29 days until Opening Day! Looking back at Adrian Beltre’s Mariners career

Sound the Alarm! There are now less than 30 days to go until the first pitch of the 2021 MLB season. With 29 days to go, let’s look back at the somewhat disappointing Mariners career of future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre.

I’m willing to bet that some baseball fans don’t even know that Adrian Beltre was a Mariner, as they only remember him for his near MVP season with the Dodgers and then the run that made him a Hall of Famer with the Rangers.

Before the silver sluggers, All-Star Games, and World Series appearances, Adrian Beltre was a Seattle Mariner for five seasons. In those five seasons, Beltre had an OPS of .759 and had 103 home runs. While his hitting was not anywhere close to the level that Rangers fans came to expect later in his career, his defense was as advertised.

Beltre won two Gold Gloves (2007 and 2008) and had a very impressive defensive WAR of 9.6 in his time in Seattle. Those two were the first of five Gold Gloves that Beltre went on to win in his career.

Did Beltre live up to his 5 year $64 million deal? If it were given in 2016, because of his defense you could say yes (Although someone would definitely call him overpaid with that kind of money for a Gold Glove-winning third baseman). However, because of his offense, I think Mariners fans will always remember Beltre as a bust.

When he goes into the Hall of Fame, there is a 100% chance that Adrian Beltre will have a Rangers hat on in his plaque, but I will always remember his Mariner years as they were right in the middle of my childhood. Also, to put some blame on me, I have been known to have a jersey curse and I got a #5 Beltre jersey before he had played a game in Seattle. So, maybe his disappointing offense was all my fault.