Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Who Are the Greatest Mariners Middle Infielders of All Time?

Episode Date: March 11, 2020

The look at the greatest Mariners of all time continues with D.C. Lundberg and Jonathan Miller talking about the best second basemen and shortstops that the M's have had. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Well, gang, the week is just about halfway over. On your lunch break today, it will be half over because it is Wednesday. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners. Part of the Locked-on podcast network, as Joey Martin just told you, remember to rate, download, and subscribe to this program on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whatever podcasting app you care to use.

Sorry again for that poor English. You can ask your smart device to play this program. Just ask you to say, hey, play Lockdown Mariners podcast or any of the other programs here on Sloppin. You can find the show on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-U-N-R-R-G. You may also find me on Twitter at D.C. underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, if you are scoring at home. Today we are continuing our series looking at the top Mariners at each position in the team's history. and here with me once again to do it is Locked-on Mariner's contributor, Jonathan Miller.

John, welcome back. Thank you again for having me. You were welcome to you. To get a good sleep after the last show. Yes, it was very nice. Thank you. We're joking because this is Wednesday's program. We recorded Tuesdays just about 20 minutes ago.

Anyways, today we are going to look at the second baseman in shortstop. The top three shortstop and second baseman in Mariners history, or we will do that if I don't become. to tongue-tied, that is. We're going to start at second base, where I have as, and we'll go 3-2-1 again, because we'll kind of work our way from the bottom up.

My number three, second baseman, I have as Harold Reynolds. And I will say for at both positions, John's list and my own are very, very different from each other. So this could be an interesting program. Harold Reynolds, I've got at number three, 1,155 games as a Seattle Mariner,

260, 326, 345 slash line, not much power. He did hit a lot of triples. He hit 48 triples as a mariner, 200 doubles. Didn't really walk all that much. He was kind of more of a number nine hitter, but he stole a few bases, but he got caught also. Average defense, kind of as a second baseman, but he did win three gold gloves.

One thing I remember about Harold Reynolds, because people were kind of bagging on his defense and saying, well, he's not a gold glove caliber second baseman. He said, what am I supposed to do? Give it back? He's not wrong. Number two, I have as Joey Cora. 544 games as a Mariner.

293, 355-406 slash line. Definitely an offensive second baseman, 119 doubles, 187 walks did not strike out that much. His defense in 1995, which was his first year with the club, was pretty bad, but he improved a lot in 1996 and actually became something of a league average second baseman that season, and that carried over into his All-Star season at 1997. If I recall correctly, John and I both have Brett Boone at number one.

He played 803 games as a Mariner, 277, 376, 478 slash line, 143 home runs, 167 doubles, and 535 RBI. Ordinarily, when you have those type of numbers as a second baseman, that particular second baseman is not going to be very good defensively. That is not Brett Boone's case. He was a gold glove caliber second baseman in his time in Seattle. We'll get to my honorable mentions after John lists his top three second baseman of all time in Seattle. Go for it, sir.

My top three second baseman, starting at the number three spot, we have Jose Lopez, who in his time with the Seattle Mariners, had a slash line of 266, 297, 400. He had 80 home runs, 4,000. 331 RBI's, 189 doubles. I have 189 doubles, yes, that sounds right. Okay. And actually made one all-star team as a Mariner.

He did, yeah. He was pretty good for a while, and then it kind of fell off the map. I think when the Mariners tried to move him to third base and it didn't work, it just kind of discombobulated him. Yeah, some players are not able to adjust to the ball coming at them faster or the different range that's,

needed with different positions. He just wasn't. Others are very successful at it. That's true, and I will also make note that this is the first time on this program that we have ever used the word discombobulated. Very nice. I'm sorry, who's number two? Number two on my list is

Robinson Canoe, who of my computer will load, yes, in his time with the Mariners, he had a 296, 353-4753-4-72 slash line. He had 107 home runs, 411 RBIs, 159 doubles. It was pretty good defensively, if I recall, too. Yeah, he was. I've heard some criticism saying that he played up the middle so he was able to get to balls, but I don't care where you play. He was able to get to balls and the

runners were thrown out. That's just smart positioning. Cal Ripkin was known for where he played on the field to be able to increase his range to get to balls that he ordinarily wouldn't be able to do. not cheating, that's just being smart. That's an excellent example because Ripkin is not only a great ball player but well respected in all circles, pretty much. Yes. I could

go off talking about Cal Ripkin, but maybe I'll do that on Orioles. I don't know. Maybe I'll... If they give you a guest spot, definitely. Number one on my list, I have Brett Boone, who in his time with the Seattle Mariners, and he spent

quite a bit of time with us. He was with us for seven years at the start of his career and then later on. But total, he had a 277, 336, 478 slash line. He had 143 home runs, 535 RBIs, and hit 167 doubles. And again, the defense was there. Yeah, he was definitely a gold glove caliber. And it was with Seattle, but he also won a gold glove with Cincinnati too. So he was pretty much gold glove throughout his career. He was. His first tenure with the Mariners, I don't recall it because I was very young, but the Mariners traded him to Cincinnati with Eric Hanson, I want to say, who we talked about on Monday, and got back and returned Dan Wilson, who I'm sure we're going to be talking about on

Friday, and of course, Bobby Ayala. Yes. Yeah. So I'm, yeah, that was a good trade, even though it did cost the Mariners a young up-and-coming Brett Boone, but it also netted the Mariners Dan Wilson. So, you know, it's kind of which would you rather? Yeah. Honorable mentions for second base. One of them you mentioned, which was Jose Lopez, 873 games. He mentioned the offensive numbers.

The reason he didn't crack my top three is because of his defense at second base. He was pretty inconsistent. There were some seasons where he was okay. And then some seasons where he was just very, very bad defensively. and I always think of second base as a defensive first position. My other honorable mention is Julio Cruz, whose numbers were not as impressive, nearly as impressive as I thought they were going to be. He played 742 games as a Mariner.

I know his calling card is speed. His slash line was 243, 327, 307. So he had almost no extra base pop at all. Walked, you know, some of the time, didn't have a real good feeling. for getting walks. But he did steal 290 bases, which is still the club record. He was only caught 59 times.

And Harold Reynolds, I think, is number two in stolen bases. He was caught a ton more times, almost twice as much, over twice as much. Pardon me, as Julio Cruz was, 228 stolen bases for Reynolds versus 120 caught stealing. And again, Julio Cruz is 290 in stolen bases versus only 59 caught stealing. and Cruz's defense was also very, very good for the time period.

Pretty good range. John, do you have any other honorable mentions you'd like to mention? My honorable mentions are, and guys that actually, I believe, made your top three, Joey Cora and Harold Reynolds. All right. One more note before we go to commercial break, and that's about Robinson Canoe. I didn't feel comfortable putting him on my list or even in my honorable mentions. just because he was popped for PED use while he was a Mariner.

I couldn't bring myself to do it. And on that high note, we're going to take a commercial break. But not before I pose the Maritor's trivia question to you, which today is this. The first Mariner to bat in Safeco Field hit a double off Andy Ashby after working a full count. He was the starting second baseman that day. Who was it?

I will tell you, after the first. break. If you've got a question for me or a comment on the show, please send an email to Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com, and I'll consider using it for the Friday mailbag segment. Locked-on Mariners will continue as soon as I untie my tongue. Now back to Locked-on Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you once again, J.M. We are back on Locked-on Mariners. The answer to the trivia question, the first mariner to Bat in Safeco field hit a double, starting second baseman that day. Who was it?

The starting second baseman for the Mariners that day was future third baseman David Bell. He has the first mariner hit, which is a double in Safeco Field history. Moving on to short stops, the top three short stops in Mariners history. I will let John Miller go first in this segment since I went first in the first segment. Who are your top three short stops in M's history starting from three and then moving your way up to the top? Thank you very much, sir. at number three, I have Unieski Betancourt,

who had a 279, 302-393-slash line. He had 27 home runs, 202 RBIs, 123 doubles, and I would expect people like the shortstop second baseman to steal more bases.

I guess the Mariners just haven't had that. The Mariners have not had a lot of great base dealers in their history. Joey Corr was a pretty good base runner. But he wasn't the fastest guy, so he was not a great base stealer. And that's not really something that the Mariners really valued during their heyday either, because they were much more of a power team at that time. And then when they got to pitching and defense at the turn of the century,

they still didn't have a lot of good base stealers. They just had very, they had smart base runners who weren't necessarily the fastest guys, other than each hero, obviously. Yes. Number two on my list, I have Carlos Guienne. Mm-hmm. who has a 264, 335-383 slash line with the Mariners, he had 29 home runs, 211 RBI, and hit 80 double and 16 triples.

He was a good offensive shortstop. He had to replace the man who you're going to talk about next at shortstop after he left for that big free agent contract in Texas, and nobody expected him to put up the kind of numbers that the other guy did. But I think he did a great job. I hate to use the word replacing. But he did a great job given the situation he was put in. Yes, he did.

And gee, I wonder who number one is. Well, you guys may have guessed it. My number one is none other than Desi Relford. Oh, my goodness, gracious. Yes. The man who was traded for, oh, my God. Darn it! Oh, my gosh, what's the name of that pitcher?

Never mind. I blew the bit. Go on. I'm just joking. My number one is, of course, Alex Rodriguez. Yes, of course. It couldn't be anybody else. Who in his time with the Mariners was just spectacular. He had a 309 batting average, 374 on base percentage, a 5-6-1 slugging. And I'm doing that intentionally because that means his OPS with the Mariners was 9-34.

That is out of this world. Yes, it is. He had 189 home runs, 595.95. RBI, 13 triples, 194 doubles, and I mentioned stolen bases earlier. He had 133 stolen bases as a mariner, was only caught

36 times, and I believe it's Seattle Mariner was also a 40-40 man. Yes, in 1998. As a matter of fact, I still have a box of A-Rod's 40-40 crunch. Oh my goodness. Yes. Yes, indeed. It's packed away in a box

somewhere. I'm looking at a of boxes to my left in my closet, and I know exactly where it is. It's just not out on display right now. My top three, my top number one shortstop is the same as yours, but I'll get to that in a little bit. My number two and my number three, I went a completely different route than you did. Like I said, the second baseman, which is a defense first position for me, so is shortstop, and that's kind of reflected in my number three and my number two players. My number three player, believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen, is Spike Owen. 462 games is a marriage. He did not have very much offensive output, but look at the other Mariners short stops in history.

There's nothing there. Very little power. His defense was very, very good, which is why I put him at number three over my honorable mentions, who I will talk about in just a little bit. And if you want to talk about defense, then the second guy is out of this world. I think you know who it is. It's Omar Viscale. 660 games, a little bit of a much better offensive player than Spike Owen was.

particularly after he went to the Indians, where he became a valuable offensive player, but as a mariner, he slashed 252-309, 303, no power, didn't steal all that many bases. He did have 53 sacrifices, you know, that's something to be said, which is kind of a lost art in today's game as far as I'm concerned. And of course, that excellent spectacular defense. Number one is Alex Rodriguez. John mentioned the numbers already. He was not the best fielder in the world, but he was best.

better than Guyan or Benton Court was, and had a pretty decent defensive season in 2000. Who are your honorable mentions, sir? Yes, my honorable mentions are two guys that you previously mentioned, Spike Owen and Omar Vizkel. And then I mentioned him just maybe because I'm a fan, but Gene Seguer. Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah, of course, Gene Seguer, the Gene Gene, the Hitton machine,

who played a pretty good shortstop and was a valuable offensive player. Yes, his slash line with the Mariners, 302, 345, 421. Very, very good numbers. I was going to mention him also, and the only reason he's not in my top three is because he didn't play his tenure with the Mariners was not really long enough to qualify for the top of all time. That's just me. Do you have anybody else that you want to mention?

The only other player I would mention, but he's not really a shortstop. He was kind of a utility player. was just so versatile would be Willie Blumquist. Ah, yes, Willie Blumquist. I liked him. Rich Amarol was another one of my favorites, too. Could play all over the place. Good contact hitter.

Amarol was a guy who could steal a base for you, too. Definitely, yeah. He was fun to watch. He was very fun to watch. And the announcer on this program, Joey Martin, and I kind of have an inside joke where Joey will refer to Rich Amarral as the greatest player of all time. He liked watching Rich Amarol, too.

My honorable mentions are a couple of guys that you first of all, Carlos Guillen. I almost had him as my number three above Spike Owen, but his defense really was terrible. I looked at his numbers. They just were not good at all. And if he would have put up similar offensive numbers in Seattle, then he did in Detroit.

Then he probably would have made the top three. He became something of a super utility guy in Detroit. They played him a lot of third base, left field and first, mostly first base, I think. And he became a very, very good offensive player for a few seasons. Unieski Bentoncourt, his defense also kind of prevented me from putting him in my top three, even though he was a pretty good offensive player. I always found Yonieski Benton Court frustrating because he wouldn't take a walk,

could not play defense, and was one of the least coachable players that I can recall playing for the Mariners. My other honor will mention only play two seasons in Seattle, aside from Gene Sugura, who John already mentioned, so I won't bother going over that again. but Craig Reynolds, 283 games as a Mariner, had a 273, 311, 3 slash line, little power, but did not strike out very much. Defense was okay, but kind of below average.

It was an all-star his second year, 1978, I want to say, where he put up some pretty good offensive numbers. But again, for short stops in Mariner's history, aside from Alex Rodriguez, and I know that there are a lot of you out there who are going to be upset for talking about Alex Rodriguez in this light because you just don't like, him very much, considering how he left the team. But look at his numbers. He's just far superior to

anybody who's ever played shortstop in Mariners history, with a possible exception of Gene Segura, who just did not play for the Mariners that long. Alex Rodriguez has to be the top shortstop in Mariners history. That's going to do it for today. John, once again, where can people find you on Twitter? You can find me on the Twitter sphere at Seattle Pilot 69. Thank you very much. And we will see you tomorrow. Ladies and gentlemen out there in Podcastland, I do hope you'll join us tomorrow for left fielders and right fielders. Right here on Locked-on Mariners.

Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to this program on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you can come up with. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast or any of the other programs here on the Locked-on Podcast Network. Follow the show on Twitter at L-O-U-U-Sournerers. Follow me on Twitter also at DC underscore Lundberg. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on MLB upon the conclusion of this program.

Ladies and gentlemen, have a great day. This is Joey Martin letting you know that we'll be back tomorrow for another edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.