2001 Seattle Mariners-Can they recreate the Magic?

[asianinvasion]

Seattle Involved in Four-Team Trade

The Mariners were in the middle of a Four team trade with the Yankees, Diamondbacks and the Dodgers. The Yankees will receive pitchers Randy Johnson and Jamie Moyer from Seattle. Seattle will get first basemen Rafael Palmeiro from LA and INF/OF Scott Hairston from Arizona. Arizona gets outfielder Wilkin Ruan from LA and LA gets pitcher Rick Helling from the Yankees.

Both the Mariners and the Dodgers will help pay for Randy Johnson's 2003 salary.

Joel Pineiro and Cha Seung Baek have been called up from Tacoma to take the open spots.

[asianinvasion]

June 2002
39-39 Third Place AL West 5GB Oakland

Good:

Ichiro and Olerud seem to be the only bright spots for a horrific offense.
Brett Tomko turns things around. He now has a 3.86 ERA.
Bullpen. The whole bullpen has been terrific. Overall they have a 3.35 ERA.

Bad:

Offensive: Cant seem to get going. Hopefully the acquisition of Palmeiro will turn things around.
Starters: Both Johnson and Moyer were bad so they had to be traded.

With the trade deadline approaching, we don't know whether to be buyers or sellers. The next couple of weeks should tell us what to do.

[asianinvasion]

I'm still deciding whether to be buyers or sellers. We are currently 53-51 and are 5.5 games out and in third place. This team isn't that good and I don't want to destroy the farm to try to get better. Help.

[asianinvasion]

Mariners make few trades to bolster team

The Mariners made a couple of trades today before the deadline to help make the playoff run. The first trade was with the Cleveland Indians. The Mariners picked up outfielders Juan Gonzalez and Dave Roberts. This was partially a salary dump as well as they got rid of Ed Sprague's contract.

Mariners got:

RF Juan Gonzalez
OF Dave Roberts
$ 1 million

Indians got:

P Ryan Fitzgerald
LF Al Martin
3B Ed Sprague
P Aaron Taylor
P Ryan Sweeney
P Matt Thornton

The second trade included the San Diego Padres as we traded for starting pitcher Bobby Jones. Jones, in the last year of his contract is a control pitcher and doesn't give up much runs. Seattle also cleared out farm space for more deserving players.

Seattle Got:

P Bobby Jones

San Diego Got:

IF Luis Ugueto
IF Mickey Lopez
IF Greg Dobbs
P Ryan Franklin
P Justin Kaye
P George Sherrill
P Scott Atchison

The Final trade netted catcher Eli Marrero from the St. Louis Cardinals. Marrero is a average hitter with good play-calling skills and good defense. He will be an offensive upgrade over Jaime Burke.

Seattle Got:

C Eli Marrero

St. Louis Got:

OF Jamal Strong
OF Charles Gipson
OF Scott Podsednik
P John Halama
$4 million

We have just received breaking news as the Mariners make one last move before the deadline. The Mariners have sent veteran catcher Dan Wilson and cash to the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Kyle Davies. The move was made to make room for Marrero. Davies will be in rookie ball for now.

[asianinvasion]

July 2002
53-51 Third Place AL West 5.5 GB Oakland, 2.5 GB Cleveland (Wild Card)

Good:

Mariners want to win now: With five trades in a week, the Mariners have proved that they want to win.
Got a power bat: The acquisition of Juan Gonzalez should help the offensive get going.
Jay's average: Jay Buhner's average has risen to .197 and he has 20 homeruns.

Bad:

Jay's average: Buhner is hitting .197 which has cause us to bench him.
Edgar Martinez: The leader of the team has struggled and has hit only .240.
Mike Cameron: His average (.206) is approaching Jay's.

[asianinvasion]

August 2002
72-61 Second Place AL West 5.5 GB Oakland, Second Place AL Wild Card 0.5 GB Cleveland

Good:
AL Wild Card: We are only half a game back and we have a chance to get there.
Juan Gonzalez: Has hit 12 homeruns in 29 games since coming over.
ELI: has hit .300 since trade.
Sean Green: Has a 2.31 ERA since being called up.

Bad:
More injuries: Jeff Nelson got hurt and I dont think he has the stuff anymore. Good thing his contract ends this year.
Bobby Jones: Has really struggled since the trade from San Diego.

[asianinvasion]

Bobby Jones Throws No-Hitter.

Today, September 10th, 2002, Seattle Pitcher Bobby Jones throws his first no-hitter of his career and the third in team history. The previous players to throw a no-hitter as a Mariner was Randy Johnson and Chris Bosio. Jones ended up with 4 walks and his perfect game bid was ended in the third when he walked Jeremy Giambi.

Oakland Athletics at Seattle Mariners
September 10, 2002

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
     Athletics (OAK) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0    0  0  0
      Mariners (SEA) 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 x    2  7  1

OAKLAND              ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Damon (CF)         4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .260
T. Long (LF)          4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .237
M. Tejada (SS)        2  0  1  0  0  0  1  0    .300
J. Giambi (1B)        3  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .287
E. Chavez (3B)        3  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .257
R. Hernandez (C)      3  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .244
J. Giambi (RF)        0  0  3  0  0  0  0  0    .241
M. Bellhorn (2B)      3  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .207
F. Menechino (DH)     3  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .242
TOTALS               25  0  4  0  0  0  8  0


         OAKLAND   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
       T. Hudson  6.2  7  1  0  2  2  6 110   2.95
          J. Tam  1.1  0  0  0  0  0  0  18   1.81
          TOTALS  8.0  7  1  0  2  2  6 128

SEATTLE              ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
I. Suzuki (LF)        4  2  0  1  0  0  0  1    .319
B. Mueller (3B)       4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .299
J. Olerud (1B)        4  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .289
J. Buhner (RF)        3  1  1  0  0  1  1  0    .197
E. Marrero (C)        3  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .269
M. Cameron (CF)       3  2  0  1  0  0  0  0    .212
B. Boone (2B)         2  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .257
 S. Spiezio (P)       1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .248
C. Guillen (SS)       3  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .263
E. Martinez (DH)      3  1  0  0  0  1  0  0    .233
TOTALS               30  7  1  2  0  2  6  1

   2B:  I. Suzuki (23), M. Cameron (32)

         SEATTLE   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
        B. Jones  9.0  0  4  0  0  0  8 113   3.57
          TOTALS  9.0  0  4  0  0  0  8 113

     WP: B. Jones (12-8)
     LP: T. Hudson (15-9)

     Temperature: 51F
     Wind: None (Roof Closed)
     Attendance: 46,621
     Time: 2:17

[asianinvasion]

September/October 2002
90-72 Second Place AL West 3 GB Oakland/ Second Place AL Wild Card 2 GB Cleveland

Good:
Juan Gonzalez: His power surge almost got us to the playoffs.
Sean Green: We gave him a chance and he made the best of it. He made some players expandable.
Joel Pineiro: Proved to us that he can pitch at the Major League Level.

Bad:
WE MISSED THE **** PLAYOFFS.

[asianinvasion]

2002 MLB Playoffs

Wild Card Team Cleveland Indians won the 2002 World Series. In each series, the Indians started out down 0-2 and fought back to win the series. Congrats to the Indians and hope they suck next year.

[asianinvasion]

Your 2002 Mariners: A Review

Record: 90-72 (2nd AL West)

Leaders (As Mariners)

Wins:14 (Freddy Garcia and Brett Tomko)
Losses: 15 (Aaron Sele)
ERA: 3.95 (Brett Tomko)
Saves: 35 (Brian Fuentes)
AVG: .304 (Ichiro Suzuki)
Homeruns: 20 (Jay Buhner and Mike Cameron
RBI's: 91 (Bill Mueller)
SB's: 47 (Ichiro Suzuki)

Milestones:

John Olerud: 1000th RBI (May 28th, 2002)
Randy Johnson: 200th Win (May 31st, 2002)
Rafael Palmeiro: 1500th RBI (July 14th, 2002)
Juan Gonzalez: 1000th Run (August 28th, 2002)
Bobby Jones: No-Hitter (September 10th, 2002)
Edgar Martinez: 2000th Hit (September 16th, 2002)
John Olerud: 1000th Run (September 28th, 2002)

Stats:

Offense:

2002 Batting             Team    G   AVG    AB    H  2B  3B  HR   BB    K   SB  CS    R  RBI   SLG   OBP
Roberts, Dave             SEA   15  .344    32   11   1   2   0    2    5    2   1    8    2  .500  .382
Suzuki, Ichiro            SEA  159  .304   707  215  27   9   7   35   77   47  24  113   71  .397  .338
Mueller, Bill             SEA  138  .294   582  171  38   0  16   54   82    1   1   80   91  .442  .356
Olerud, John              SEA  158  .290   599  174  33   2  15   80   98    0   0   76   83  .427  .375
Gonzalez, Juan            SEA  145  .282   579  163  35   1  39   37  108    1   1   83  101  .547  .327
Hill, Aaron               SEA   20  .273    55   15   6   0   1    3    9    0   0    6    8  .436  .310
Palmeiro, Rafael          SEA  114  .271   343   93  20   3  17   56   48    2   0   47   73  .496  .379
Marrero, Eli              SEA  141  .269   499  134  36   1  22   44  116    7   1   74   88  .477  .329
Boone, Bret               SEA  154  .261   560  146  29   2  18   42  122    5   4   71   69  .416  .315
Guillen, Carlos           SEA  153  .259   549  142  33   6  17   52  115    8   6   80   83  .434  .325
Spiezio, Scott            SEA   90  .250   164   41   7   2   7   24   33    1   1   22   25  .445  .353
Reed, Jeremy              SEA    8  .250     4    1   1   0   0    0    2    0   0    0    0  .500  .250
Martinez, Edgar           SEA  154  .239   548  131  18   0  15   89  110    3   1   82   68  .354  .351
Cameron, Mike             SEA  151  .223   555  124  36   5  20   76  165   21  11   89   77  .414  .324
Burke, Jamie              SEA   87  .222   266   59   7   0   2   18   46    0   1   27   20  .271  .285
Buhner, Jay               SEA   96  .197   314   62   9   1  20   45  102    1   0   47   66  .424  .305
Jones, Bobby              SEA   16  .188    32    6   1   0   0    0    9    0   1    1    4  .219  .188
Sele, Aaron               SEA    2  .167     6    1   0   0   0    0    2    0   0    1    0  .167  .167
Johjima, Kenji            SEA    4  .000     2    0   0   0   0    1    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .333
Garcia, Freddy            SEA    1  .000     2    0   0   0   0    1    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .333
Tomko, Brett              SEA    3  .000     3    0   0   0   0    0    1    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Fuentes, Brian            SEA    0  .000     1    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Putz, J.J.                SEA    0  .000     1    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Nelson, Jeff              SEA    0  .000     1    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000

Pitching:

2002 Pitching            Team     IP   ERA    G  GS   W   L  SV    K   BB   R/9
Baek, Cha Seung           SEA   46.2  5.40   10   5   2   2   0   37   10 12.54
Fuentes, Brian            SEA   66.2  3.11   72   0   6   5  35   89   17 11.61
Garcia, Freddy            SEA  201.0  4.16   32  32  14  10   0  157   53 11.01
Green, Sean               SEA   25.1  2.84   14   0   0   0   1   26    1  8.88
Jones, Bobby              SEA  190.2  3.63   30  30  15   9   0  124   46 10.53
Nelson, Jeff              SEA   52.2  3.25   37   1   0   0   3   51   25 12.47
Pineiro, Joel             SEA   94.1  4.10   15  15  10   3   0   63   30 12.78
Putz, J.J.                SEA   85.0  2.54   58   0   5   4   1   89   27 10.16
Rhodes, Arthur            SEA  107.0  3.62   74   0   8   3   1  101   35 10.77
Sele, Aaron               SEA  180.2  5.83   33  33   5  11   0  116   67 14.20
Soriano, Rafael           SEA   82.1  3.94   72   0   8   3   6   84   20 10.93
Tomko, Brett              SEA  200.1  3.95   32  32  14  11   0  144   53 11.91
Williams, Randy           SEA    1.2 16.20    1   0   0   0   0    2    1 32.40

[asianinvasion]

2002-2003 Offseason

Resigned:
SS Carlos Guillen 1 yr, $4.1 million (ARB)
3B Bill Mueller 1yr, $4.45 million (Team Option)
DH Edgar Martinez 1yr, $3 million w/Team Option for 2004
SP Freddy Garcia 1yr, $5.55 million (ARB)
SP Brett Tomko 1yr, $4.5 million (ARB)
RP Arthur Rhodes 3yr, $3.7 million

Released:
C Eli Marrero
OF Jay Buhner
RP Jeff Nelson

Awards:
Juan Gonzalez: AL Gold Glove (OF)
Eli Marrero: AL Gold Glove (C)

[asianinvasion]

Mariners, Mets Swap Players

The Mets needed a first basemen, the Mariners had a spare one. That is how trade talks between the Mets and the Mariners started. In the end, the Mariners sent Rafael Palmeiro and Aaron Sele to the Mets for Hanley Ramirez and Desi Relaford.

Mariners Get:

SS Hanley Ramirez
IF Desi Relaford

Mets:
1B Rafael Palmeiro
SP Aaron Sele
SP Jeff Harris

[asianinvasion]

Garcia, Mariners agree to deal

The Seattle Mariners and pitcher Freddy Garcia agree to a 5-year, $28.75 million deal. Garcia has been longing for an extension and the Mariners gave him one. This contract will keep Garcia with the Mariners until the 2007 season.

[asianinvasion]

2003 Draft Preview

The Mariners will be selecting 20th in the draft

Possible First round Picks

Catchers:
Brian McCann: Good power hitter and good play caller.
Bruce Sherborne: Remind me of Jason Varitek, switch hitter and can call games.

First Basemen:
Prince Fielder: Son of Cecil, like father, a good power hitter. His weight may force him to DH eventually. Listed a 6 foot but may me shorter.
James Loney: Well rounded hitter. Can hit for power and average with good defense.

Second Basemen: Real weak class this year.
Alexi Casilla: Best of the class but not that good himself. Great defense but no bat at all.

Third Basemen:
B.J. Upton: One of the better players of the draft. Good hitter but plays poor defense.
Ryan Zimmerman: Like Upton but plays better defense. More of a power hitter though.
Chase Headley: More like a Chone Figgins. Contact hitter and plays good defense. More of a project though.
Tony Abreu: Defensive player with below average hitting.
Juliio Dominguez: Still 17 and is a good hitter, needs to improve defensive. Will take a while to get to the bigs.

Shortstops:
Troy Tulowitzki: Great defender with average bat. May blossom into a superstar. Should be a well rounded player.
Arturo Carbajal: Project player. Not that good right now. Not sure what he may become.

Left Field:
Melky Cabrera: The Melk Man as he is called by his friends will be a starter in this league. Will be a 2 hitter with good defense.
Carlos Romero: Good hitter. Well rounded hitter. Has piss poor defense. Should be a DH.

Center Field:
Elijah Dukes: Only decent Center Fielder in draft. Should project into like a poor man's Ken Griffey Junior.

Right Field:
Matt Kemp: A "Five-Tool Player" He should be a star.
Corey Dangerfield: Good power hitter with an arm. Cant really play the position though.
Wladimir Balentien: A hitter first with a good arm. With some time in the Minor Leagues, he should be good.
Jeff Francoeur: Excellent hitter, mostly power. Great arm and plays good defense.

Starting Pitching:Pitching is a crapshoot, so these are the players that I think will be good.
Scott Kazmir
Cesar Jimenez
Tim Lincecum
Kevin Slowey
Kevin Miller
Paul Segars
Maurice Smith
Jose Alverez
Jim Wood
Marc McMonies
Jason Kirkpatrick
Leo Zybia
James Bachmann
Justin Moore
Steve Cluney
Austin Greenway
Adam Turney
Chad Billingsley
Hayden Penn
Kyle Kendrick
Ubaldo Jimenez
Tony Saunders
Jon Lester
Matt Cain
Anibal Sanchez
Adam Loewen
Ian Kennedy
John Lannan
Bruce Russell
Hao Emoto

Relief Pitchers:
Kerry Jackson
Jason Essary
Game Cholmondoley
Kelly Hargrove
Larry Fuller
Jose Lorazo
Brandon Morrow
Jeff Bates

[JeepGuy63]

2002-2003 Offseason

Released:
C Eli Marrero

Awards:
Eli Marrero: AL Gold Glove (C)

What was he asking for that you'd drop a 22 homer hitting Gold Glove catcher?