Seattle Mariners All-Time Team

Let's head to the Emerald City and visit the only franchise that has never appeared in a World Series. Here's the Seattle Mariners All-Time roster.

 

Seattle is one of the only teams where the all-time stadium is an open competition: do you prefer the Kingdome, the team's home for 22+ years (and site of this legendary moment) or the current park, which they've called home for 23+ years (and site of this record-breaking achievement) ?

There's no question Lou Piniella is Seattle's all-time skipper, although Scott Servais is sneaking up on him.

Lou's lineup looks a little different this time around.

Alex Rodriguez played more years as a Yankees third baseman, but there was such a sharp drop-off from the next-best option that A-Rod had to be here.

	Mariners Stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Yuni. Betancourt	3.4	0.279	0.302	0.393	0.695	85
	Alex Rodriguez	38.1	0.309	0.374	0.561	0.934	138
	J.P. Crawford	10.9	0.252	0.336	0.357	0.693	97

Yuni's services are no longer needed. Even if Rodriguez stayed in the Bronx, J.P. Crawford now qualifies. Fun fact: Crawford was depicted on the 100,000th card in my collection.

J.P. won't make this roster, but there are some interesting bench battles brewing.

Let's start at catcher, where there aren't any above-average options.

	Mariners stats	oWAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	dWAR
	*Dan Wilson	9.9	0.262	0.309	0.384	0.693	80	11.1
	*Mike Zunino	7.0	0.207	0.276	0.406	0.682	89	4.2
	Dave Valle	8.4	0.235	0.311	0.371	0.682	87	6.1

And you thought Betancourt was bad. Piniella had Zunino as the bat-first backup, but Valle is the better all-around option. He'll platoon with Wilson - who succeeded him as Seattle's starting catcher in 1994.

Tino Martinez might be a starting-caliber first baseman, but (like Rodriguez) he played longer in New York. He's not getting past Gehrig or Mattingly, or even Joe Pepitone (okay, maybe Pepitone) but he should at least earn a bench spot with the Mariners, right?

	Mariners stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	games
	*Bruce Bochte	10.1	0.290	0.370	0.429	0.799	119	681
	Tino Martinez	7.7	0.265	0.334	0.466	0.801	112	543
	Richie Sexson	5.5	0.244	0.334	0.474	0.808	114	509

Numbers don't lie. Tino will get another shot with the Barnstormers, where his career statistics will be compared to other unaffiliated first basemen. 

 

Let's look at Lou's starting rotation:

Mark Langston was actually better in Anaheim, but the Angels' starting staff is deeper even without Nolan Ryan. Piniella has some options, including a current Mariners hurler, to compete with the three-time 'K' king.

	Mariners stats	WAR	ERA	ERA+	K/BB	WHIP
	*Hisashi Iwakuma	17.0	3.42	111	3.86	1.143
	*Mark Langston	19.2	4.01	107	1.87	1.372
	Erik Hanson	16.8	3.69	111	2.60	1.276
	James Paxton	10.6	3.42	117	3.66	1.186
	Marco Gonzales	8.6	4.02	102	2.96	1.266

Marco Gonzales isn't ready yet, and he's got to get that ERA down. If Iwakuma is the #4 starter than based on these numbers the "Big Maple" should be #5. Langston was wild, but he had a higher ceiling than Hanson. He stays. 

Seattle's bullpen isn't star-studded but it is solid.

Arthur Rhodes was on a roster in the original series, just not this roster. He played four more years in Baltimore than he did with Seattle but his numbers were far better as an 'M' than an 'O'.

	Mariners stats	SV	ERA	ERA+	K/BB	WHIP
	*Mike Schooler	98	3.30	123	2.49	1.294
	Arthur Rhodes	9	3.05	142	3.71	1.049

 
The Barnstormers bullpen loses another arm. School's out.

Looking ahead... Julio Rodriguez has no chance of catching Ken Griffey, Jr. as Seattle's starting center fielder.

He is signed for the next eleventy years at about a kajillion dollars, so he'll certainly stay with the M's long enough to compete with Ibanez and Bradley for a bench spot. Though I keep seeing annoying videos pop up on baseball-reference that tell me he's struggling?

Probably just a sophomore slump and not a case of a guy slacking off after securing the bag. 


TL; DR: Three changes from the original roster. Betancourt, Zunino, and Schooler out. Rodriguez (Alex, not Julio), Valle, and Rhodes in.

 

 Come back tomorrow as we wrap up the American League West with the Texas Rangers.

 

Thanks for reading!




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