Dan Steinberg of The Sporting Blog has noticed something fascinating about the otherwise unremarkable trade of minor leaguers that sent Ryan Langerhans to the Seattle Mariners and Mike Morse to the Washington Nationals: bringing Langerhans to the northwest was specifically being pined for by Mariners fans.

True, it’s highly likely that this is just a coincidence—I have no idea how long discussions have been in the works—but there’s definitely a couple things about it that are curious.

The trade was made official on Sunday. A week earlier, USS Mariner, one of the biggest independent team-specific blogs in the majors, had written a post titled Ryan Langerhans. In it they argued that the M’s needed a fourth outfielder, ideally a left-handed hitter, and noted that Langerhans, who was languishing in AAA Syracuse with little hope of being called up to the Nationals, despite solid contributions at the plate and in the field last year, fit the bill.

We’re talking about a legitimate, quality outfielder, with the exact skillset the M’s need right now. And he’d cost as little as anyone on earth to acquire – the M’s could give the Nationals free tickets to the aquarium or a neat picture of the Space Needle or something, and voila, quality fourth outfielder with left-handed stick, good plate discipline, and good defense could be theirs.

Ryan Langerhans please.

Another interesting item occurred during a live chat with Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik on MLB.com where, again, Langerhans was mentioned.

booxa: We need more LH bats. Have you looked at Ryan Langerhans, currently in the Nats' organization?

Jack_Zduriencik: Good suggestion.

Now, if M’s fans had been pining for a star player of some kind, it probably wouldn’t seem so odd—fans do that kind of thing all the time, and they’re bound to be on the same wavelength as management from time to time. But a scrub like Langerhans? Far be it from me to suggest that a blog out-scouted the Mariners organization or anything, but it sure is a funny coincidence that a virtual nobody (sorry, Ryan) whose name kept being pushed by fans actually wound up being acquired. Isn’t it?