from USA Today in April of ‘91:

“The defensive problems [in '90] puzzled the Mariners because the scouting reports all said Martinez was a consistent defensive player. Martinez won the regular job at third base in mid-April of last season, and he was so excited about getting the chance, he kept his injured right knee to himself. “The knee is not an excuse for my defense,” Martinez said.

But Seattle manager Jim Lefebvre says the injury affected Martinez more than he will concede. Martinez had arthroscopic surgery and missed the final week of the season.”

Neat.

Edgar’s defense in 1992 was about 8 runs below average. Overall, I have him as -10 total career. He was very good in 1989 and 1990 according to zone rating.

I was always surprised by how often a post-Mariners David Bell ended up on SportsCenter, winning games with his bat or making WebGems with his glove–far beyond his actual abilities.

That seems depressingly true of most post-Mariners. But David Bell is fondly remembered.

How disaterous was dumping him for Cirillo? In 2002, Bell posted an OPS+ of 104, good for about +4 RAA. Cirillo put up a 70 OPS+, or -20 runs. Oh well, that was only about a 2 win difference, and the M’s were 6 wins out of the playoffs that year. I guess we have to blame James Baldwin.

Thus, we see how many light years AB is ahead of all those who came before him at 3B.

Sigh…I know David Bell wasn’t exactly a HOF’er, but after watching RD flail away for four years, he was like watching Mike Schmidt by comparison.

You said it, Scott19. Especially considering what immediately FOLLOWED David Bell’s turn at third–my friends and I have had a running joke similar to “Adam Jones would have got to that” where any Cirillo/Speizio flailing, either in the field or at the plate, would have been quickly followed by a variant on this phrase:

To think, we once had David Bell…THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER TO HAVE EVER PLAYED THE GAME.

It’s sad to see, in the cold hard statistical light of reality as presented here in this thread, that this simply isn’t true…but I was always surprised by how often a post-Mariners David Bell ended up on SportsCenter, winning games with his bat or making WebGems with his glove–far beyond his actual abilities, it seemed–and how often I raised a glass in his direction.

(That said, my vote goes to Beltre.)

My recollection has Edgar as a pretty good 3B too. I don’t recall any Beltre-like throws from behind the bag, but it seems like he was pretty good to his left and right and I seem to remember him being very consistent in catching balls in his zone.

Bradley ’85 for LF!

Edgar has a bad defensive reputation from the moment he got his first full time gig…

from USA Today in April of ’91:

“The defensive problems [in '90] puzzled the Mariners because the scouting reports all said Martinez was a consistent defensive player. Martinez won the regular job at third base in mid-April of last season, and he was so excited about getting the chance, he kept his injured right knee to himself. “The knee is not an excuse for my defense,” Martinez said.

But Seattle manager Jim Lefebvre says the injury affected Martinez more than he will concede. Martinez had arthroscopic surgery and missed the final week of the season.”

One of the finer moments in Mariners Pop Culture– Russ Davis bad-dancing.

And, you know what, he was also the greatest toreador in Mariner history — since nobody could dart out of the path of danger (i.e. sharply hit grounders) better than ole’ Russ.

Sigh…I know David Bell wasn’t exactly a HOF’er, but after watching RD flail away for four years, he was like watching Mike Schmidt by comparison.

That got me to thinking about left field, and trying to guess whether 3B or LF has given the M’s more seasons of weakness. And that got me to thinking about the opposite of this project: the worst full seasons (or perhaps opening day starters) at each position in Mariner history. If you think about it, that’s a much more challenging task: not only are you digging up memories you’re probably trying to suppress, you have so many choices at every position.

Ken Phelps ‘87 would be a good candidate for DH if Edgar was put at third.

The best thridbaseman of the year does not win the Edgar Martinez Award. You can’t possibly put him at any other position besides the one with the award named after him.