All-time Mariners’ infield of best players who got away

Since Jerry Dipoto took over as the Mariners' GM in 2015, we have seen a crazy amount of trades take place. Some of which were good, and they instantly made the team better. They were ones that many fans agreed on as being a "win" for the team. Things have been better since he took over, at least from a trades point of view, as there aren't any mega losses that you think of (Adam Jones, for example).

Then there is the other side of it. The ones that leave us scratching our heads when we look back. You sit there and wonder what they were thinking, what drove them to make that move, and if there was something else out there that they could've done instead. Sometimes it's easy to look at them in hindsight and argue the move, but it's worse when it doesn't even make sense at the time of the trade.

Most recently, the Mariners acquired 2B Jorge Polanco in a deal that included prospect Gaby Gonzalez, and relief pitcher Justin Topa. Only time will tell on this deal, but what if we dove back even further? Who could we have seen in a Mariners uniform for longer, or even at all? Introducing the All-Time Mariners "ones that got away" starting lineup, consisting of players that we had in the minor leagues or even at the big league level who, unfortunately, shined elsewhere.

C - Jason Varitek - (7/31/1997) Varitek and Derek Lowe to Boston for RP Heathcliff Slocumb

Varitek was the Captain of the Red Sox teams in the 2000s that won the World Series in 2004 and 2007. During Varitek's career, he made 3 All-Star appearances and also received MVP votes from 2003-2005. Current Mariners Catcher Cal Raleigh grew up as a Red Sox fan and truly idolized Varitek. Sorry, Jason, Cal was the first Catcher in Fenway Park history to homer from both sides of the plate in one game! Fingers crossed the Mariners don't make the same mistake that they did in Varitek with Cal, but at least Cal has played for the Mariners and hit one of the most iconic home runs in team history.

The Mariners have always seemed to struggle at finding good backstops, with the only real exceptions being Dan 'The Man' Wilson, and now with the 'Big Dumper'. What if we had held onto Varitek, though?

If we look at the prime of his career, between 2001 and 2005, these were exactly the last years of Dan Wilson's career. Comparing just these years, Varitek had a much higher WAR (14.5) compared to Wilson's 3.1 WAR, I think it's safe to say Varitek would have been a nice upgrade, despite how much we all love 'Dan The Man'. Add in the other piece of this trade, Derek Lowe, and I would have to say this is easily one of the worst trades the Mariners have ever made.

DH - David Ortiz - (9/13/1996) Was the PTBNL in a deal with Minnesota for 3B Dave Hollins.

A 3x World Series Champ with Boston, Big Papi was also a 10x All-Star, 7x Silver Slugger Award winner, and 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee who also received MVP votes for 8 different seasons. Need I say more?

Yes, one can argue that we already had one of, if not the top, DH in MLB history, but what if we had Ortiz play more first base to begin his career? He did so sparingly with the Twins and even in his first couple of seasons in Boston before he turned solely into a DH. If his name itself doesn't do the trick for you, Ortiz had a career WAR of 55.3, which is almost as many wins the Mariners had in total in 2008, to put that in perspective.

Although he found his footing with the Red Sox, it is safe to say that the Mariners and the Twins both struck out big-time... I have yet to hear anyone that has said they would have rather had Dave Hollins over 'Big Papi', especially for the fact that we only had Hollins for roughly 2 months. Safe to say this trade was even worse than the Varitek deal.

1B - Tino Martinez - (12/07/1995) Tino Martinez, Jim Mecir, and Jeff Nelson to the Yankees for Russ Davis and Sterling Hitchcock.

Yes, Tino was an All-Star in his last season in Seattle during the historic '95 season that ultimately saved baseball in Seattle. After dealing him to New York, Tino became a 4x World Series Champion holding down 1B for the Yankees during their dynasty run. He only had one more All-Star after his time in Seattle, but in that year in 1997, he ended up 2nd in MVP voting finishing the season with 44 homers. Albeit in part thanks to the short right field in Yankee Stadium, 44 HRs is still 44 HRs. In 7 seasons with NY, he posted a 16.7 WAR versus a 7.7 WAR with the Mariners in 6 seasons.

The Mariners were faced with a rotation door at first base for a while trying to find a replacement for Tino. Although it was fun to watch the likes of Paul Sorrento, David Segui, and Ryan Jackson, it would've been nice to keep Tino around to finish out the decade.

It would have been nice to still have had Tino on the Mariners' rosters going into the 21st Century, but thankfully we had a former WSU Cougar step up to the plate to fill that void. John Olerud was a tremendous Free Agency pickup, and during his time in Seattle (2000-2004), Olerud put up a 17.6 WAR compared to the aging Tino (4.0 WAR). It would have helped to have Tino during the late 90's, but at least the M's found a way to replace him with another All-Star First Baseman.

2B - Carlos Guillen - (1/8/2004) Carlos Guillen to the Detroit Tigers for Ramon Santiago and Juan Gonzalez.

Guillen came up with the Mariners after joining the club after a deal that sent Freddy Garcia, John Halama, and Guillen to Seattle from Houston for Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. Guillen played in just 15 games during the 1998 and 1999 seasons but began seeing more playing time in 2000 and 2001.

The 2001 season marked the best season of his career in Seattle, before being shipped off to Detroit following the 2003 season. What did he do in his first year with the Tigers? In typical Mariners' fashion, he did make the All-Star team and even finished off the year batting .318 in 136 games. This was not his only All-Star caliber season, as he also received the nod in 2007 and 2008.

Overall, Guillen posted a 9.6 WAR in 6 seasons in Seattle, compared to his 18.6 WAR in 8 years with the Tigers. Although the Mariners had SS Yuniesky Betancourt and 2B Jose Lopez up the middle during the mid-to-late 2000's, Guillen certainly would have been an upgrade over either of them.

Safe to say Juan Gonzalez (Not THE Juan Gonzalez) and Ramon Santiago did not end up as real valuable pieces for this team. It was tough not to go with Ketel Marte in this slot, but with what the Mariners got in return for Marte, I had to lean towards Guillen here. Even though he didn't play a ton there, it would've been easy to slot him into either of the middle infield spots. Due to the next person we are going to talk about, we end up saying welcome to our 2nd Base slot, Carlos.

3B - Adrian Beltre - (1/4/2010) Signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.

Beltre left Seattle after a solid 5-year stint putting up respectable numbers for the M's and signed a one-year "prove it" deal with the Red Sox. Yes, he absolutely proved it. In his lone year in Boston, Beltre became an All-Star for the first time, and batted .321 with 28 homers, along with an AL-leading 48 doubles.

His 2010 season accounted for the 2nd highest WAR of his career at 7.8, which is more than any year he had with the Mariners. Oh yeah, and he also produced with his glove as well. Although he had 2 Gold Glove seasons in Seattle, he would do this 3 more times after that. Much like Nelson Cruz, age seemed to be just a number to Adrian, as he would then sign a 6YR/$96M contract to join the AL West rival Texas Rangers. Yes, another Mariner great to be lost to them. Beltre played 8 more years in Texas, playing the best he ever has, even while already in his 30s. Hence why we recently saw him don a Rangers hat into Cooperstown.

Who knows if Beltre would have been the same player had he stayed in Seattle longer, but you can't help but wonder what the team would have been like had he stayed. Although he was good with the Mariners, he wasn't the All-Star that he later turned out to be. Plus, we had drafted another Mariners Legend, Kyle Seager, in 2009. Seager would provide stability and consistency with both his glove and bat from 2011-2021, which led to only one All-Star appearance and, unfortunately, no playoff appearances.