3 players the Mariners wish they still had on their roster

There are two ways to go about an article like this. I'm going to go with the more realistic one. The first one is talking about anyone from the history of the team, and inserting them into today's team. The Mariners probably benefit from this more than most teams in baseball, as you can insert arguably the greatest CF, DH, and LHP of all-time back into the team. We aren't going that way. I want to look at three players who are still playing that we wish never would've left.

Also, I'm not going to go down the sliding doors path of it. How the potential of keeping a player stops them from making a different trade, or signing a different player, or even drafting someone else. Solely just looking at what it would be like if they would've kept a specific player around. Or three, for the sake of this article.

Let's get to it. Here are three players that the Mariners wish they still had on their roster.

Daniel Vogelbach - DH

There are a couple of reasons that I think having Vogey back would be amazing. One, the dude seems like he would fit in perfectly with this team. Happy, loves baseball, hits bombs, fun to be around, joy in the clubhouse. Those all describe Vogey. Plus, he hit .238/.360/.433 last season, showing that he can get on base at a great clip. If you're inserting him as the DH against RHP (.261/.382/.497), then that's a great addition, and much needed one, to the Mariners.

Tyler O'Neill - OF

Tyler O'Neill for Marco Gonzales. One of the great "Would you still do it" trades that the Mariners have made. We re-visit it every one in a while to see who won the deal. Marco meant a lot for the Mariners for plenty of years, and he helped fans have someone fun to root for during some dark years for the team.

Fast forward to, well, now, and you can't help but think the Mariners wish they still had Tyler O'Neill and not Marco. An outfield with O'Neill, Julio, and Teoscar? Woof. That would be so much fun.

Pablo Lopez - SP

Way back in 2017, the Mariners woke up on July 20th at 48-48. Looking to end the postseason drought, they traded away a handful of minor leaguers for a bullpen piece in David Phelps. He would hardly pitch for the Mariners due to injury. One of those minor leaguers went by the name of Pablo Lopez.

This excites me so much. Imagine, all things staying the same otherwise, having him in the rotation. Castillo-Gilbert-Kirby-Lopez-Ray (I went alphabetical) would be insane. Teams would hate facing the Mariners day in and day out, because there would be no rest day for the hitters. Lopez has a 3.52 ERA and 3.48 FIP with a 9.2 K/9 over the last three seasons and threw 180 IP last season.

Those three back on the Mariners? It would be a blast. Unfortunately, we can only see it on MLB The Show. Maybe I'll try it on there and see how the Mariners do.