Sunday, January 28, 2018

2008: Erik Bedard Arrives in Seattle and Gets Everyone Fired.

After winning 88 games in 2007 and appearing to be a team on the rise everything fell apart, yet again, in 2008. The club managed to lose 101 games, the first time over the century mark for losses since 1983. The manager, Jon McLaren, and the general manager, Bill Bavasi, both got the boot halfway through the season. The season is best remembered as an unmitigated disaster.

Looking back on 2008 the problems started before the season even started when the team decided to go all in for the post season. They traded away Adam Jones and Chris Tillman, plus three other players, to the Baltimore Orioles for starting pitcher Erik Bedard. This trade famously failed completely and totally for the Mariners. It is considered one of the worst trades in club history, and definitely the worst of anytime during the current drought.

Obviously hindsight is 20-20, but this trade looks extra bad upon review. Adam Jones turned into an All-Star centerfielder for the Orioles and Chris Tillman has compiled 198 starts for the Orioles since 2009 started. The Mariners only addition from the trade, Erik Bedard, spent two and a half frustrating years with the team, during which he started 46 games. In those games Bedard averaged only 5.5 innings per start, but he did have a good 3.31 ERA (255 IP, 94 ER). While Bedard wasn't bad he wasn't consistent at all and just couldn't be counted on. The price the M's paid for him was just too great. By trading two young and promising minor leaguers it set the team back for years to come.

Once the team actually started playing baseball things didn't go well either. Similar to 2004, the biggest problem with the 2008 team was they couldn't hit or pitch well. Only four players had a wRC+ over 100 (Ichiro, Lopez, Beltre, and Ibanez), meaning they were better than average for their position. Two pitchers started 20 or more games and had ERA's over 6.00 (Silva and Batista). The relief pitchers recorded a record of 36 saves and a whopping 31 blown saves, the most in the American league.

One bright spot was left fielder Raul Ibanez. In his second to last year with Seattle (he returned in 2013 for one last hoorah) Ibanez had a .293 batting average, hit 43 doubles and 23 homer, and drove in 110 runs. This was all good for a wRC+ of 122, by far the best on the Mariners. This good season set Ibanez up for a nice big contract with Philadelphia in 2009.

Ichiro was basically the only person on base for Ibanez to drive in. He score 103 times, or 15% of the Mariners total runs.  Ichiro also racked up his eighth straight year with 200+ hits. Once on base Ichiro stole 43 bases and only got caught 4 times. That is a very impressive 91% success rate. Essentially Ichiro had another typical season.

Another bright spot for the Mariners was the Felix Hernandez finally becoming an ace. Although he went a disappointing 9-11 for the season, his ERA was 3.45, eighth lowest in the American league. Additionally, King Felix struck out 175 batters in 200.66 innings, seventh most in the American League. Overall a very good season.

The rest of the starting pitchers were bad or hurt. We already talked about Erik Bedard and his frustrating first season with the team. In addition to Bedard the team also brought in Carlos Silva. The former Minnesota Twin looked good to start the season, he had a 2.79 ERA in six starts. Then in May everything fell apart. His ERA for the month was 11.00 over 5 starts. Silva ended up starting 28 games in 2008 and he never regained his April form. Although on July 8th he managed tothrow a complete game against Oakland, but in fitting fashion for 2008 he lost 0-2. Silva's final ERA for the season was 6.46. 

2008 is also of note because it was when RA Dickey brought his knuckleball to the Emerald city. Although he had a 5.21 ERA in 112.33 innings during his one season in Seattle, Dickey's unique style made an impression on the fans. I have been following his career from a far ever since.

It wasn't enough that the team couldn't hit or pitch, so for good measure the Mariners also struggled playing defense in 2008. The worst offender was Yuniesky Betancourt who made 21 errors in 153 games, the fourth most in the majors. Betancourt's inability to field groundballs or throw them to first base regularly was a major issue for the shortstop. It probably cost him his job in Seattle.

Calling 2008 a bad season for the Mariners is an understatement. I am sure the franchise would love to just wipe it from the record, but they can't. Fans all around the Pacific Northwest suffered through the season and witnessed some of the worst quality baseball imaginable. The lone offensive bright spot was Raul Ibanez, and the lone pitcher worth lauding was Felix Hernandez. The season is also remember for one of the worst trades in franchise history, which is like rubbing salt in the wound.


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