The 5 Worst Decisions in Seattle Mariners History Part 5

KANSAS CITY, MO - APRIL 15: Starting pitcher Erik Bedard
KANSAS CITY, MO - APRIL 15: Starting pitcher Erik Bedard

We wrap up our recent series exploring the 5 worst decisions in Mariners history. After a string of horrific draft choices in the mid-2000’s, former GM Bill Bavasi doubled down, and made the worst trade in franchise history.

After passing on Troy Tulowitzki and Tim Lincecum in the 2005 and 2006 drafts, Bill Bavasi made his biggest mistake as an MLB GM on February 8th, 2008. He traded away top prospects Adam Jones and Chris Tillman, along with George Sherrill for Orioles ace Erik Bedard.

The deal was an epic failure. Bedard spent 3 seasons with the Mariners, making only 46 starts for Seattle. Bedard was actually a good pitcher when he was willing to take the ball. In the 46 starts, he posted 3.81 FIP and had a 8.8 K/9 ratio.

Unfortunately, Bedard never made more than 16 starts in a season for the Mariners. Meanwhile, Adam Jones has been the starting center fielder for the Baltimore Orioles for 10 seasons. He has made 5 All-Star games, slashing a solid .278/.318/.460 and won 3 Gold Gloves in the process. Jones has also hit 25 home runs in 7 consecutive seasons.

More from Mariners News

In addition, the Mariners also parted ways with pitcher Chris Tillman. While Tillman is not nearly as good as some think, he has been proven to be at least a league average pitcher for the better part of 9 seasons.

It appears we could just rename this series the Bill Bavasi era. His tenure absolutely crippled the organization for 5+ years. Bavasi also traded away young MLB players Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera.

During the course of his GM tenure, Bavasi dealt away or passed on Troy Tulowitzki, Tim Lincecum, Adam Jones, Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo,  and Chris Tillman. His return for these players became Erik Bedard, Ben Broussard, Eduardo Perez, Jeff Clement, and Brandon Morrow.

Next: Jeff Clement over Troy Tulowitzki???

Now that you have had some time to stop crying, we can officially put a bow on our worst of the worst series. Every franchise has these head scratching decisions. The Mariners are no exceptions. And if they want to end their 16 year playoff drought, they need to avoid another critical mistake.