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The Seattle Mariners had a lot of good years during Edgar Martinez‘s playing days. Nostalgia surrounds his name, with memories of better days — ALCS appearances, a 116-win season and a couple batting titles. Papi was as loyal as he was talented, building himself a career and legacy in the Emerald City for 18 seasons. A sound humanitarian as well, the city named a street after one of the best right-handed bats to ever play the position of designated hitter.
If it were possible, I doubt the Mariners would blink at the notion of sticking Martinez in a time machine to make him 20 years younger. Then they could send his 31-year-old self back to present time and insert him in their everyday lineup. Not only is he the right-handed bat the M’s so desperately needed last year, he is the DH they have not had for a decade now.
It’s plausible to accept that after having a seven-time All-Star and career .312 hitter hold down the position for so many years, there’s bound to be a lull in production trying to replace him. But Mariners’ designated hitter’s bats have grown exceptionally quiet since Martinez retired in 2004, and they have yet to make the playoffs since he stopped suiting up for the team.
2005 wasn’t bad. Raul Ibanez transitioned into the role rather seamlessly. He hit .280/.355/.436 with 20 HRs and 80 RBIs. Then in 2006, Ibanez got inserted into left field and Carl Everett became mostly ineffective, going .227/.297/.360 with 11 HRs and 33 RBIs. He posted an oWAR of minus-0.7 and ironically, was out of the league the following year at age 35.
The seasons dragged on, the relative futility lingered and the incessant turnover persisted. Joe Vidro in ’07 and ’08 (combined 1.1 oWAR). Then management was obliged to take on a 39-year-old Ken Griffey in ’09 (0.6 oWAR) for $2 million so he could retire a Mariner. Junior wasn’t bad with his 19 HRs and 57 RBIs, but his .214 AVG and .735 OPS signaled his best days were clearly behind him.
Seattle moved on to Russell Branyan in 2010 and provided them with a 0.9 oWAR. The club stooped even lower by paying $2.65 million to strikeout king Jack Cust in 2011. He managed to get punched out in 29.9 percent of his plate appearances that year, posting an anemic line of .213/.344/.329 with only three long balls.
2012 followed with Jesus Montero. Most Mariners fans know how that’s turned out so far. At 25, he is fairly overweight and playing in the minors.
Kendry Morales and the 2013 season in fresh enough on fans’ memories that they are aware he provided decent returns. Then things took a turn for the worse again last year with Corey Hart.
It can be expected that the M’s have not found their next Edgar Martinez. There will never be another Gar. Nelson Cruz is an honest attempt by the organization to right the ship. Given the track record they have at signing free agents for the position, though, there’s plenty of room for pessimism.
But all of these things point to one glaring deficiency within the organization. That is their inability to develop another everyday designated hitter for their lineup. It’s little ironic when you consider the club did exactly that with one of the best ever in Martinez, but that was over two decades ago. The average age of the M’s Opening Day DH in each of the last 10 seasons since Martinez retired is 32 years of age.
If you take Martinez’s 10 lowest oWAR seasons where he played at DH, the accumulative number becomes 30.3. For the other players who have manned the spot since 2005, their combined oWAR is a dismal 7.8, with $41.3 million spent in salaries ($44.79 million in 2014 adjusting for inflation). The average oWAR for each season from 2005-14 is 0.78, easily equivalent to replacement level. In Martinez’s least productive years, the average still equated to somewhere between starter and All-Star quality.
Yet in the face of this terrible production, the M’s dished out almost $50 million in base salaries for bats that were more often than not detrimental to their offense. Martinez’s base career earnings with the Mariners was $49.5 million (2004 dollars).
M’s management just paid a 34-year-old $8.5 million more than that above number for potentially 14 less years of service. Cruz needs to produce, or the stigma attached to the club that once boasted a truly great DH may soon indeed develop into a terminal monkey on the franchise’s back.
Jordan Wevers is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JordanWevers, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.
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