The 10 Best Draft Picks the Mariners have ever made in the MLB Draft

Jason Varitek: 1994: Round 1, Pick 14, 0.0 (24.2) WAR

I mean, I understand what the Mariners were thinking here. They had Dan Wilson. He was a great defensive catcher and a decent enough hitter. Although he didn't break 100 for OPS+ ever, he did have between 90-100 on four different occasions. The Mariners were probably good with that.

So, they looked to a team that needed a catcher in order to get relief help for, what they hoped, would be a bunch of playoff runs. They would send Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe (arguably the worst trade in Mariners history) off to Boston for Heathcliff Slocumb.

I wish they would've traded for Heathcliff the Cat instead.

Slocumb would pitch 1.5 years with the Mariners. A 4.97 ERA across 84 games, with a 1.635 WHIP (sorry, I just threw up a little) during his time in Seattle.

Meanwhile, Varitek would go on to be a fixture in Boston Sports, anchoring two different World Series Champions for the Red Sox. Every single WAR was accumulated there, as Varitek would retire with a .256/.341/.435 slash line and a career 99 OPS+, 24.2 WAR and never had a negative dWAR season behind the plate. Moving on to someone who actually put on a Mariners uniform...