2004: A Terrible Year for Seattle Baseball

2004 was the year it all came crashing down. The team finished with 63 wins and 99 losses. This was mostly because they couldn't hit or pitch. The Mariners scored the least runs in the AL at 698 or 4.31 runs per game. The pitchers gave up the 5.08 runs per game. It is really hard to be a good team when you give up .77 runs more per game than you score.

Newcomers Rich Aurilla and Scott Spezio both failed. Aurilla started the year at short stop, however he only made it 73 games before being traded to the Padres. In his half season with the team Aurilla hit only .241 with 17 extra base hits. It was his worst offensive performance, as measured by OPS, since 1996, his first full season in the big leagues. Spezio was brought to the team to play first and third base. He did manage to do that, appearing 42 times at first and another 66 at third. Being a warm body on the field was Spezio's biggest contribution to the team. He recorded a -0.8 WAR in 2004 according to Baseball Reference, which means he was worse than a random minor leaguer. Spezio had an OBP of only .288, which is terrible. For comparison's sake Ketal Marte had an OBP of .287 in 2016 while starting at short stop, a traditionally light hitting position, for the Mariners. Scott Spezio started a first and third,traditionally power hitting positions.

In 2004 the Mariners also saw several of their offensive stalwarts have massive drop offs from past production. John Olerud had a triple slash of .245/.354/.360. All three of these were lows for his Mariners career. His tenure with the Mariners ended near the end of July when they released him.

Mariner legend Edgar Martinez also struggled at the plate, at least by his standards (although it was better than Olerud, Spezio and Aurilla). 2004 ended up being the last season of his illustrious career. His runs, hits, homeruns, RBI, and walks all dropped significantly from his 2003 totals.

Despite the gloomy writing so far not all was bad at the plate for the Mariners. Ichiro had his best season at the plate. He set the single season hit record at 262. Ichiro was his usual terror on the base paths. He stole 31 bases and scored 101 times, both team highs. Ichiro also earned his fourth consecutive Gold Glove for his stellar outfield defense. He was the reason to watch this team.

The 2004 season had one other position player I would be remiss to not mention. Bucky Jacobsen made his major league debut. Jacobsen left a lasting impression on the Seattle sports psyche. For Mariners fans desperate for future stars, his 9 homer, 9 doubles, and 28 RBI were an tantalizing preview of what the future could. Sadly it was not to be 2004 was the only season Jacobsen ever made it to the major leagues. His knees were too damage to sustain him as a professional athlete.

As already mentioned it wasn't just the hitters that struggled in 2004. The pitching staff was also terrible. The lowest ERA of any starter with at least 20 starts was 4.67. Jamie Moyer, a soft tosser who had put up several good season with the M's got destroyed. He gave up 44 homers in only 33 games started, which unsurprisingly was the worst in MLB. As a result his ERA ballooned from 3.27 in 2003 to 5.21 in 2004.

The season did see the rise and fall of Bobby Madritsch. At age 28 the pitcher made his major league debut. He started 11 games and posted a 3.27 ERA. Much like Bucky Jacobsen he filled fans with hope. And unfortunately much like Bucky Jacobsen it was not meant to be. Madritsch appeared again in 2005 before being let go and claimed by the Royals. The much tattooed pitcher capture the minds of Seattle for a summer and then disappeared in baseball obscurity.

It wasn't only the starting pitching that struggled for the Mariners in 2004. The bullpen was a disaster. The Mariners brought in Eddie Guardado from Minnesota to be the closer. Although Guardado's ERA, a low-ish 2.78, was not as bad as I remember he was still a major liability on the mound. Steady Eddie blew 7 games in 25 chances. 2003 relief star Shigetoshi Hasegawa fell off a cliff. His ERA exploded from a stunning 1.48 in 2003 to 5.16 in 2004. Other relievers with significant playing time in 2004 were J.J. Putz, Mike Myers, and Julio Mateo. They all had ERA over 4.50 and Putz and Mateo had lots of trouble giving up the long ball. They combined to allow 21 dingers to Mariners opponents.

After reading through all this it is probably clear that 2004 was not a good year for professional baseball in Seattle. The team couldn't hit or pitch well. Fan favorite players succumbed to the decline of age and new free agent signings failed to perform well. The highlight of 2004 was probably the debuts of Bucky Jacobsen and Bobby Madritsch, although sadly neither ever made a lasting impact for the team. 2004 will probably always be remembered as the beginning of the decade plus of bad Mariners baseball.

Sources: Baseball Reference, Fangraphs