Top 50 Mariners of all time

[D-train]

Yep. I remember that trade.

That was actually a good trade for us...

For 28 games, yes, batted .351 w/.906 OPS. Outplayed Russ Swan at 3B.
But, at end of season, switch hitting rental Hollins was granted free agency.
Nobody knew what Ortiz would become. However, in retrospect, it was a horrible trade.
M's were second in the division in '96. A-Rod won the BA title @ .358, hit 54 doubles. Edgar .327, 52 doubles.
Junior and Buhner, 49 & 44 HRs, respectively. Our catcher was some Pinella favorite, D. Wilson or some oddball name like that.
Team hitting stats: .287 \ .366 \ .484 \ .850
Ace of the pitching staff? Sterling Hitchcock with 13 wins. Norm Charlton was the closer. The team did have NOT-top 50 pitcher, Bobby Ayala on it.

Russ Davis. Swan was a pitcher.

[D-train]

Yep. I remember that trade.

That was actually a good trade for us...

For 28 games, yes, batted .351 w/.906 OPS. Outplayed Russ Swan at 3B.
But, at end of season, switch hitting rental Hollins was granted free agency.
Nobody knew what Ortiz would become. However, in retrospect, it was a horrible trade.
M's were second in the division in '96. A-Rod won the BA title @ .358, hit 54 doubles. Edgar .327, 52 doubles.
Junior and Buhner, 49 & 44 HRs, respectively. Our catcher was some Pinella favorite, D. Wilson or some oddball name like that.
Team hitting stats: .287 \ .366 \ .484 \ .850
Ace of the pitching staff? Sterling Hitchcock with 13 wins. Norm Charlton was the closer. The team did have NOT-top 50 pitcher, Bobby Ayala on it.

What did Papi do for the Twins?

[AT Fresno]

The owner of Nintendo (back in the 1990's) will also be in the top 50 since he is the one that purchased the team and spearheaded the new stadium.

I didn't think of non-playing personnel being on the list. If so, I doubt that any owners will make the list, and the only management I can see making it is Lou Piniella (although you could certainly argue that Pat Gillick would be more deserving).

I don't know, you may be right. But in reality, there are not any more than 25-30 players that are 'actually' worth mentioning.

Who was the owner? Yamaguchi? Anyway I agree with all three, the Japanese owner was awesome, Piniella and Gillick were our first super pro baseball people!! They brought us legitimacy...

[DavidGee24]

From today's issue of the Times:

50. Julio Cruz
49. Randy Winn
48. Tino Martinez
47. Luis Castillo
46. Ty France
45. Bryan Woo
44. Edwin Diaz
43. Arthur Rhodes
42. Randy Arozarena
41. George Kirby

Holy shit, Randy Winn? Ty France? Arthur Rhodes? Yeah, 50 is definitely way, way, WAY too much.

Funny thing is, our top five can compete with anybody's top five. I'd put Junior, A-Rod, Ichiro, Gar, and Randy up against Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Aaron Judge/Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford and feel like we compete.

[DavidGee24]

40. Jeff Nelson
39. Dan wilson
38. Bruce Bochte
37. Andres Munoz
36. James Paxton
35. Leon Roberts
34. Ken Phelps
33. J.J. Putz
32. Franklin Gutierrez
31. Jim Beattie

Another who's-who, I mean who-the-hell-is-that list.

I do like seeing some of the older guys recognized though. To me Phelps is the most underrated position player in franchise history, if we had him now we'd totally love him and his .900+ OPS. And Beattie is the most underrated pitcher in franchise history. I bet he'll go to his grave cursing the Yankees for trading him to us.

I forgot about Bochte, that guy could rake. Roberts is the biggest surprise, I thought he'd just had the one great year and one good one. He's the only Mariner I've ever actually met, he came out to my little league team's practice at Asa Mercer Junior High in 1979 to chat with us and give us some hitting tips.

[rockycola]

That was actually a good trade for us...

For 28 games, yes, batted .351 w/.906 OPS. Outplayed Russ Swan at 3B.
But, at end of season, switch hitting rental Hollins was granted free agency.
Nobody knew what Ortiz would become. However, in retrospect, it was a horrible trade.
M's were second in the division in '96. A-Rod won the BA title @ .358, hit 54 doubles. Edgar .327, 52 doubles.
Junior and Buhner, 49 & 44 HRs, respectively. Our catcher was some Pinella favorite, D. Wilson or some oddball name like that.
Team hitting stats: .287 \ .366 \ .484 \ .850
Ace of the pitching staff? Sterling Hitchcock with 13 wins. Norm Charlton was the closer. The team did have NOT-top 50 pitcher, Bobby Ayala on it.

Russ Davis. Swan was a pitcher.

Yah, I know that. Slip of a brain fart. Please don't forgive me.... Swan was worse as a pitcher than Davis was as a 3B fielder.
Davis actually finished his career hitting:
.257 \ .326 \ .473 \ .799.
With those batting stats, Russ Davis would have out shined this 3rd base group, this year, combined:
Crawford
Rivas
Weston Wilson
Wisdom
Colt
Buddy K
Mastrobunny
Will Wilson
> that's eight 3rd basemen for the M's this year. The only one I didn't include is B. Donovan on that list.

[DavidGee24]

30. Logan Gilbert
29. Floyd Bannister
28. Harold Reynolds
27. Raul Ibanez
26. Phil Bradley
25. Erik Hanson
24. MItch Haniger
23. Hisashi Iwakuma
22. Mike Moore
21. J.P. Crawford

On what planet is Moore #22? In four of his seven seasons with the Mariners he SUCKED. Iwakuma and Hanson were way better, and Gilbert is way better. WTF

[DavidGee24]

20. Adrian Beltre
19. Mike Cameron
18. Alvin Davis
17. John Olerud
16. Mark Langston
15. Freddy Garcia
14. Nelson Cruz
13. Jay Buhner
12. Cal Raleigh
11. Bret Boone

Hard to look at Beltre and imagine him as a top-20 Mariner but I guess by the letter of the law he was despite being a big disappointment.

I was looking at Langston's numbers and it's weird how he was so good as a rookie, sucked badly the next two seasons, and then became one of if not the best lefty in the game. I wonder what happened in those two years.

Boonie at 11 is a bit of a surprise, his light only burned for three seasons. I think I'd flip him and Buhner. Weird that Buhner had such horrible defensive metrics despite winning a Gold Glove. Did anyone else watch Buhner and think that he sucked on defense?

It looks like Robbie Cano is going to make the top 10.

[Michael K.]

From today's issue of the Times:

50. Julio Cruz
49. Randy Winn
48. Tino Martinez
47. Luis Castillo
46. Ty France
45. Bryan Woo
44. Edwin Diaz
43. Arthur Rhodes
42. Randy Arozarena
41. George Kirby

Holy shit, Randy Winn? Ty France? Arthur Rhodes? Yeah, 50 is definitely way, way, WAY too much.

Funny thing is, our top five can compete with anybody's top five. I'd put Junior, A-Rod, Ichiro, Gar, and Randy up against Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Aaron Judge/Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford and feel like we compete.

And all 5 were on the team at the same time, and the FO refused to do what it took to win. Jeff Nelson called them out....they traded him. This team has had disgusting leadership for the majority of my fucking life time.

[Michael K.]

30. Logan Gilbert
29. Floyd Bannister
28. Harold Reynolds
27. Raul Ibanez
26. Phil Bradley
25. Erik Hanson
24. MItch Haniger
23. Hisashi Iwakuma
22. Mike Moore
21. J.P. Crawford

On what planet is Moore #22? In four of his seven seasons with the Mariners he SUCKED. Iwakuma and Hanson were way better, and Gilbert is way better. WTF

JP? Fuck that.