A few issues with the 50 best and worst Mariners

BEND, Ore. - Depending on your perspective, I blew it every which way with the Worst 50 Mariners list that I posted yesterday.

Then again, when the Mariners unveiled their top 50 players from the franchise’s first 50 years last night at T-Mobile Park, they dropped the ball with a few things too.

But before I get into all of that, I think we can agree that the Mariners’ celebration of their first half-century as a major league team was very well done.

To see all of the players appear in what looked like lettermen coats with their names on the back was a nice touch.

And to announce that Rick Rizzs would enter the Mariners Hall of Fame was terrific. Caught by surprise, the longtime play-by-play man was understandably emotional and it was great to see.

But no matter what they did, the Mariners were going to be criticized for putting some players on the list instead of others who some fans thought were more deserving.

Tim Booth of the Seattle Times wrote a story this morning detailing the potential misses, and Jeff Nelson was viewed as the most notable absentee.

Let’s just say that Nelson should have been included no matter what the Mariners’ rationale was.

The right-handed reliever is the team’s all-time leader with appearances in 432 regular season games. And in those games, he had a rather respectable 3.26 ERA.

Among others that Booth and fans thought were overlooked:

First baseman Tino Martinez, third baseman Eugenio Suarez, third baseman Mike Blowers, catcher Mike Zunino and starting pitcher Marco Gonzales.

Booth also pointed out that closer Edwin Diaz had a good case for being on the list too, with his 2018 season featuring 57 saves and a 1.96 ERA. Diaz is also second on the team’s career saves list with 101.

Kazuhiro Sasaki is No. 1 with 129 saves, and J.J. Putz is third with 101, and both made the top 50 list.

My second-biggest beef with last night’s celebration, and it’s a minor one, but as a Coug, I’ll mention it.

No problem with the University of Washington band being there, but after a while I wondered why they played for as long as they did. I felt like I was watching a halftime show at Husky Stadium instead of a coronation of the Mariners’ best 50 players at a ballpark.

The biggest beef…

How can you put eight players from this year’s 56-62 team on the top 50 list?

Three? OK.

Even four? OK.

Eight? Not OK.

George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, Bryan Woo, Andres Munoz, J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriquez all made it.

The only two slam dunks were Cal and Julio. The others, not so much, especially Kirby, Crawford and Woo.

But that’s just my opinion, and I’m guessing the Mariners would counter by saying all eight were instrumental in leading the club to the best finish in franchise history last year - one game short of the World Series.

And the team could also ask me why in God’s name did I put Jeff Fassero, Jose Lopez and Dave Valle on my Worst 50 Players list.

The Mariners would say, look you idiot, Lopez was an All-Star in 2006, Fassero had one bad season and was anywhere from serviceable to good the rest of the time he was in Seattle, and Valle?

We thought he was so good that we put him on our top 50 list.

To which I’d reply:

Do you think there’s any chance Valle might be flattered that he made both lists?

I also goofed by not ranking Dustin Ackley higher (lower?) than 35th on my list. A guy who was drafted second overall and flamed out the way he did should have been in the bottom 20, maybe even the bottom 10.

I’d say live and learn, but after 69 years I wonder about that old saying sometimes.

I read a free subscriber’s message to me last night and for the life of me I can’t find it now. I’ve looked all over the place for it.

I do know his name was Bob, and he’s upset with me for putting a paywall on the Worst 50 List right before I revealed my bottom 10 players, including Chone Figgins, who was chosen to be the worst of the worst players, ranking No. 1 overall.

If you’ll allow me to address Bob personally…

Bob, I wasn’t sure about what I did with that paywall. Before I posted that story, I asked my kids if they thought it would be all right to put a paywall in the post before the top 10.

They told me everyone does that kind of thing with the hope that you’ll get more paid subscribers.

I’m not blaming my kids, I’m just pointing this out to tell you I was torn with what I ended up doing.

You’re right, Bob, I do have income from Social Security along with a paltry Post-Intelligencer pension. And you’re also correct, I like to bet on sports, but it’s typically 10 and 20 bucks here and there. I’m not looking at Substack as a source of income so I can bet and lose on the Mariners.

But you’re wrong about one thing. I do give a rat’s ass, as you put it, about you and other free subscribers.

It means a lot that anyone would think enough of what I’m doing here to become a free subscriber.

I have never lost sight of how fortunate I am that someone - and hopefully many someones - would want to read what I’ve written whether they’re paying for it or not.

I started writing on Substack in September of 2024 and posted completely free stories for the next 14 months.

In November of 2025, I activated the financial pledges that were made to me and felt at that time - and still do - that I needed to offer more content to paid subscribers than to free subscribers.

Bob, what I’m doing along those lines is making every other post free for everyone, and the other posts go directly to paid subscribers. Those posts also go to free subscribers, but there’s a paywall inserted in the stories.

Substack typically sets its standard monthly fee at $8 and yearly fee at $80. I thought that was too high and lowered mine to $5 monthly and $50 yearly.

If you don’t want to pay $5 a month, that’s fine, I get it. I also understand how you didn’t like being blindsided with that paywall showing up where it did in the Worst 50 Players post.

But I like to think what I’m doing here is worth $5 a month. I’m guessing I write an average of 10 stories a month if not more. What’s that, 50 cents a story if my math is correct?

I’ll do my best, Bob, to be more selective with where I’m putting that paywall in those stories I’m sending to free subscribers. And I still plan to send every other story to free subscribers like yourself if you choose to remain one.

Thank you for your interest and hope I appropriately addressed your concerns.