Written by Rod33
For 30 seasons the Seattle Mariners never won a Division Title in the National League West of the Robert E. McCabe HBD World.
“My first season I was a mid-season replacement. I took over a team 8-50 with no healthy or rested pitchers; pretty much a
In the following Season of 32, the Mariners were back in the World Series and came out with another World Series Championship with 4 additional 1st place finishes in the following 4 seasons. In the just completed Season 37, the Mariners again won a World Series Championship. They’re on their way.
Had anyone paid attention in Season 29, they would have noticed Mariner players beginning to show up in the Postseason Awards. Case in point, Jose Valdes, an International Free Agent who signed with Seattle in Season 27 for $29 million. At 6’3”/199, the Firstbaseman appeared as an All-Star in Season 29, 30, and the Championship Season 31. He was named the Silver Slugger at first base in all 3 of those seasons. Incredibly, Valdes won the National League Most Valuable Player Award for Seasons 29, 30 and 31. He played in Season 32 World Series, the All-Star Game, and won another Silver Slugger Award for first base. Still a Mariner, Season 33 saw another Silver Slugger at first base. In Seasons 34 and 36 it was 2 more Silver Slugger Awards, but for Leftfield, and again, in Season 35 an All-Star appearance.
Season 31 brought Jose Gabriel to Seattle in a trade with the San Francisco Giants, exchanging Silver Slugger and All-Star First Baseman Eric Douglass, Gold Glove Centerfielder Wilin Gonzalez, and traveling pitcher Les Purcell for the new Mariner Relief hurler. Named Rookie of the Year for Season 31, he had appeared in 83 games with an ERA of 2.11. The next season, Gabriel made 86 appearances with an ERA of 2.93. Continuing with the Seattle franchise, he posted a record of 67 Games, a 1.00 WHIP, and an ERA of 2.08 in Season 36. For the recent championship season, he continued his pitching prowess with 52 Appearances, a WHIP of 1.17 with an ERA of 3.40.
In their 3 WS Championships, 5 hitters were in the lineup for each. Leading the way was International Free Agent Valdes, the Firstbaseman-Leftfielder; Nixon, the Rightfielder they had received in a trade; and 3 Seattle #1 Draft Picks, Secondbaseman Thayer, Centerfielder Flores, and Thirdbaseman-Shortstop Magnusson. On the pitching side, only 3 were on all 3 WS staffs and were all acquired via trades, Raul Escalona, a starter, and 2 relievers, Max Douglass and Jose Gabriel.
Can the Mariners continue their run of dominance in the National League and HBD in general? It would seem so with the emergence this past season of Thirdbaseman, Trace Garvin. Acquired via trade, the 23-year-old was named Rookie of the Year, won the awards for Silver Slugger and Gold Glove at Thirdbase, named to the All-Star team, and played in the World Series. He didn’t come cheap though, as it was a 3 for 1 deal. The Mariners included 2 AAA prospects at the time, #1 Draft Pick John Ma, a slugging Firstbaseman, and catcher Vic Maduro who they had signed as a $16M International Free Agent, plus Marvin Hooper from AA, a former #1 Draft Pick of the Baltimore Orioles. If the Mariners can consistenly replenish their system in this manner, the answer is a resounding yes.
Mark3313 considers trades a big part of his game and has shown he is willing to give up bigtime prospects to get what he wants. The man definitely has a plan. Over many seasons Seattle received in trades: Miguel Mesa, who went on to win 2 Cy Young Awards for the Mariners for David Martinez, a Centerfielder and an $8M IFA; Junior Meng, current Firstbaseman for AAA All-Star, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove Centerfielder Chipper Hardy; Pitcher Max Douglass for Brian Grichuk (2B) and Victor Ayala (P), both #1 Draft Picks acquired from other franchises; Pitcher Raul Escolona for #1 Overall Pick, Brian Simms, picked up from Baltimore. Other players who came to Seattle via trades were: Tim Nixon (RF); Tim Hitchcock (P); Benj Winn (P) from Minnesota another #1 Overall Draft Pick; S36 Rookie of the Year, Victor Diaz for 3 players; Charlie Graves (P) S36 Fireman of the Year with the LA Dodgers; and 2 Cy Young pitchers in Mike Harper and Frankie Brooks.
Seattle’s franchise owner seems to have the formula to keep Player Payroll for the team’s core players under control, which may be the most difficult portion of ownership’s job in Hardball Dynasty. Of course, setting a budget is a priority for every franchise. We cannot analyze Seattle’s budget with most of the settings private. But there are key elements to every budget which gives a telling hint to strategy. Immediately after takeover, Mark3313 slashed Payroll budget from the previous owner’s budget of $109M to $75M, increased Prospects from $15M to $18M and Coaches from $9M to $13M. In so doing, he set the course for this team’s future.
It can be said, that as Player Payrol increased, budgets for Prospects decreased while Coaching budgets remained constant. After his first 2 WS Championships, the budgets for Players and Prospects changed drastically. The payroll for Players grew each year, from $73M, to $83M, to $89M, to $93M, to $99M last season. Conversely, Prospect budgets dropped dramatically from $20M to $6M per season and remained there.
The biggest challange in Season 38 for the Seattle Mariners and Mark3313 will be the 5 unsigned players left at this writing. Going to Arbitration will be Starters Frankie Brooks and Don Swann with Firstbaseman Junior Meng. Going to Free Agency are Jose Valdes the Leftfielder and Reliever Benj Winn. It seems like Seattle will enter into the $100M Player Payroll territory for the first time since Mark3313 took the helm. But you can be sure he is looking past Season 38 and into the future of his dynasty called the Seattle Mariners.
“Plain and simple, a dynasty takes great ownership. mark3313 took over a team that won 53 games his first year and singlehandedly turned it into a consistent Champion.” - pat007ohmss, Commissioner, Robert E. McCabe World, HBD.
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