175 Million Reasons to Stay

The Seattle Mariners made news yesterday by reportedly signing their 26 year old ace, Felix Hernandez to the richest contract for a starting pitcher in Major League history.

Sources say the deal is for seven years and will pay Hernandez 175 million dollars.

Just to clarify…

Felix will be given 25 million dollars a year to throw a baseball every five days for eight months of said year.

Not a bad gig huh?

His new contract made me think through and compile the Mariners top five starting pitchers all-time.

Here is all-time Seattle Mariners starting rotation:

5. “The Chief” Freddy Garcia – Placed third in the Cy Young voting in 2001, he was a solid part of the Mariners rotation, but never fully emerged as a true number one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Mark Langston – You have to love him for three reasons. One, he the best starter the M’s ever had when he pitched here. Two, he was traded to help the Mariners acquire Randy Johnson. Three, he started and lost to the Mariners in their one game playoff to make it to the post season for the very first time. Thanks for everything Mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Jamie Moyer – Mister Consistency. Boring, but good. A borderline Hall of Famer, with 269 career wins, 145 with Seattle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. King Felix Hernandez – He’s the 175 million dollar man. At 26, he has plenty of time to climb to number one on this list. He has won the Cy Young Award once and threw the only perfect game in Seattle Mariners history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. The Big Unit, Randy Johnson – Randy won one Cy Young with the Mariners in the famed 1995 season, but he also won four straight Cy Youngs from 1999-2002 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Randy may be the most intimidating left-handed pitcher in the modern era.

Who would be in your be in your top 5?

5 thoughts on “175 Million Reasons to Stay

  1. what? No Mike Moore? No Matt Young? Okay they were a little below so-so. Could you find room for the sheriff, Norm Charlton? And Moyer s/b in the Hall

  2. I’m going to have to nominate Gaylord Perry for this list despite his short stay in Seattle for two reasons. 1) His name was Gaylord. 2) His most famous pitch was a spitball. Doesn’t get much cooler than that.

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