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Mariners fans remember the heartbreakersCNNSI.com looked at a few of the transactions that made Mariners fans shout, "Say It Ain't So." Then we opened the mailbag and let users vent on those and other dirty deals from over the years. Here is a sampling of your reactions:
The transaction that broke my heart was when the Seattle Mariners let my hero go ... Harold Reynolds. Harold went on to play a couple more years with the Orioles and then the Angels, but we still miss him in Seattle. He was an excellent player and is a great person.
I'm glad to see he's made an excellent career for himself on ESPN.
As a young Mariners fan growing up in N.J., I remember the team making a habit of trading away my favorite Mariners because they were about to command a salary of $1 million. It happened when they shipped Phil Bradley and his .300 average and 20+ homers to the Phillies for Glen Wilson. The next year it happened again when young slugger Danny Tartabull was sent to Kansas City for a pile of mediocrity (Scott Bankhead, who had a couple of good seasons; Mike Kingery, and Steve Shields...no, not the goalie). Granted, neither player lasted too long in the major leagues as a star, but for a couple of seasons there, it appeared that ownership was willing to trade blossoming stars for average joes. Andrew Sonnabend, Washington, D.C.
The Big Unit, Junior and A-Rod are all tough to swallow. But, before those stars helped turn the Mariners into a winning team, we still had local hereos like Harold Reynolds. He was a great player for the team, leaving everything he had on the field. At the same time, few athletes devoted as much time to the community. It was dissapointing that Harold Reynolds finished his career in an Oriole uniform rather than being able to retire a lifelong Mariner. Owen Lewis, Watertown, N.Y.
At in the deadline in 1986, Seattle sent Dave Henderson and Spike Owen to Boston for Rey Quinones, Mike Trujillo, and some other stumblebum pitcher. Trujillo and the other pitcher were ineffective, injured and soon gone. Quinones was a nightmare that kept coming back. He was a "Grade A" head case who routinely missed grounders, games and the team bus. Henderson, as mosty people know, hit the homer off Donnie Moore that helped send the Sox to the '86 series and won three more pennants and series ring with Oakland. Owen was an adequate SS for the Sox, he was friendly, popular and a hard worker, none of which could be said about Quinones. Bleah.
Bill Shaw, Everett, Wash.
Your piece on the Mariners was nice, but you forgot to mention the one trade that still rankles the devout Mariner fan. It was the beauty that sent slugger prospect Eric Anthony to the Mariners for highly regarded pitching prospect Mike Hampton. While Hampton went on to win 84 games, including seasons where he won 22 games and 15 games twice, Eric Anthony, in his one season in Seattle managed to "belt" 10 homers drive in 30 RBIs and bat a robust .237 in his 79-game Mariner career. And let's not forget the Salomon Torres-for-Shawn Estes debacle engineered by Woody Woodward. Salomon managed to eek out six wins in his 1+ years as an M, while Estes blossomed into one of the most talented lefthanded pitchers. In fact, in four of the five years he has been in the bigs he has won more games than Torres did in his career with the M's.
Nice trades Woody, we really don't miss you at all.
Letting Omar Vizquel leave still brings sorrow. He was a wildly popular shortstop with a great attitude and all the Mariners got in return was Felix Fermin. Then again with Omar maybe Seattle wouldn't have drafted Alex Rodriguez or would've simply lost him in free agency. Regardless, the Mariners lost a class player.
My poor Mariners. So many bad and good deals. Heres my list of best and worst. First trades that seemed bad, and ended up alright... 1. Griffey Jr. -- It just about tore the heart out of this city. Griff, the soul of the franchise, the Kid, quit on us and blackmailed us so he could join Dad and the Big Red Machine. Boy, did this one hurt. But we survived, Mike Cameron performed well, and Kenny pouted in Cincy. Who went to the playoffs? Its a trade we all hated bitterly, but we won out in the end. 2. Randy Johnson -- A much ballyhooed trade. Everybody (I mean everybody) hated it. We traded the Big Unit, the workhorse of the team, for two minor leaguers and a player to be named later!? (I remember vowing to not watch another M's game as long as I live. Well, of course I broke that promise.) 3. Mark Langston for RJ -- At the time it was a finanical move. Bye-bye went our ace and now we had this freak of fireballer who had no control. Well, Langy never did much afterwards and RJ pitched a no-no and won a Cy Young. Who won that deal? Mark this one under the embarassments that the Expos have heaped upon themselves. And now for the bad ones that stayed bad... 5. Mike Hampton -- I cant really remember when and where, but a lot of M's fans bitch about this one. Bad deal anyway you cut it. 6. Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe for Heathcliff Slocumb -- Dumbest trade in sports history. Two valuable prospects for one crappy reliever. Why? Why? WHY? Stupid. We could use a young catcher right about now... 7. Jose Cruz Jr. for Paul Spoljaric and Mike Timlin -- Signaled the end of the season as we traded away an exciting youngster for two throwaway bullpenners. The fans just quit on the team that year after that. And now the one that ticked everybody off and won the Yanks 4 WS titles... 8. Tino Martinez, Jeff Nelson, Jim Mecir for Russ "Butterfingers" Davis and Sterling Hitchcock -- What can be said? The faithful were in expectation for 1996 after the 1995 miracle run in which we beat the Yanks dramatically in Game 5 of the Division Series. So why was this deal done? Woody at his worst.
That best sums up the trades I remember. Every single one ripped out my heart, but at least some weren't so bad after all. And at the heart of them all was Woody Woodward. He should be inducted into the GM's Hall of Shame and Fame!
I have been and always will be a Seattle Mariners fan, and cannot understand the leaving of A-Rod to the Texas Rangers. Just when we have a team that could be dominant for a period because of our pitching and defense and make it to the World Series, he leaves! He then goes to a team that will probably not make it even to the playoffs for a long period of time!
We are always told that it is that he wants to be with a winner. We are told that it is not the money! He may be a nice guy, but he is a liar and left us high and dry! Enough said! I believe that we will be winners anyway.
When Alex Rodriguez showed us his true colors (green) and his total lack of loyality. He now has a lot of love for the game ... as much love as $252 million will buy these days. I hope he falls flat on his face and becomes known in history as the higest paid bench player. Why is it that these days a man can't make a living on $15-18 million a year. I thought it was great when I herd that Texas already raised ticket prices just to pay for his contract. Go Seattle! We didn't need Griffey and we sure don't need a cry baby turn coat like Pay-Rod.
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Harold Reynolds was a fan favorite in Seattle long before Ken Griffey Jr.Otto Greule/Allsport