My All-Time Mariners' Team, or How I Waste My Time

What I decided that most needed to be done before the year's end was to name my all-time Mariners' team. 

The first thing to do was to set the criteria for position players to qualify for the team. I was able to get at least three names for left field, DH, and utility positions by setting the minimum at 1,500 at bats or 500 games. 

Here are my first and second all-time Mariners' teams from those who qualified:

1st team:

C - Dan Wilson
1B - Alvin Davis
2B - Brett Boone
3B - Kyle Seager
SS - Alex Rodriguez
LF - Phil Bradley
CF - Ken Griffey Jr.
RF - Ichiro
DH - Edgar Martinez
Utility - Mark McLemore

2nd team: 

C - Kenji Johjima
1B - John Olerud
2B - Robinson Cano
3B - Adrian Beltre
SS - Omar Vizquel
LF - Raul Ibanez
CF - Mike Cameron
RF - Jay Buhner
DH - Nelson Cruz
Utility - Willie Bloomquist

To make the all-time pitching staff, starters needed to have a minimum of 100 starts and a winning record. Eleven pitchers qualified for five starting spots. 

Here are my top five all-time starting pitchers in order:

Randy Johnson

Felix Hernandez

Jamie Moyer

Freddy Garcia

Mark Langston

Relievers needed to have a minimum of 200 relief appearances or 100 saves. Seventeen pitchers qualified for eight relief spots, with three of them qualifying as the closer with the minimum 100 saves.

Here are my closer and top seven all-time relief pitchers in order:

Edwin Diaz (Closer)

JJ Putz*

Jeff Nelson

Arthur Rhodes

Kazahiro Sasaki*

Mike Schooler

Michael Jackson

Tom Wilhelmsen

* Qualified as closer

Those who qualified who did not make the all-time squad include:

C - Dave Valle, Mike Zunino, and Scott Bradley

1B - Bruce Bochte, Dan Meyer, Tino Martinez, Richie Sexson, Justin Smoak, and Pete O'Brien

2B - Harold Reynolds, Jose Lopez, Julio Cruz, Joey Cora, and Dustin Ackley

3B - Jim Presley, David Bell, and Russ Davis

SS - Yuniesky Betancourt, J.P. Crawford, Carlos Guillen, and Spike Owen

LF - Michael Saunders

CF - Franklin Guttierez, Dave Henderson, Ruppert Jones, Henry Cotto, and Randy Winn

RF - Mitch Haniger and Al Cowens

DH - Kenny Phelps

Utility - Rich Amaral

Starting Pitchers - Joel Piniero, Gil Meche, Erik Hanson, Marco Gonzalez, Hisashi Iwakuma, and James Paxton

Relief Pitchers - Bobby Ayala, Ed Vande Berg, Norm Charlton, Shigatosi Hasagawa, Charlie Furbush, Julio Mateo, Jose Paniagua, Edwin Nunez, and Shane Rawley

The toughest decision for me was whether Randy Johnson or Felix Hernandez should be the number one starter. When I looked at Johnson's career, he spent more time with the Mariners than he did with any other team. He also had more wins and strikeouts with the Mariners than he did with any other team. Even though Felix is considered one of the hardest luck pitchers ever, Randy Johnson could arguably be one of the five best pitchers in baseball history. 

The second toughest decision came down to the final pick for the bullpen. Ultimately, I decided that I would bring in Tom Wilhelmsen before bringing in Shigatosi Hasagawa, but it almost went the other way.

Anyway, I'm happy that I was able to get this task done with hours to spare in the year!