A Re-Tooled “Angry” Aging Felix Hernandez Could Be Historic

Since we’re in “praise the king” mode here at Sodo Mojo, it feels appropriate to look forward at what the Mariners ace could play like going forward in his career.

Sometimes I like to play devil’s advocate.

I’ve already made the case that Hernandez has racked up too many innings with the Mariners to ever regain his royal talent, but let’s say I’m wrong.

Let’s say he proves all the doubters and goes out to the mound and wows the crowd ever five days.

The latest reports out on “The King” have said:

“Felix has been working out very, very seriously,” Servais said. “I think he’s in a different spot … and checking in with Felix, he’s getting after it.”

The Mariners manager also stated that Felix’s mental state is, “angry”.

Now, I’m no historian, but I do know that when the words, “angry” and “king” were used in the same sentence, it could only mean bad things for the people in the king’s way.

If we continue along with this premise and say that the Mariners ace will run rampant on the league and every batter he’ll face, what could that look like?

It could mean that Felix, especially with this year’s amped up roster, could win 20 games will pitching more than 200 innings.

Not only would that be impressive if he could have done that at any age -remember he’s never won 20 games in one season over his dozen years in the MLB- but at his age (30) with his tenure (heading into his 13th year), it is virtually unheard of in the integration era (since 1947) for anyone to reach both those milestones in a single year.

Only 30 men have hits those heights in the last 70 years; one played for the Seattle Mariners: Jamie Moyer. Moyer achieved this feat twice, once in 2001 at the age of 38, and then again at the ripe age of 40 two years later.

The last player to accomplish this was the Philadelphia Phillies, Roy Halladay, who won a league-leading 21 games and pitched for a league-best 250.2 innings in 2010 in his 13th season at 33 years old.

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If Hernandez can reclaim and then one up his Cy Young form, reaching those numbers shouldn’t be that hard. He already came as close as you can get to 20 wins back in 2009 winning 19 contests.

And he has plenty of experience hitting 200 frames pitched. He did this in eight consecutive years from 2008 through 2015.

If the Mariners end up having the explosive offense that they are expected to have in 2017, that run support combined with the rejuvenated, reworked Felix Hernandez could spell the greatest season that Hernandez has ever had. It could be the best season for an aging veteran ever.

Next: Feliz Hernandez's Top Outings

We’ll have to wait and see how long this fire in his belly lasts and how good he actually looks when he retakes the mound in his first tests at the World Baseball Classic in early March.