All-Time Seattle Mariners Team
Last time, we took a look at the All-Time Angels team, today we will be staying in the AL West and taking a look at the Seattle Mariners. Just as I did before, I will be listing three starting pitchers, as well as a few relief pitchers. After that, I will be listing two players at each position that were the best player at that position. I will be using utility players instead of the DH position. I went through Baseball Reference and looked at each players WAR while they played for the team to decide who deserves to be on the list.
Starting Pitchers:
Felix Hernandez, WAR 50.3:
Felix “King Felix” Hernandez has been the staple of the Mariners rotation for the past 15 years, and is a great pitcher to be leading off this list for the Mariners. He has been able to rack up a solid record of 169-136 with an ERA of 3.42. He also has 2524 strikeouts in his career, and has been voted into 6 all-star games, with 1 Cy Young Award in the 2010 season. King Felix has also won the ERA title twice in 2010 and 2014.
Randy Johnson, WAR 39:
Johnson “The Big Unit” spent 10 years of his 22-year career with the Mariners. Johnson was a monster on the mound, standing at 6’10” tall. Hitters felt like the ball was being released right at home plate, and it didn’t help that he threw in the high 90s. In his 10 years with the Mariners he had a record of 130-74 with a .637 win percentage, and an ERA of 3.42. Johnson was voted into 5 all-star games with the Mariners, and racked up 2162 strikeouts in his 10 seasons. Johnson also won a Cy Young Award in 1995, and was an absolute ace for the Mariners.
Jamie Moyer, WAR 34.2:
Jamie Moyer had a 25-year career in which he pitched for 8 different teams, but his longest stint was with the Mariners. He pitched for the Mariners for 11 seasons with a record of 145-87 with a .625 winning percentage. Moyer was not a big strikeout guy in his career, but managed to have a very serviceable ERA of 3.97 in his 11 seasons. Moyer had his one and only all-star game selection while playing for the Mariners in 2003 at age 40.
Relief Pitchers:
Jeff Nelson, WAR 8.3:
Nelson pitched in relief for the Mariners for 8 seasons, earning his one and only career all-star selection in his first season with the Mariners in 2001. Nelson had a 3.26 ERA out of the bullpen for the Mariners and was a solid strikeout pitcher. In his 447.1 innings pitched, he racked up 471 strikeouts. Nelson was one of two relief pitchers that stood out for the Mariners.
Arthur Rhodes, WAR 6.7:
Rhodes pitched for the Mariners for 5 seasons; and was a solid force for them coming out of the bullpen. He had a 3.05 ERA in his five seasons and managed to strikeout 315 batters in 283 innings pitched. In 2001, he had his best season going 8-0 with 1.72 ERA as a dominant reliever.
Catcher:
Dan Wilson, WAR 13.5:
Wilson played 12 of his 14 seasons with the Mariners, he was a solid behind the plate averaging 112 games played per season. Wilson had a career batting average of .262 for the Mariners and was a tough out at the plate, as he never struck out more than 88 times in a season. In 1996, he had his best year, hitting .285 with 18 homeruns and 83 RBIs while earning his first and only all-star appearance.
Dave Valle, WAR 9.4:
Valle spent 10 seasons with the Mariners before Dan Wilson became their everyday catcher. Valle had a solid career with the Mariners hitting .235 with 72 homeruns and 318 RBIs. Like Wilson, he was also a tough out at the plate, he never struck out more than 58 times in a season.
1st Base:
Alvin Davis, WAR 20.1:
Davis played 8 seasons with the Mariners and was a steady player at first base for them during his time with the team. Davis had a career average of .281 with 160 homeruns and 667 RBIs. In his first year with the Mariners as a rookie, Davis was voted into the all-star game and won the Rookie of the Year award in 1984. That season Davis put together a solid season hitting .284 with 27 homeruns and 116 RBIs, for a huge rookie season.
John Olerud, WAR 17.1:
Olerud only played for the Mariners for 5 seasons in the middle of his career, but he had some of his best seasons playing for the Mariners. He won 3 Gold Glove Awards in his first four seasons with the Mariners, and the only year he did not win the Gold Glove Award, he was voted an all-star. In his 5 seasons, Olerud had an average of .285 while hitting 72 homeruns and adding 405 RBIs. Olerud had two seasons with the Mariners where he had more than 100 RBIs.
2nd Base:
Robinson Cano, WAR 23.3:
Cano came to the Mariners in 2014, after 9 seasons with Yankees where he was probably the best second baseman in all of baseball. He continued to be that guy for the Mariners in his 5 seasons with them; getting voted an all-star 4 out of the 5 seasons. Cano had a career average of .296 with 107 homeruns and 411 RBIs while with the Mariners. Cano was never quite as good as he was with the Yankees, but was arguably the best second baseman the Mariners had in one of their uniforms.
Bret Boone, WAR 19.2:
Boone had two different stints with the Mariners totaling 7 seasons. Boone had a career average of .277 with 143 homeruns and 535 RBIs. Boone was particularly strong in his first year back with the Mariners, he hit .331 with 37 homeruns and 141 RBIs that season while coming in 3-place in MVP voting. He lost out to one of his teammates, who will be talked about later in this article (Ichiro). Boone managed to win 3 Gold Glove Awards and 2 Silver Slugger Awards, while being voted to 2 all-star appearance while with the Mariners.
3rd Base:
Kyle Seager, WAR 32.5:
Seager has been a staple for the Mariners at third base for the past 9 seasons. In his career, he has an average of .256 with 198 homeruns and 666 RBIs. In 2014, Seager earned his first and only Gold Glove Award as well as his one all-star appearance.
Adrian Beltre, WAR 21.2:
Beltre spent 5 years with the Mariners in the middle of his career, and true to form, his defense was top notch. Beltre won 2 of his 5 Gold Glove Awards while playing for the Mariners. In his career he had an average of .266 with 103 homeruns and 396 RBIs.
Shortstop:
Alex Rodriguez, WAR 38.1:
Rodriquez “A-Rod” started his long and illustrious career with the Mariners, getting called up to the big leagues in 1994 at just 18 years old. He spent 7 years with the Mariners, with the first two seasons not being full seasons. In his career with the Mariners he had an average of .309 with 189 homeruns and 595 RBIs. He won 4 Silver Slugger Awards and was voted an all-star 4 times while with the Mariners. In his first full season, he put up huge numbers, with an average of .358, 36 homeruns, 123 RBIs, and added another 54 doubles to lead the league. That season was the 1996 season and he was runner-up in the MVP vote to Juan Gonzalez, in which Rodriguez absolutely should have won!
Omar Vizquel, WAR 10.3:
Like Rodriguez, Vizquel started his long career with the Mariners. Vizquel was a defensive specialist for most of his career and won his first of 11 Gold Glove Awards in his final season with the Mariners in 1993. For his career with the Mariners, Vizquel had an average of .252 with 6 homeruns and 131 RBIs.
Outfield:
Ken Griffey Jr., WAR 70.6:
Ken “The Kid” Griffey Jr. also started his long Hall of Fame career with the Mariners in 1989 and finished his career in Seattle in 2010 as Mariner. Griffey Jr. played 13 seasons for the Mariners, with a career average of .292, 417 homeruns,1216 RBIs, and also stole 167 bases for the Mariners. Junior was voted into 10 out of 11 all-star games in his first stint with the Mariners; the only year he didn’t get voted in was his rookie season. He also won 10 Gold Glove Awards and 7 Silver Slugger Awards in that same 11-year stretch. Griffey Jr. garnered MVP votes in 9 out of his first 11 seasons with the Mariners, culminating in an MVP Award in 1997.
Ichiro Suzuki, WAR 56.2:
Just like Griffey Jr., Ichiro started and finished his career with the Mariners. Ichiro is arguably the best player out of Japan to play in Major League Baseball. In 14 seasons with the Mariners, Ichiro had an average of .321 with 99 homeruns, 633 RBIs, and 438 stolen bases. Ichiro was a master of his craft, both as a hitter and a fielder. Ichiro started his major league career with a Rookie of the Year award and an MVP award in 2001. He also was voted an all-star 10 times in his first 10 seasons. During that time period, he also won 10 Gold Glove Awards and 3 Silver Slugger Awards while with the Mariners.
Jay Buhner, WAR 23.1:
Buhner was another staple in the Mariners outfield in the 90s. Buhner played 14 seasons in Seattle with a career average of .255, 307 homeruns, and 951 RBIs. In 1996, Buhner was voted to his only all-star game and won his only Gold Glove Award. From 1995-1997 Buhner had his best three-year stretch hitting .258 with 124 homeruns and 368 RBIs.
Utility Players:
Edgar Martinez, WAR 68.4:
I bet all you Mariner fans thought I was forgetting about Martinez, but he deserved his own category. He played 3rdbase, 1st base, and DH in his 18-year career with the Mariners. Martinez was the staple for the Mariners from 1990 until 2004 as the longest tenured Mariner. In his career, Martinez hit .312 with 309 homeruns and 1261 RBIs, and coud be regarded as one of the best pure hitters of the 90s. Martinez was feared every time he came to the plate, because he was such a difficult hitter to get out. In his Hall of Fame career, Martinez won 5 Silver Slugger Awards, 2 Batting Titles, and was voted an all-star seven times. He is the perfect player to round out my list of best Mariners players.
That is your all-time Mariners roster! I am sure that there might be some players that I missed while putting this list together. I would love for the Mariner fans out there to comment on this post and let me know if I missed any of their favorite players. Thank you again for reading, and next time we will stay in the AL West and look at the Texas Rangers All-Time team.
