Players I Had No Idea Were Still In The League
by Jeff Sullivan on May 14, 2008 10:07 PM PDT
in Seattle Mariners Stats
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PrintSo I was just scrolling through box scores, as I am wont to do when it's nighttime and the Mariners aren't playing, and when I clicked on Houston/San Francisco, I happened upon an unexpected sight:
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | HR | Season ERA | ||
| B. Moehler | 5.0 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4.58 | |
Brian Moehler. This guy. 
The guy who the Reds picked up for Noochie Varner at the deadline when he was supposedly on his last legs back in 2002.
I couldn't believe it. I consider myself to be pretty damn up to date when it comes to being familiar with current Major Leaguers and for whom they play, but this one caught me by surprise. Brian Moehler's still around and even getting himself some starts. Who knew?
This discovery inspired me to go through everyone who's played in the big leagues this year to find out who else I'm missing. What follows is a list of such players, in no particular order:
Ramon Santiago
Aaron Boone
Kevin Cash
Wil Nieves
Brady Clark
Damion Easley
Marlon Anderson
Robby Hammock
Luis Rivas
Jose Cruz Jr.
Nelson Figueroa
Mark Redman
Chan Ho Park
Chad Durbin
Justin Miller
Ron Mahay
Ramon Ramirez
Mike Lincoln
Doug Waechter
Seth McClung
Kent Mercker
Keith Foulke
Tim Byrdak
Russ Springer
Chad Fox
Yhency Brazoban
Armando Benitez
Aside from having been forgotten, all these guys also share the common trait of being terrible. Lesson being, if you want me to remember that you're still in the Major Leagues, don't suck. Or suck spectacularly. If you just suck a little bit and either occupy an unimportant role or disappear for a while, that's a great way to make people think you're lying when you introduce yourself at parties.
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Chan Ho Park made over $80 million over his career somehow
by Edgar for Pres on May 14, 2008 10:28 PM PDT reply actions
Behold the contract that introduced the world to park factors
by Jeff Sullivan on May 14, 2008 10:30 PM PDT up reply actions
If I have herpes and I pass it on to all of you
I celebrate it because now we’re all connected forever
This is kind of like that
by Last Fan Of Jose Lopez on May 15, 2008 6:57 PM PDT up reply actions
You can "Bet"ancourt your bottom dollar that I do too!
by Last Fan Of Jose Lopez on May 15, 2008 7:49 PM PDT up reply actions
Whatever, you're still really Uggla-y
by Last Fan Of Jose Lopez on May 15, 2008 8:33 PM PDT up reply actions
No, I meant, Aaron Boone is still in the league?
I thought he was gone like two years ago.
Not only that, but check out his batting line.
He’s been absolutely incredible for us as a bench bat/1B backup. Limited AB, of course (sample size blah blah blah) but so far it’s worked out well.
He also went to Spring Training with the Nationals but couldn't hack it and retired from baseball halfway through.
Once more, I commend people to check out Aaron Boone’s statistically unsustainable 2008 batting line: coming into today’s game (where he went 1 for 3) it was .319/.385/.596 with an OPS+ of 154.
The beauty of small sample size is that it can make even Aaron Fucking Boone look like Lance Berkman.
not true
He decided to start the season in the minors. He’s currently on AAA Columbus’s reserve list, but in 13 games this season he is putting up a line of .261/.327/.348
So yeah, he’s done, and if he’s on the reserve list I doubt he plays another game
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I thought he retired (again) as well..
I like midgets more than I should.
BTW, Aaron Boone was 2 for 4 again today, raising his BA to .327
That includes the hit that broke up Pelfrey’s no-no in the 7th. And with Nick Johnson out for 4-6 weeks he’ll be seeing even more playing time.
Foulke fits under "sucked a little bit and disappeared for a while"
by Jeff Sullivan on May 14, 2008 10:39 PM PDT up reply actions
You know who's probably pissed about that? Detroit.
12M for nothing and then he’s awesome again.
Kent Mercker?
Holy shit. I can’t believe that guy was responsible for the majority of two no hitters.
Here are a few more
The Molina brothers
Mike + Mark Sweeney
Guillermo Quiroz
Steve Trachsel
Jon Lieber
Doug Brocail
Paul Lo Duca
Ron Belliard
David Eckstein
Marco Scutaro
Gregg Zaun
Eddie Guardado
Cliff Floyd
Troy Percival
Ron Villone
Trevor Hoffman
Shawn Estes
Doug Mientkiewicz
Alan Embree
Keith Foulke
Damion Easley
Craig Counsell
Esteban Loaiza
Mark Grudzielanek
Hideo Nomo!!!
Ron Mahay
by Edgar for Pres on May 14, 2008 10:53 PM PDT reply actions
Hoffman?
seriously?
The Molina brothers?
We laugh at Benji everyday, and his brother is like 26 years old.
We just saw Guardado yesterday…
and Eckstein, everybody hates Eckstein, we haven’t forgotten about him.
Yeah I kinda just put Eddie in there cause he's old
and Eckstein in there cause he sucks ass.
by Edgar for Pres on May 14, 2008 10:58 PM PDT up reply actions
Nomo surprises me
Mark Sweeney sorta, but I knew everyone else was in the majors, and a lot of those guys play important roles on their teams
Corky Miller is a bit of a shock to me
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Shawn Estes hhahahaha
I think he’s the only one on your list and not Jeff’s that I didn’t know was still in the bigs. Maybe him and Counsell
by seattlebruin on May 15, 2008 8:22 AM PDT up reply actions
I saw Estes pitch in Mt. Vernon a long time ago.
I can’t remember the name of the field, but it was south of downtown along the river. He had no command and a pretty lousy attitude that day. The one play I remember is someone got picked off first base. The runner attempted to dive, but he fell straight down like Richie trying to dive for a grounder.
Justin Miller's actually decent.
He could stand to walk fewer guys but his strikeout rate is good.
We don't negotiate with terrorists.
I remember he was awesome
for a season and a half ,like, ten years ago, and then he got hurt, started to suck and lost his job to Placido Polanco.
Believe it or not
but Tatis just got called up by the Mets.
He's hitting
1.000 for the season.
Haters.
by JohnPeterson on May 15, 2008 1:58 PM PDT up reply actions
He was hitting for New Orleans
Prepare, Mets fans, to have his two grand slams in one inning brought up again and again.
He was the one to hit two grand slams in one inning, right?
We don't negotiate with terrorists.
by Mariner John on May 14, 2008 11:19 PM PDT up reply actions
I will never forget his name because of that feat.
I can’t wait until that is a trivia question in 10 years and I will be one of the few to know.
I remember that too
he was amazing in Ken Griffey Jr. baseball on N64.
The poster formerly known as Matt.
Russ Springer and Kent Mercker were the two guys I was shocked about.
If Miguel Cairo was not a Mariner, he would be on this list. Also, Arthur Rhodes
I await the career resurrection of Kent Bottenfield
Coldly devouring reason as if it were a delectable snack
Well as long as Edmonds is hanging on too long, it would only make sense
by Jeff Sullivan on May 15, 2008 12:46 AM PDT up reply actions
Good point.
Now where did Tony La Russa put Adam Kennedy…
Coldly devouring reason as if it were a delectable snack
by Frosty Raptor on May 15, 2008 1:24 AM PDT up reply actions
Maybe
But maybe not. When the trade was made, we had Troy Percival, Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon, Darin Erstad to sign, as well as Edmonds. Mo Vaughn was a $10 million anchor around our necks. We had no one who could play second base, and our pitching sucked. Someone in the outfield had to go. Would it be A) the 26 year old with a down season on the heels of two pretty good seasons, B) the 28 year old constantly healthy hit machine, C) the 31 year old franchise keystone, or D) the 30 year old who was pretty good but an injury threat, plus something of a clubhouse douchebag.
The Angels went with D), and in return got one of the best 2B prospects in baseball plus a 30-year old reliever turned starter. The second part was risky, but if you look at Stoneman’s options at the time, he didn’t have a whole lot of choice. Ken Hill and Tim Belcher were still under contract, and our farm system had Jarrod Washburn, Scott Schoenweis, Ramon Ortiz and Seth Etherton. He needed some kind of pitching help and a cheap 2B-man to build for the future, and Jim Edmonds was the cost for that.
Now Bottenfield tanked, but while AK was never a great hitter, he was a great defensive 2B. And defense is a big part of what got us to the playoffs. (Jarrod Washburn, Ramon Ortiz, and Kevin Appier all had good years because our defense kicked ass). If we keep Jim Edmonds, do we get a good defensive 2B? Or just the pitcher? And what about the guy we traded? Erstad, Anderson and Salmon all came up huge in 2002, Erstad on defense mostly, but still huge.
Plus if Jim Edmonds never goes to St. Louis, does he have his breakout year at 30? He gave credit for his offensive performance to tutoring from Mark McGuire. If not, do we still win in 2002? Also, there’s some indication that Edmonds wanted out of Anaheim after his arbitration was up anyway. Do the cash-strapped Angels manage to outbid the rest of the league for Edmonds in the 2000 off-season?
I’ve thought about it a lot, and I’m not sure we win the WS in 2002 without the Edmonds trade.
~Till the Halo burns out...
I'm not saying it was neccesialiy a BAD idea to trade him
they just didn’t get much in return. That’s one of those trades that looks awful in hindsight, but wasn’t AS awful at the time.
It’s funny how many players credit Mark McGwire with turning them into a much better hitter. I hope that someday he takes up the offer to become a coach.
That's true enough.
It definitely wasn’t the highlight of Stoneman’s GMing career, but I feel like it wasn’t that bad a move given what he had to work with, and few of us are complaining now about the results.
It’s funny how many players credit Mark McGwire with turning them into a much better hitter. I hope that someday he takes up the offer to become a coach.
You don’t need a coach to teach people to take steroids. :-P
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
~Till the Halo burns out...
When is Juan Gonzalez coming back?
...and now I'm here
hmmm
Chad Fox and Kent Mercker are the two real surprises for me on that list
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Does anybody remember what Jose Cruz Jr.'s ceiling was when he was called up?
I vaguely remember reading an article in elementary school that compared him to Ken Griffey Jr. I also remember a bit of consternation over trading him for Paul Spoljaric and Mike Timlin. Funny how it’s the other deal for relief pitching that the M’s would like to have back.
Meh. Darren Bragg says hello Red Sox Nation.
Coldly devouring reason as if it were a delectable snack
I was a young'un, so I could be wrong,
but I remember Cruz being a pretty damn good prospect.
His line at AAA in 1997 before he was called up was .268/.379/.468. And in his brief stint with the M’s he hit .268/.315/.462. Between Tacoma, Seattle and Toronto in 1997, he hit 30 homers as a 23-year-old.
I think any comparison to Junior was a bit crazy, but there was reason to believe that he would be a very good baseball player. And if you take a quick-and-dirty look at his career logs, he put up average-ish OPS+ numbers his whole career. I think he gets way more shit than he deserves, to be honest. He was a journeyman, which doesn’t always mean someone is bad. He never turned into a star, but he appears to have been a league-average hitter over most of his career—at least when he was on the field. I don’t know how his defense is/was, though.
I remember being incredibly pissed at that trade because it seemed like we FINALLY
had a LF to partner with Griff and Bone. And then we didn’t and went right back to going through about 4 per season.
I was more bummed out than pissed
But for the exact same reasons as you. It was a very eery thing watching him get called out of the batters box to be told he just got traded.
I also remember getting really frustrated at the way Timlin was treated here. The guy was a ground ball machine but our crappy infield defense and the Kingdome turf killed him.
Darren Bragg's page on BR is available for only 10 dollars.
...and now I'm here
He shoved me at Veteran's stadium... saying "Move"..
Had he been alone, and not with Andruw Jones, whom I was trying to get the autograph of, and if I was older than like 15 I may have hit him.
They traded Cruz on my 12th birthday
and I wanted to kill myself.
by seattlebruin on May 15, 2008 8:24 AM PDT up reply actions
Darin Erstad never flies under my radar
by Jeff Sullivan on May 15, 2008 8:02 AM PDT up reply actions
He played football, you know.
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
Also, I'm always down for some online Grand Theft Auto IV or Rock Band. Gamertag: Phildopip
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on May 15, 2008 8:05 AM PDT up reply actions
Willi Bloomquist did too
And was never once late home for dinner. Or caught wearing unpleated slacks.
He still has a national championship ring
by seattlebruin on May 15, 2008 8:51 AM PDT up reply actions
And a World Series ring
There really is no justice.
I remember when....
People around these parts thought Jose Cruz Jr. was sure to be a superstar, and were majorly pissed when we traded him for Mike Timlin and Paul Spoljaric.
Looking back I’d say we got the better of that one.
Disagree
we got 1.3 years of crap relief from Spoljaric and 1.3 years of good relief from Timlin in exchange for a center fielder who slugged .471 over those first six years of team control.
by Jeff Sullivan on May 15, 2008 9:12 AM PDT up reply actions
How the hell did Jose Cruz Jr win a Gold Glove?
Wasn’t his rep coming up “good bat, no field?” I seem to remember him being very confused every time a line drive was hit right at him
by seattlebruin on May 15, 2008 10:08 AM PDT up reply actions
Yeah, but at least Jeter has made a few memorable plays
so I could understand why the casual fan would think he’s a good defensive player. All the games I’ve watched Cruz play, he was a disaster in the OF.
BTW, I started watching some more of Ankiel after what you said about his wonky routes out in center. Definitely noticed it too last night on that Sportscenter catch he made. At least for the time being, being a great athlete really helps him make up for those routes, I think.
by seattlebruin on May 15, 2008 10:15 AM PDT up reply actions
Still, several cheap years of a decent outfielder is more valuable than mediocre relief
by Jeff Sullivan on May 15, 2008 10:23 AM PDT up reply actions
Woody Woodward should have the following on his gravestone
1997 – how NOT to build a bullpen
by seattlebruin on May 15, 2008 10:25 AM PDT up reply actions
What's Kevin Jarvis doing these days?
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
Also, I'm always down for some online Grand Theft Auto IV or Rock Band. Gamertag: Phildopip
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on May 15, 2008 9:26 AM PDT reply actions
Doug Waechter? Really?
I always thought he was so cool, but then I learned his name wasn’t pronounced “vector”.
I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.
Ron Mahay
Is actually a pretty damn good setup guy for KC and was also pretty good for Texas last year.
Not ancient players, but still surprising
Jorge Campillo
Francisco Cruceta (off the juice? maybe?)
Mark Hendrickson
Jody Gerut
Gabe Kapler (duh)
Phil Dumatrait
Chris Gomez
So Taguchi
Brian Schneider
The best part is how one of these players was the OD starter for a division-leading team
by Jeff Sullivan on May 15, 2008 11:36 AM PDT up reply actions
No, the best part is that one of these guys played opening day this year
and was a MANAGER on opening day last year.
Jody Gerut's still playing?
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
Also, I'm always down for some online Grand Theft Auto IV or Rock Band. Gamertag: Phildopip
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on May 15, 2008 12:57 PM PDT up reply actions
Moneyball rears its head yet again!
BTW I find it extremely ironic that in that ‘02 draft of all the drafts, pretty much all the first rounders made it, especially the ones the book talked about the A’s having no interest in. Upton, Loewen, Grienke, Francis (exception for Francis, they liked him), Fielder, Saunders, Kazmir, etc. Also let it be noted that between picks 24 and 26, the “high school pitcher the A’s hadn’t the slightest interest in” was Matt Cain. Ah, the benefits of results based analysis…
by seattlebruin on May 15, 2008 4:28 PM PDT up reply actions
Bonds, Barry
B. Lamar Bonds
BLB
Son of Bobby Bonds
Al Martin :(
I fucking hate you Mariners
by kentroyals5 on May 15, 2008 10:08 PM PDT up reply actions
Mark Bellhorn is still trying to make it back
He debuted for the Dodgers’ AA-team yesterday.
Joe Torre’s veteran fetish might just give him a chance, I suppose.
Doug Waechter
The rookie asshat who 1-hit (or was it no-hit?) us in 2003.
I will never forget that slight.
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