Lets start with the 2014 roster, Highlighted by Felix, in his prime posting a 2.14 ERA, 5.6 WAR, 9.46 K/BB and going 15-6. Kyle Seager and Cano, along with very good role players in Brad Miller and Logan Morrison and others, capped off with the Outfield with Dustin Ackley, who converted to the Outfield and many others. This team was a surprise team, which showed throughout the season:

The Mariners were killed in July, but thats fine, they pulled through in August, but fell in a slump. The A’s were RIGHT at there tail and the Mariners needed help, the Rangers needed to beat the A’s in game 162, as the Mariners swept the Angels in a 3 game series. But we’ll get to that. Game 161 a moment in Mariner history was engraved forever. Logan Morrison the 1Basemen hit a double scoring Kyle Seager. Capping off a game 161 go ahead win for the Mariners pushing to game 162 where the Rangers lost in the middle of the Mariners game. Ending the Mariners run to the playoffs.

What this would’ve meant as a Mariner fan was to actually have some semblance of a team. Wasting primes like Felix, Miller and more were no more in our eyes. The Mariners were NEVER this close to any Playoff glory. Even if we lost in a Playoff series this would’ve been something special. But it never, happened again until 2018, where again the Mariners lost. This is life as a Mariner fan.

Many Mariner fans undoubtedly thought “here we go again, the team just traded their best player.” But what really laid beneath is we practically gave birth to the “Big Unit”. Randy Johnson was a guy who really couldn’t throw strikes. A hard throwing lefty came in fresh and young off a 0-4 start in Montreal. He ended the season with a 3.5 ERA as there former ace with the Expos, 2.3 ERA. This already looked like a dud trade, even when Langston departed from the Expos to the Angels. But then something happened.

But while Johnson had a unique look, his first 3 full-seasons in Seattle left many skeptical about his long-term success. From 1990-1992, Johnson led the league in walks all 3 seasons while also leading the league in hit batsmen in ’92. But after that, he led the AL in SO’s and being Top 3 in Cy Young for 3 seasons in a row.

Unfortunately, the relationship between the Mariners and their ace was fracturing and bad blood was beginning to boil from under the surface. The two sides were unable to find common ground and on July 31, 1998, Seattle trade the best pitcher in franchise history to the Astros for a trio of prospects who would become key contributors in the best 4-year stretch in franchise history.

But in the 10 season tenor, it was key to trade Langston, because in the 95 season, the season was saved, led by Griffey, Martinez, and of course Johnson. Forever being a Seattle Mariner.

-idea from sodomojo

“The health and safety of our community is of the utmost importance to us. We have been in close coordination with Major League Baseball and our local health and government agencies to monitor and plan for any potential impacts of COVID-19. In light of the City and County San Francisco’s announcement today to prohibit public gatherings of 1,000 people for the next two weeks, we will not play our upcoming March 24th exhibition game against the Oakland A’s at Oracle Park in San Francisco. We have no other large public gatherings scheduled at Oracle Park during this time period. We are in the process of working with Major League Baseball and the A’s to finalize alternative arrangements. We will make that information available as soon as possible.”

It will be the Rangers and Twins series that will be set to go to Arizona, the other option would be a neutral sight, but will most likely Arizona will be the option, I’m guessing the Mariner nights will be canceled consisting of:

• Mariners Beard Hat Night
• Kids opening night, Marco Gonzalez T-Shirt
• Retro Jersey Night

Depending to the Corona Virus when the Mariners comeback they would face the Red Sox and the defending MLB WS Champs Washington Nationals. Hopefully if it doesn’t get canceled it’d be the real opener, but if not these would be the promotions canceled:

• Mariners Puffy Jacket Night
• Kyle Seager Bobblehead Night
• Mariners Reusable Grocery Bag Night

This most likely won’t happen but recently Seattle Public Schools have been shutdown as of today per King 5 News, Komo 4 News, Komo 7 News and Fox News Seattle. And many more schools looked to be shutdown, leading to the Mariners maybe doing the same for more home games.

The Second game the Cubs absolutely DESTROYED the pitching of the Mariners dropping 16 on the M’s, as Marco allowed 3 hits on 5 ER. Pitching didn’t get better as the BP allowed 11 more runs. The bats came alive going 12 runs and Lopes going 3 for 3 as later he shows he is a bright spot for the Mariners.

The Mariners finally got a win as Gravemen and Sheffield pitched well only allowing 1 hit combined and Sheff pitching 3 SO’s, bats really picked up as Kelenic got his first hit in ST ever knocking eventual 1B for the Mariners Evan White in.

Dunn got the start against the Reds as he did okayish with Wei-Yin also doing okayish. Siri Vogey White Lopes did well as all got RBI’s to enroute the Reds and Sonny Gray for the victory. But now we’re heading into a double game set where yes we blew both games.

Mariners split squad came into play facing the Giants and Sox losing both in the final inning of the game, Logan Gilbert made his debut allowing only 1 hit on 2 innings pitching a SO also. LJay Newsome in the Sox game who started us off pitched 2 hits over 2 innings while punching to Sox batters out, as the BP did not do well in the end of the game leading to the Mariners losing BOTH games in the split squad game.

Finally today the Mariners again got a win against the DBacks, crushing them 6-2. Shed Long led the charge hitting 2 times and getting 2 RBI’s, Flash Gordon also got in it hitting 3 times and Yusei bouncing back throwing 2 innings 1 hit 1 run and 3 SO’s. Now begs the question, Mariners place 10th in the Cactus League, so how will they do for the rest of the Spring Training?

Taijuan didn’t strike to a team until a bit ago with him being one of the last FA’s coming to a team. His FB Rate wasn’t impressive to scouts after topping off with only 85-88 MPH for a guy who could throw 95 MPH for his FB.

He could turn into a version of Wade Leblanc as a so called “soft tosser” Taijuan Walker unless he bumps up his FB rate he’ll most likely turn into a typical Wade Leblanc player but Taijuans advantage is that he can rely on his Slider and Curve more, as he had 5 pitches and lowered it down to 3 in 2019, hopefully he preforms well in Spring Traning.

The OLine was

Offensive linemen

Breno Giacomini T61

Lemuel Jeanpierre C63

Rishaw Johnson G67

Paul McQuistan G74

John Moffitt G76

Russell Okung T *65

Frank Omiyale G75

Mike Person T64

J. R. Sweezy G60

Max Unger C *

All were part of the special 2012 season, as Unger and Okung were Pro Bowl selections in that Oline. But the OLine centered around vet Max Unger, rookie JR Sweezy, Tackle Breno Giacomini and Russell Okung and Paul McQuistan.

Lynch tore through the run game since that OLine was so good, running for 1590 yards and 11 Touchdowns, which led to a Wild Card birth wear they won against 1st overall pick RG3. Later losing to the Matt Ryan led Falcons.

The 2013 Seahawks looked not so different as this was the Super Bowl year adding Alvin Baley to the mix. Leading Lynch to a 1200 yard season and 12 TD’s on the ground while allowing Russ to run all over the team.

In 2014 the Seahawks lost Paul McQuistan to the Browns for 2 years 23 Mil where he retired after 1 year of that contract. And adding Justin Britt, who played Tackle at the time. The Seahawks did the same old same old and headed to the Superbowl losing of course, at the 1 yard line. Where this was the last year you could’ve considered this OLine “Elite”

The Seahawks over the offseason ended up trading Max Unger for Tight End Jimmy Graham, which ended up being a dud trade since Jimmy barely produced. As the OLine fell flat and the Seahawks went from Superbowl foes to Wildcard dwellers winning a lucky one in Minnesota to the Blair Walsh shank later losing to the 15-1 Panthers. Where more OLinemen were let go by Seattle after that season.

The Seahawks lost Okung to the Broncos and Sweezy to the Buccs, as the Seahawks lost all of the original OLine from the 2012 Season. And replacing that with now we can say bust Germaine Ifedi with the first round selection. That Season was also a dud as Seattle went
10-5-1 as Russell Wilson became the offense after Lynch’s retirement. And the Seahawks showed the OLine was a trouble as Britt had to switch to Center.

2017 was a scary year for the OLine signing bust Luke Joeckel and picking up Joey Hunt in the draft as the Seahawks went on the couches in January for the first time in 6 years. And the Seahawks showed as they had the worst OLine in the league that year.

2018, was the year of the Fanthom, former basketball player George Fant found his way on the team and helped the OLine improved where they signed Fluker and Former Seahawk JR Sweezy as they went from the worst to best in the matter of weeks. Yet falling short in Dallas.

2019 was a special year, a lot of improvements for the OLine but still made Russ run around in the pocket, 2020 is a do or die year as they MUST draft solid OLinemen or pick up good OLinemen in FA, the only thing we need to do is fix the OLine. So Russ won’t have to run for his life out there

Jarred Kelenic was packaged in a deal with Dunn and Bruce to head to the Mariners last offseason in exchange for Cano and Diaz. Kelenic who started 2019 in Single A with the Mariners hit 11 HR’s, struck out at a 20.6 percent rate and hit a .277 ISO, but also went for .309/.394/.586 with a .439 wOBA, with having a 181 wRC+.

In Single A+ he turned it down just a bit going .290/.353/.485, .371 wOBA and a 129 wRC+ while hitting 6 HR’s and a 25.8 strikeout percentage, with a .195 ISO and a .368 BABIP, with that he headed up to Double A Arkansas, which (I think can beat the Mariners) hitting 6 HR’s over 20 games going .253/.315/.542 with a .373 wOBA and a 133 wRC+ with a 2.89 ISO and a .246 BABIP and a 18.5 K Rate

Jarred is one of the most hyped prospect and one of the most exciting prospects as he was a top prospect when he was ranked. And this is very interesting since he’s been invited to Spring Training.

After losing honestly the 3 greatest icons, Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey and ARod, by trading Johnson to the Astros in 1998, highlighted by Freddy Garcia in return. Griff was traded to the Reds getting Mike Cameron in return. ARod played the year and left in FA. Then we got Japanese Phenom Ichiro Suzuki who helped the Mariners in 2001. As he became MVP, ROY, Silver Slugger and make a all star game in his rookie season. As led to the 116 win season later losing in the ALCS to the Yankees.

Heading to 2002 the Mariners lost many players. Aaron Sele, David Bell, and Jay Buhner. The Mariners tried to get Jason Schmidt, but didn’t offer more than a 3 year contract, where in a league many players want to be locked in for a while, so the Mariners settled with James Baldwin. (1 year 1.25 Mil) As the Mariners deal David Bell to the Giants. As they got Jeff Cirillo from the Rockies. Which led to the signing of Brett Boone.

After the failure of the 2002 season, both Freddy Garcia and Paul Abbot fell mediocre as both were let go, as both Angels and A’s turned to massive win streaks, as finishing into the playoffs. Leaving the Mariners with a 93-69 record. As Mariners great Lou Pinella requested out of Seattle, and headed to Tampa. Which the Mariners replaced him with Bob Melvin, the former Diamondbacks bench coach, who was also a first time manager.

Seattle led there Mariners for consecutive games with a little edge over the Mariners heading against the Red Sox, as they lost all 4 games and ended up in a 3 way tie with Boston and Oakland, but since both have edges over the Mariners, Red Sox had control of the final Wild Card spot and the A’s had a division lead, as the M’s finish 93-69 again. But the upside was they finished with the 2nd best ERA, so that’s good, right?

Kazaheiro Sasaki decided to terminate his contract and stayed in Japan, Jeff Nelson was traded, Mike Cameron signed away and the Mariners fell off in the 2004 season as they started with a 4 game losing streak. As Freddy Garcia was traded in the middle of the season. John Olerud was designated to assignment in July as they released him. Edgar Martinez decided to call it quits have the end of the season at 41. But then, Ichiro happened as he set a record 258 hits in a season, as the only bright spot of the team now.

Now, if management spent money, where would they be now? Thanks for reading!

(idea by SB Nations, collapse)

16 DLinemen since 2013 also where only few have been homegrown, Frank Clark has been the good DE that we drafted in the past 7 years yet we let him go to the Chiefs for draft picks. The other 2 who can pan out is Rasheem Green (who led the Seahawks with sacks with 4) (also 97th in the league) and LJ Collier who hasn’t done anything to prove himself.

They had a defensive line that featured Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, two free agents that Seattle signed prior to the 2013 season. Not until they drafted Frank Clark did they have a homegrown player that would make the Pro Bowl along the defensive line.

Hopefully in the draft we can get some actual good Linemen

Of course we could’ve gone after Alex Wood who is far better than Taijuan Walker. But he’s gone, and we need Walker for the prospects, the downfall of a organization is Rushing Prospects. I don’t want to see Justin Dunn in the rotation on Opening Day just because there aren’t any other options. If he wins a job, that’s fantastic, but if the organization deems him to need more time in the minors they need to have someone capable of filling in.

Now we must watch as Spring Training is coming up, what will happen between now, and then.

#mariners