Who are the most pleasantly surprising and disappointing acquisitions in Mariner history?

[Donn Beach]

Robbie FUcking Cano! Fits both of the those categories.

I watched Robbie for YEARS play second base for the Yankees and win World Championships.

Was so excited when we acquired him. Finally the Mariners get a winner and legit bat.

Then he proceed to shoot up the ass in D.R. not once but got caught TWICE by Major League Baseball.

Although I still think he was one of the greatest infielders hitting the other way I've ever seen....

FUCK YOU Robbie for screwing us and the end of your career if I might add.

Are you surprised that Cano put up good numbers for us or that we got him?

That we got him. I knew he was a good player. That was BIG money for the Mariners and hampered other moves to make us better.

Sorry, but that's BS. The narrative that the cano or ichiro contract somehow hampered them from making additional moves. Look at what the Padres have done. They signed Machado to a $350 mil contract then followed it up signing Tatis Jr to a $340 mil one, and after that signed Bogaerts to a $280 mil contract. And they have a couple $100+ mil sprinkled in there I believe. San Diego hasnt gone bankrupt and it's considered a smaller market than Seattle. You are letting them off the hook continuing the narrative that small market teams can't afford to add decent baseball contracts

[bpj]

Are you surprised that Cano put up good numbers for us or that we got him?

That we got him. I knew he was a good player. That was BIG money for the Mariners and hampered other moves to make us better.

Sorry, but that's BS. The narrative that the cano or ichiro contract somehow hampered them from making additional moves. Look at what the Padres have done. They signed Machado to a $350 mil contract then followed it up signing Tatis Jr to a $340 mil one, and after that signed Bogaerts to a $280 mil contract. And they have a couple $100+ mil sprinkled in there I believe. San Diego hasnt gone bankrupt and it's considered a smaller market than Seattle. You are letting them off the hook continuing the narrative that small market teams can't afford to add decent baseball contracts

I agree that it kept them from signing other players, just like Ichiros contract when he was making 20%+ of payroll.

Obviously the team should have just upped the budget. But as far as working within a budget it absolutely kept the team from other signings.

They blew their wad on overpaying for a 2B that hit like a LF then signed a LF that hit like a 2B (Aoki) completely negating the competitive advantage that having a great bat at 2B would provide.

They could have paid way less for a good LF bat then put a weakling at 2B and been in the same position offensively while spending half what they did for the star 2B.

[Michael K.]

Sorry, but that's BS. The narrative that the cano or ichiro contract somehow hampered them from making additional moves. Look at what the Padres have done. They signed Machado to a $350 mil contract then followed it up signing Tatis Jr to a $340 mil one, and after that signed Bogaerts to a $280 mil contract. And they have a couple $100+ mil sprinkled in there I believe. San Diego hasnt gone bankrupt and it's considered a smaller market than Seattle. You are letting them off the hook continuing the narrative that small market teams can't afford to add decent baseball contracts

1000% this. In a sport with no salary cap, some how this organization has convinced the fans and media that there is a salary cap.

[Hy Feiber]

High wattage surprises: Cliff Lee, Nelson Cruz, Floyd Bannister, Iwakuma, and Munoz

High Wattage disappointments: Jesus Montero, Sterling Hitchcock, Justin Smoak, Heathcliff Slocumb, and Jose Mesa.

Constant/ongoing major disappointment: Mariners ownership the past 49 years.

Add Russ Davis.

Chone Figgins

Scott Spiezio. Out of 12 years in his career, the only time he really stunk was his 1 year in Seattle.

As soon as he left Seattle, he went to the Cardinals and was solid.

[DavidGee24]

Also Rich Aurilia.

That one shouldn't have been surprising, he had that one big year with the Giants, tailed off the next two years, then we picked him up and he sucked. What was surprising was after we got rid of him he had a couple good years with the Reds.

[DavidGee24]

High wattage surprises: Cliff Lee, Nelson Cruz, Floyd Bannister, Iwakuma, and Munoz

High Wattage disappointments: Jesus Montero, Sterling Hitchcock, Justin Smoak, Heathcliff Slocumb, and Jose Mesa.

Constant/ongoing major disappointment: Mariners ownership the past 49 years.

Lee was a top pitcher and Cruz was a top hitter, those two shouldn't be on the list. Nor Munoz who was highly regarded. Iwakuma was a top pitcher in Japan but even so he definitely exceeded expectations for us. Bannister was definitely a big surprise, he struggled early in his career pitching for the Asstros and you'd figure that going from the Astrodome to the Kingdome would be a death sentence but the opposite happened.

Solcumb shouldn't have been a surprising disappointment, he was already a terrible pitcher when we made that stupid trade for him.

[D-train]

Nelson Cruz. He was a good hitter before but amazingly put up 3 of his best 4 seasons for us during his age 34-37 seasons. I remember arguing for days with people that said we shouldn't sign him because he once took PEDs to recover from an injury, because he wouldn't hit at Safeco and because he wasn't good defensively. All three became complete non issues.

Chone Figgins for obvious reasons.

[D-train]

Moyer has to be up there as a surprise.

Mitchell for sure, a bust.

He was advertised as part of the Seattle Sock Exchange, with Junior and Jay.

Great call on Moyer, probably even better than my pick. I don't think that anybody ever would have had Moyer winning even half the 145 games he won for us.

If you combine Felix's pre 30 yo wins and Moyers 30 yo and older wins it is well over 300. I don't remember the exact number but I think it is close to 350. If you do the opposite is is like a couple dozen wins.

[D-train]

High wattage surprises: Cliff Lee, Nelson Cruz, Floyd Bannister, Iwakuma, and Munoz

High Wattage disappointments: Jesus Montero, Sterling Hitchcock, Justin Smoak, Heathcliff Slocumb, and Jose Mesa.

Constant/ongoing major disappointment: Mariners ownership the past 49 years.

Add Russ Davis.

Chone Figgins

Scott Spiezio. Out of 12 years in his career, the only time he really stunk was his 1 year in Seattle.

As soon as he left Seattle, he went to the Cardinals and was solid.

I almost thought I was going to be the First one to mention Figgins. Can't believe he survived until page 3.

[seattlefan-daBronx]

Are you surprised that Cano put up good numbers for us or that we got him?

That we got him. I knew he was a good player. That was BIG money for the Mariners and hampered other moves to make us better.

Sorry, but that's BS. The narrative that the cano or ichiro contract somehow hampered them from making additional moves. Look at what the Padres have done. They signed Machado to a $350 mil contract then followed it up signing Tatis Jr to a $340 mil one, and after that signed Bogaerts to a $280 mil contract. And they have a couple $100+ mil sprinkled in there I believe. San Diego hasnt gone bankrupt and it's considered a smaller market than Seattle. You are letting them off the hook continuing the narrative that small market teams can't afford to add decent baseball contracts

Not even close to what you're suggesting friend. I'm the first to say the Mariners ownership are cheap ass bastards!
Just saying that a was a BIG contract they normally do not go for and turned out to be mush for us.
They used it as an excuse to do nothing as usual.
That's all.