With a loss against the Athletics on Saturday evening, the Mariners were officially eliminated from playoff contention, thus extending their postseason drought to 15 years and counting.

More than any other team, Seattle's season seemed defined by extreme fluctuation. The M's went 30-21 the first two months, then 22-30 the ensuing two, and 34-24 the final two. Still, the first campaign under GM Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais' guidance has to be considered a success -- even if it confirmed one previously held belief: The Mariners' core needs help.

Robinson Cano should get MVP votes. USATSI

The Mariners have -- in Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager, and Nelson Cruz -- three of the best players at their positions, each of whom is likely to garner down-ballot MVP consideration. Felix Hernandez's uncharacteristic performance means the rest of the roster, however, is a collection of role players and question marks -- and sometimes role players with question marks. That's bad news for a team already toting a franchise-high payroll and a less-than-great farm system.

As such, Seattle's ability to improve will hinge on two things: Dipoto's ability to find undervalued talent and, perhaps more importantly, the continued development of internal options. The first part is self-explanatory, so let's focus instead on the latter by checking in on four homegrown talents: pitchers James Paxton and Taijuan Walker, shortstop Ketel Marte, and catcher Mike Zunino -- each of whom has a chance to join that aforementioned core, provided things break their way. How likely is that? Let's see.

James Paxton SP •

Of all Seattle's players, none upped their stock more in 2016 than Paxton did. Altered mechanics led to improved velocity and control, which in turn led to impressive advanced metrics -- his 2.80 FIP, most notably. The biggest blemish with Paxton is reliability: His 20 starts represented a new career-best. If Paxton can remain on the mound for a full workload -- and who knows if he can -- then he's the best bet of the four to become another piece of the M's foundation.

James Paxton seems like the M's player most likely to join their core. USATSI

In theory, Walker has a chance to join Paxton as a key member of Seattle's post-prime-Hernandez rotation. In practice, well. Walker has the athleticism and raw stuff to put together electric stretches -- he held a 2.70 ERA through his first nine starts -- but he still struggles with consistency, leading to the kinds of command mistakes that result in higher-than-expected hit and home-run rates. Walker's ceiling remains high, but, now more than two full seasons into his big-league career, it's fair to wonder how often he'll levitate to it.

Switch-hitting shortstops don't grow on trees -- that would be weird if they did. So imagine the Mariners' delight when Marte hit the ground running back in 2015. Unfortunately, Marte didn't look nearly as impressive in his first full big-league season. The game seemed to speed up on him, and it showed at the plate, where he took to expanding his zone too often. He walked far less often as a result -- a suboptimal idea for a player who was awfully hit-tool-dependent in the first place. Marte could probably benefit from more time in Triple-A, so don't be surprised if the M's revisit talks for Reds shortstop Zack Cozart.

The story remains ever the same on Zunino, who the M's figure to pair with another veteran backstop entering 2017. He's a quality defender who grades well -- very well, even -- with regards to framing. The offensive aspects of the game haven't come as easy to Zunino. He has legitimate pop, yet his plate discipline and contact issues remained. He doesn't have to hit much to be worth playing -- and to be fair, his overall numbers were pretty good -- so there's reason for the M's to give him another shot.

If the Mariners can continue to nurture those four -- with at least one or two taking the necessary step forward -- and if Dipoto can continue to make shrewd moves -- like he did in acquiring Leonys Martin, for instance -- then the M's should have a chance to make the postseason next fall.

Otherwise? It could be a few more years before Seattle ends its postseason slump.