I was feeling inspired so I gave it a shot. I didn\u2019t limit myself to the eligibility criteria set in the official voting. The main rule I followed is I had to have some opinion or memory of the player to put them on my list. I was born in 1996. My first game was in 2003. The first season I truly remember was in 2009. As such, my list skews towards the present.<\/p>\n
I took a liberal view of \u201cgreatest.\u201d I wrote down about 100 names and ordered them without looking at their stats. I balanced performance, fidelity, entertainment value and whether the Mariners ever gave me free merch with their likeness as a child.<\/p>\n
I put quite a bit of thought into ordering the top 10. I put less thought into ordering the next 40. Here\u2019s what I came up with:<\/p>\n
Ichiro was my first favorite player. I mimicked his batting stance. I had a t-shirt with his face on it. I got his poster whenever the Scholastic Book Fair came to school. He\u2019s the reason I\u2019m a Mariners fan. He was great on the field and cultivated a legendary presence off. Ichiro is the Seattle Mariners.<\/p>\n The only other player I considered at number one was F\u00e9lix. While Ichiro made me a fan, F\u00e9lix kept me a fan. The Cy Young. The perfect game. The King\u2019s Court. The ultra-quality starts. The lore \u2014 oh the sweet, sweet lore. That his career is part tragedy prevents him from taking the top spot, but I think that makes him all the more compelling. Where Ichiro is our untouchable deity, F\u00e9lix is our symbol of sovereignty. Greatness in isolation. I don\u2019t know whether he will ever make the Hall of Fame, or even if I want him to. He\u2019s ours, and you can\u2019t have him.<\/p>\n SEATTLE, WA – AUGUST 15: Starting pitcher Felix Hernandez #34 of the Seattle Mariners was dowsed with water after throwing a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Safeco Field on August 15, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n I found a picture of my first ever game from sometime in 2003. I was holding a sign that read \u201cEDGARRRRR\u201d in the handwriting of a six year old. I don\u2019t remember much of his playing career, but I do remember him bursting into flames in Slugfest: Loaded on my Playstation 2. Like Ichiro, Edgar\u2019s legendary status is as much in his presence as his accolades. I feel compelled to respect him without question.<\/p>\n I think there\u2019s a bit of a gap after Edgar and before Griffey on my personal list. My only memories of Griffey as a Mariner are his return to the org in 2009 and the drama surrounding his retirement a year later. I can imagine his impact in the 90s through our collective reverence, but when I think Griffey\u2019s greatness I mostly think of his home run chase with the Reds.<\/p>\n You could argue Julio hasn\u2019t earned this spot yet, but I suspect he\u2019ll top the list when I write this post for the org\u2019s 100th anniversary. I\u2019m a sucker for a superstar prospect who instantly delivers and then stays with his team to build a dynasty. It\u2019s most satisfying trope in sports. Sure, I\u2019m jumping the gun, but Julio is the first real chance to witness such an arc in my lifetime. I\u2019m leaning into it.<\/p>\n A-Rod was my second favorite player growing up. I always wore number 13 in Little League. I used his stance in create-a-player modes in MLB The Show. I don\u2019t remember him ever playing for the Mariners, but I always thought it was cool that the best player in the world used to play for the Mariners. It was a sense of legitimacy the Mariners rarely could provide for themselves. The new HBO documentary \u201cAlex vs. A-Rod<\/a>\u201d only made me like him more.<\/p>\n I might be little burnt out from writing about Cal this year, if that\u2019s possible. It was the greatest season I have ever seen. He could retire today and justify this placement. I assume he\u2019ll jump a few more spots with time.<\/p>\n This is the most controversial choice in the top 10, but I\u2019m sticking to it. Lee was simply the best pitcher I ever saw in a Mariners\u2019 uniform. He made just 13 starts with the team and posted a 2.16 FIP and 4.2 fWAR before being traded to the Rangers. His 1.5% walk rate is still the lowest in team history. Sure, his time in Seattle was brief \u2014 so brief you can\u2019t even vote for him in the official event \u2014 but he was an elite pitcher for many years elsewhere and one of the best players to ever put on a Mariners\u2019 uniform. I claim him as our own, even if I doubt he feels the same.<\/p>\n Cruz is tied with Edgar with the top wRC+ in team history. It\u2019s silly, but I\u2019m glad he retired as a Mariner<\/a>.<\/p>\n Johnson is in a close race with A-Rod as the best player on this list, but I don\u2019t really think of him as a Mariner. There never seemed to be an effort to associate him with the org as with the other \u201995ers. The reason for that distance was revealed this year as he and the team worked to repair their public relationship. But my appreciation for Johnson resides in his Fangraphs\u2019 page and (as Eric Sanford recently put it<\/a>) the trio of phallic references in his name. Both are world class.<\/p>\n Fair or not, the first thing I think of when Seager is mentioned is the way he left the team. It makes me sad. Great player, though. I wonder if he\u2019ll show up for the ceremony. Is he ready?<\/p>\n J.P. Crawford (12) The current era of the Mariners is by far my favorite. It\u2019s hard to picture it without J.P., Geno or Castillo. They\u2019ve each been productive and likable and winners. I\u2019ll be sad when their time in Seattle is over.<\/p>\n James Paxton (15) Paxton and Haniger are a parallel for the trio above but without the health to have been a reliable part of a core. They provided countless memorable moments in their time here, though.<\/p>\n Jay Buhner (17) I appreciate Buhner\u2019s longstanding fondness for the org. I missed him on the broadcast for the years he was away, even if sometimes he irritates me. He\u2019s family.<\/p>\n I had a mini-bat with Boone\u2019s face on it that destroyed at least one lamp in my childhood living room. I loved his bat toss \u2014 hence the lamp. He was also the best player on the early 00s squad that was the best in team history.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know that there\u2019s a strong case for Mu\u00f1oz as the top reliever on the list, but he\u2019s my favorite active pitcher in MLB and the \u201ccloser\u201d for one of the most successful eras of the org. His fastball\/slider combo is iconic \u2014 as is his cat<\/a>.<\/p>\n Beltr\u00e9 combines my feelings on A-Rod, Lee and Seager. My first thought when I see Beltr\u00e9\u2019s name is how disappointing he was in Seattle. But because he wasn\u2019t here too long, and because he was so exceptional everywhere else, and because he was otherwise likable and shared my fondness for F\u00e9lix, I feel lucky to have watched him as a Mariner. And, well, the \u201cdisappointing\u201d version of Beltr\u00e9 was still one of the best players in team history.<\/p>\n Davis breaks my rule of only choosing players I know something about. I never saw him play. I couldn\u2019t pick him out of a crowd. I don\u2019t know what his batting stance looked like, or even which box he stood in. But his Fangraphs\u2019 page is tremendously impressive. Forgive my ignorance, Mr. Mariner.<\/p>\n I am a proud owner of a Kuma Bear hat. He is the proud owner of a no hitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n I always get a chuckle out of Cameron burning sage<\/a> whenever the team needs a vibes cleanse.<\/p>\n I have never been so excited about baseball as the day Can\u00f3 signed with the Mariners. He was one of the 20 best players in the world before Seattle, and he was one of the 20 best players while here. The sense of legitimacy I sought with A-Rod was finally in my lap. He had two truly great seasons in 2014 and 2016, and he had two pretty good seasons in 2015 and 2017. He looked on pace for another all-time season in 2018 but abandoned the team to serve a PED suspension. I\u2019ve convinced myself that squad would have made the playoffs had he been on the field, and I find that hard forgive, especially with what it would have meant for F\u00e9lix and Seager (and himself and me). Can\u00f3 was great. His legacy in Seattle is complicated. He should be higher, but he\u2019s not.<\/p>\n George Kirby (25) Why are J.P., Geno and Castillo 11-13 and Kirby and Gilbert 25-26? I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n Kyle Lewis (27) I had to fight the urge to put Lewis much higher. He might be the player whose career I\u2019ve rooted for the hardest. He debuted right as I was getting into Big Data, and I found him fascinating to study. He had one of the best \u2014 at times THE best \u2014 approaches in MLB, to go with massive power and solid center field defense<\/a>. If he didn\u2019t get hurt, I\u2019m certain he\u2019d be among MLB\u2019s best players. But he did get hurt, and his career is over. We\u2019ll always have the 2020 AL Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n Like Lewis, Guti earned similar affinity from stats-knowers of an earlier era. And like Lewis, he goes down in the \u201cwhat might have been\u201d category, battling freak and sometimes mysterious ailments that kept him off the field. He was the best defensive player I ever saw, and his nickname \u201cDeath To Flying Things\u201d is among the final great calls of Dave Niehaus.<\/p>\n Tom Wilhemsen (29) The Bullpen Banter <\/a>duo is remembered fondly for their personalities, and that\u2019s largely why they\u2019re on this list. They were rare brights spots<\/a> in the org\u2019s otherwise miserable teen years. But they were also two of the best relievers in franchise history, and they were part of the combined no hitter<\/a> in the middle of their best season.<\/p>\n Olerud was maybe the greatest college baseball player ever<\/a>, and he did it at my alma mater. My sister was a big fan of his because he wore a helmet on defense. He also had a public legal fight<\/a> because he wanted to cut down his neighbors trees.<\/p>\n J.J. Putz (32) One of my first team giveaways was the \u201cJ.J. Putz height chart.\u201d For several years of my childhood, a life-size, 2-D Putz watched me sleep. His 2006 season is the second best by a reliever in team history and gave us maybe the greatest pitch<\/a> in team history.<\/p>\n The best reliever season belongs to Edwin D\u00edaz in 2018. He was (and still is) a great pitcher, but I\u2019ll never forgive him for mainstreaming that Timmy Trumpets song after he was traded to the Mets.<\/p>\n Jamie Moyer (34) Next we have a quartet of lefty starters. Moyer is self explanatory; Washburn less so, but I had his shirsey and some fond memories of his final outings with the Mariners (including a near perfecto). Marco went to Gonzaga and I live in Spokane, so that\u2019s something. And Vargas is an all-time gif-able player, even after he left the team:<\/p>\n Mike Blowers (38) And now the broadcast trio. Blowers was the best color analyst in baseball. I don\u2019t remember him as a player \u2014 I never thought of him as a player \u2014 but I miss him dearly. I do remember RRS as a player. We shared a name and that\u2019s all it took for him to become one of my favorites growing up. I enjoy his presence in the booth, too. Valle would rank number one on my list of people I\u2019d like to have a few beers with and watch a slate of Saturday games.<\/p>\n Ibanez holds the record (along with Ted Williams) for most homers in a season as a 41 year old, making this ranking too convenient to pass up. He always makes me think of Lookout Landing.<\/p>\n Moore was one of the league\u2019s great fastball hunters and capable of playing every position on the field. He was dynamic, he was interesting, and he was good. I\u2019m sad that he\u2019s gone, though I couldn\u2019t stand to watch him swing and miss even one more time.<\/p>\n Freddy Garcia (44) I remember each of these pitchers.<\/p>\n Mike Zunino (47)![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-2.27.25\u202fPM.png\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"SEATTLE,](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/gettyimages-150319499.jpg\"\/)
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<\/a><\/p>\n
Luis Castillo (13)
Eugenio Su\u00e1rez (14)<\/p>\n
Mitch Haniger (16)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/tkzrx4y2n2j33ysrbxdd.gif\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n
Bret Boone (18)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/felix_kuma.jpg.webp\"\/)
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<\/a><\/p>\n
Logan Gilbert (26)<\/p>\n
Franklin Gutierrez (28)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/usa-today-8720045.0.jpg.webp\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n
Charlie Furbush (30)<\/p>\n
Edwin D\u00edaz (33)<\/p>\n
Jason Vargas (35)
Jarrod Washburn (36)
Marco Gonzales (37)<\/p>\n
Ryan Rowland-Smith (39)
Dave Valle (40)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ibanez2013.gif\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/slack-imgs.0.0.1485345258.png.webp\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n
Joel Pineiro (45)
Doug Fister (46)<\/p>\n
John Jaso (48)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/9ikLebv-2.jpeg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time for a listicle. The Mariners will play their 50th season in 2026. To celebrate, they offer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2392],"tags":[5,620,4,619,65,43498,3235],"class_list":{"0":"post-459719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-mariners","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mariners","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-seattle","12":"tag-seattle-mariners","13":"tag-seattle-mariners-history","14":"tag-seattlemariners"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115658321651496982","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}