I am excited about the opportunity that the Mariners have going into the offseason - a new coach, a foundation of young players, some nice pitchers behind Felix - trouble is Jack Z has a reputation of making poor moves in the off-season. My memory is poor and have a hard time recalling whether there is a pattern here or if this is just his critics cherry picking / playing games with my off-season enthusiasm. So I went back to 2009 to check it out:
Players Acquired who are vets (note that I only counted hitters with 200 or more at bats; plus I have not included players grown in the organization because I want to know what can be added to the prospect mix)
- Griffey, Sweeney, Kotchman, Figgins, Jack and Josh Wilson, Branyon, Bradley, Olivo Ryan, Chavez, Bay, Morse Cust, Kennedy, Jaso, Morales, Ibanez (yep he likes his vets)
Players Acquired who are young players - just coming into the league
- Gutierrez, Smoak, Montero, Wells
Players who are one dimensional - typically power hitters with no speed and defence (all the dh's), but also speed only or defence only
- Sweeney, the Wilsons, Branyon, Olivo, Ryan, Montero, Bay, Morse, Morales, Cust, Ibanez
Players who have multiple skillsets
- Gutierrez, Kotchman, Figgins, Smoak (at least we thought), Chavez, Wells, Jaso (maybe)
Players known for their defensive skills
- Kotchman, Figgins, Wells, Ryan (++)
High On Base Guys
- Griffey, Kotchman (not here), Figgins (not here), Bradley (not here), Cust (definately not here), Jason
Players with Plus Speed
- Gutierrez (before injuries), Figgins, Ryan, Chavez
Players who will be here in 2018
- can't think of one
I'll stop here - you get the drift. Not an impressive lot. I like to be half full. Like that there is an Ops Department. This has been a pretty dismal 5 years from a talent acquisition perspective (hoping pitchers are better). I'm not as optimistic before I started this...