Today’s Fun Fact
The designated hitter was adopted by the American League in 1973. Since 1973, here are the ten worst team DH seasons, offensively, as measured by OPS relative to the league-average OPS. Information from Baseball-Reference; information also absolutely predictable, if you’ve watched the Mariners at all in the last nine years.
- 2001 Angels, 46
- 1988 Rangers, 53
- 2014 Mariners, 54
- 1981 Twins, 55
- 2008 Mariners, 58
- 2012 Mariners, 60
- 2010 Mariners, 62
- 1993 White Sox, 62
- 2013 Yankees, 62
- 2006 Mariners, 63
So we’ve got the Mariners of 2014, 2012, 2010, 2008, and 2006. If you’re into pattern recognition, that at least bodes well for next year, but it bodes poorly for the year after that, and well for the year after that, and poorly for the year after that, and well for the year after that, and poorly for the year after that, and
The Mariners just haven’t had a good consistent designated hitter since Edgar Martinez. Or, for the most part, when there have been half-decent candidates, the Mariners have put them in the outfield. It’s not just that the hitters haven’t hit well — it’s that, too often, they haven’t hit at all, and while this year there was reason to believe in Corey Hart and Kendrys Morales, the way it’s worked out has felt all too familiar, so Hart and Morales have somewhat unfairly had to deal with fan baggage that predates them. But it’s also been not unfair, because, holy shit, all these situations are like little disaster snowflakes. We hate our DHs in part because of previous DHs, but we also hate our DHs because they suck.
When I first started blogging about the Mariners, and that was well more than a decade ago, I didn’t worry too much about Edgar’s coming retirement, because I figured the easiest thing to find in baseball is a guy who can hit a little and do nothing else. The Mariners have nailed half of that.
Holly shit…this would be hilarious if it wasn’t so sad.
Not fun. Fascinating, yes. I think two interesting things emerge from this niggling pattern: 1) the Mariners FO is historically bad at finding hitting talent; 2) the few decent non-Edgar DH’s the Mariners have found were injury prone or old. (I can think of Branyan and Ibanez having decent seasons and then going poof.)
How many of the BEST seasons of DH-ing were Edgar Martinez? I’d check myself, but I can’t seem to figure out the options on baseball-reference. I keep getting results showing how great Jeff Clement was at DH in 2007.
But … but … Jose Vidro! Jack Cust! Carl Everett! The smoking remains of Ken Griffey!
After Edgar, there’s a rich tradition of suckage to be mined from Mariner DHs.
Hart did look like a good addition. But Morales? He was terrible in Minnesota. No passes for Jack on that one.
It will be interesting to see how they address DH next season. I’d love to see Martinez in a M’s uniform, but maybe rotating the infielders wouldn’t be the worst idea?
Nelson Cruz wouldn’t be a bad option if they can get him for 1 or 2 years but after his season this year he will probably cost too much. If the M’s could get a player like Rios they could play Saunders in LF if Rios plays RF or visa versa and then put Ackley at DH most of the time. That way if Saunders gets injured they have Ackley already playing everyday. Although they really need an upgrade at CF too.
Ackley has been solid in left. Why would you sacrifice defense with Rios? Giving him a break now and then would be one thing, but as the norm?
Rios might make a realistic DH option if he was actually willing to.
Today’s fun fact?
I vote for the fact that today Brendan Ryan started at shortstop for the New York Yankees.
Is Rios that bad defensively that Ackely is a better option even in left? Rios has a good arm but that is about all I really know about his defense although most “insiders” say he is a good defensive player which probably isn’t saying much.
This is a proud tradition that Uncle Fester does not need to support.
“So we’ve got the Mariners of 2014, 2012, 2010, 2008, and 2006. If you’re into pattern recognition, that at least bodes well for next year, but it bodes poorly for the year after that…”
Um… possible that in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 they maybe didn’t crack the top ten, but were still remarkably shitty?