the television set, just like you. And besides, you can only have 25 Yankees on the roster at once.

Well, I'm not advocating greed. Long ago, we over-indulged ourselves at the $9.99 buffet table known as the Kansas City Athletics. That team has hated us ever since - as shown by our recent greeting in Oakland. (Note: Taking Catfish and Reggie off their hands didn't help matters.) I'm just wondering aloud, because Seattle stole our catcher and now has hurt our star 3B and former Mariner. If they think everything should be square simply because we took 2 out of 3 against them and received a 39-year-old Ichiro for one last pennant dance... well.. I don't see it that way. Nor should any Yankee fan. Seattle still owes us. Where's the justice? Where's the karma? Where's the $9.99 buffet? I've got a $10 bill. They can keep the change.