2008 Seattle Mariners season

The 2008 Seattle Mariners season was the 32nd Major League Baseball season in the team's history. Coming off the heels of the previous 2007 season, in which the Mariners finished with their first winning record since 2003, the team was widely expected to once again compete for the American League West championship. The team was bolstered by some major roster additions during the previous offseason, most notably starting pitchers Érik Bédard and Carlos Silva. However, by the end of May, it became apparent that the team had gone back to its losing ways of the 2004–06 seasons. Despite their losing ways, they won their first and last game of the season. Their longest winning-streak of the season was 4 games after a sweep of the Cleveland Indians at the end of August and a 12-6 win against the Texas Rangers on the first day of September. However, standing at 57–87, their longest losing-streak of the season was 12 games, 11 on the road, 1 at home, after being swept by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, and suffering a loss at the last homestand opener against the Angels. On September 23, the Mariners became the first club to spend $100 million in payroll and lose 100 games. The team finished the season with a record, last in the West for the 4th time in 5 years, and second worst in the majors.
With the team underperforming and underachieving, a number of people who had become scapegoats for the team's underperformance were dismissed during the season, most notably general manager Bill Bavasi, field manager John McLaren, first baseman Richie Sexson, and designated hitter José Vidro.

Offseason

December 20, 2007: Signed free agent RHP Carlos Silva to a four-year, $48 million contract.
January 8, 2008: Signed free agent INF Miguel Cairo to a one-year, $850,000 contract
January 31, 2008: Signed free agent OF Brad Wilkerson to a one-year, $3 million contract.
February 8, 2008: Traded OF Adam Jones, LHP George Sherrill, and minor league pitchers Tony Butler, Chris Tillman, and Kam Mickolio to the Baltimore Orioles for LHP Érik Bédard.
Dismissed all coaches hired under Mike Hargrove except hitting coach Jeff Pentland and hired former MLB managers Jim Riggleman, Sam Perlozzo, and Lee Elia, as well as Mel Stottlemyre, Norm Charlton, and Eddie Rodriguez.

Regular season

In-season transactions

April 2, 2008: Placed pitcher J. J. Putz on the 15-day disabled list and purchased the contract of pitcher Roy Corcoran from Triple-A Tacoma.
April 11: Recalled IF Greg Norton from Triple-A Tacoma; designated OF Charlton Jimerson for assignment.
April 14: Selected the contract of LHP Arthur Rhodes from Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx; Recalled RHP R. A. Dickey from Triple-A Tacoma; Placed OF Mike Morse on 15-day disabled list with a dislocated left shoulder; Optioned LHP Eric O'Flaherty to Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx.
April 15: Placed LHP Érik Bédard on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 9, with inflammation in his left hip.
April 16: Recalled RHP Brandon Morrow from Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. Re-signed OF Charlton Jimerson to a Minor League contract.
April 22: Activated RHP J. J. Putz from the 15-day disabled list; optioned RHP R. A. Dickey to Triple-A Tacoma.
April 25: Signed C Kenji Johjima to a 3-year, $24 million contract extension through 2011.
April 26: Activated LHP Érik Bédard from the 15-day disabled list; optioned RHP Roy Corcoran to Triple-A Tacoma.
April 30: Recalled C Jeff Clement and OF Wladimir Balentien from Triple-A Tacoma; Designated INF Greg Norton and OF Brad Wilkerson for assignment.
May 5: Traded Greg Norton to the Atlanta Braves for a player to be named or cash considerations; Released nonroster OF Bronson Sardinha.
May 7: Released OF Brad Wilkerson, he had been designated for assignment on April 30.
May 18: Optioned C Jeff Clement to Triple-A Tacoma.
May 19: Recalled OF Jeremy Reed from Triple-A Tacoma; claimed RHP Tracy Thorpe off waivers from Toronto.
May 21: Designated RHP Cha Seung Baek for assignment.
May 22: Recalled RHP R. A. Dickey from Triple-A Tacoma.
May 27: Acquired RHP Jared Wells from the San Diego Padres for RHP Cha Seung Baek.
May 28: Optioned RHP Jared Wells to Triple-A Tacoma; Activated RHP Anderson Garcia from the 15-day disabled list and optioned him to Single-A High Desert.
June 13: Placed RHP J. J. Putz on the 15-day disabled list with a hyper-extended right elbow; Recalled RHP Roy Corcoran from Triple-A Tacoma.
June 16: Recalled C Jeff Clement from Triple-A Tacoma; Optioned OF Wladimir Balentien to Triple-A Tacoma.
June 24: Acquired LHP Nelson Payano from the Atlanta Braves to complete the May 5 trade.
July 1: Placed RHP Félix Hernández on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained left ankle retroactive to June 24; Recalled LHP Cesar Jimenez from Triple-A Tacoma.
July 7: Released RHP Anderson Garcia.
July 10: Recalled RHP Jared Wells from Triple-A Tacoma; Selected the contract of INF Tug Hulett from Triple-A Tacoma; Placed LHP Érik Bédard on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 5, with stiffness in his left shoulder; Released INF Richie Sexson.
July 11: Activated RHP Félix Hernández from the 15-day disabled list; Optioned RHP Jared Wells to Triple-A Tacoma.
July 17: Optioned INF Tug Hulett to Triple-A Tacoma; Signed OF Julio Morban and RHP Francisco Valdivia.
July 18: Recalled 1B Bryan LaHair from Triple-A Tacoma.
July 20: Activated RHP J. J. Putz from the 15-day disabled list; Optioned LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith to Triple-A Tacoma.
July 25: Signed RHP Jorge Sosa to a minor league contract.
July 30: Claimed RHP Luis Munoz off waivers from Pittsburgh and optioned him to Double-A West Tenn.
July 31: Acquired RHP Gaby Hernandez from the Florida Marlins in exchange for LHP Arthur Rhodes.
August 13: Released DH/INF José Vidro

Front office/coaching staff

June 9, 2008: Dismissed hitting coach Jeff Pentland and named special assistant Lee Elia as his replacement
June 16: Dismissed general manager Bill Bavasi and named vice president/assistant GM Lee Pelekoudas as interim GM
June 19: Dismissed field manager John McLaren and named bench coach Jim Riggleman as interim manager. Elia promoted to bench coach and minor league hitting instructor Jose Castro promoted to hitting coach.

Individual accomplishments

May 18: OF Ichiro Suzuki breaks the franchise stolen base record of 290 previously held by Julio Cruz in a game against the San Diego Padres.
June 17: RHP Félix Hernández throws an immaculate inning against the Florida Marlins, becoming the 13th American League pitcher to do so.
June 23: Félix Hernández hits a grand slam off New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana, becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to hit a home run and the first American League pitcher to hit a grand slam in modern interleague play.
July 6: C Jamie Burke pitched in the 15th inning of a game against the Detroit Tigers after catching the previous six innings. Burke, who had made four relief appearances in the minor leagues, was saddled with a loss and became the first position player to receive a decision as a pitcher since 2000.
July 15: Ichiro Suzuki plays in his eighth consecutive MLB All-Star Game.
July 29: Ichiro Suzuki records his 3,000th major-league hit in a game against the Texas Rangers.
September 1: 3B Adrián Beltré hit for the cycle against the Texas Rangers, becoming the fourth Mariner to accomplish the feat. Beltre's cycle came hours after Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Stephen Drew hit for the cycle in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, marking the first time two players hit for the cycle in the same day since 1920.
September 18: Ichiro Suzuki records his 200th hit of the season, completing eight straight seasons of accomplishing the feat, tying the major league with Hall of Famer Willie Keeler, who did so from 1894 through 1901.

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Greg Norton	6	16	7	.438	0	4
Ichiro Suzuki	162	686	213	.310	6	42
José López	159	644	191	.297	17	89
Raúl Ibañez	162	635	186	.293	23	110
Yuniesky Betancourt	153	559	156	.279	7	51
Willie Bloomquist	71	165	46	.279	0	9
Jeremy Reed	97	286	77	.269	2	31
Adrián Beltré	143	566	148	.266	25	77
Jamie Burke	48	92	24	.261	1	8
Bryan LaHair	45	146	34	.250	3	10
Miguel Cairo	108	221	55	.249	0	23
Luis Valbuena	18	49	12	.245	0	1
José Vidro	85	308	72	.234	7	45
Brad Wilkerson	19	56	13	.232	0	5
Jeff Clement	66	203	46	.227	5	23
Kenji Johjima	112	379	86	.227	7	39
Tug Hulett	30	49	11	.224	1	2
Michael Morse	5	9	2	.222	0	0
Richie Sexson	74	252	55	.218	11	30
Wladimir Balentien	71	243	49	.202	7	24
Matt Tuiasosopo	14	44	7	.159	0	2
Rob Johnson	14	31	4	.129	1	2
Charlton Jimerson	2	1	0	.000	0	0
Pitcher Totals	162	23	4	.174	1	4
Team Totals	162	5643	1498	.265	124	631

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Félix Hernández	31	200.2	9	11	0	3.45	175
Carlos Silva	28	153.1	4	15	0	6.46	69
Érik Bédard	15	81.0	6	4	0	3.67	72
Miguel Batista	44	115.0	4	14	1	6.26	73
Jarrod Washburn	28	153.2	5	14	1	4.69	87
Ryan Feierabend	8	39.2	1	4	0	7.71	26

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; SV = Saves; W = Wins; L = Losses; H = Holds; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	H	SV	ERA	SO
J. J. Putz	47	46.1	6	5	0	15	3.88	56
Sean Green	72	79	4	5	17	1	4.67	62
Eric O'Flaherty	7	6.2	0	1	2	0	20.25	4
Mark Lowe	57	63.2	1	5	1	1	5.37	55
Roy Corcoran	50	72.2	6	2	8	3	3.22	39
Cha Seung Baek	10	30	0	1	0	0	5.40	15
Ryan Rowland-Smith	47	118.1	5	3	1	2	3.42	77
R. A. Dickey	32	112.1	5	8	0	0	5.21	58
Arthur Rhodes	36	22	2	1	13	1	2.86	26
Brandon Morrow	45	64.2	3	4	3	10	3.34	75
César Jiménez	31	34.1	0	2	4	0	3.41	26
Jake Woods	15	19	0	0	1	0	6.16	9
Randy Messenger	13	12.2	0	0	2	1	3.55	7
Jared Wells	6	5.1	0	0	0	0	10.13	3
Justin Thomas	8	4	0	1	1	0	6.75	2
Jamie Burke	1	1	0	1	0	0	9.00	0
Team Pitching Totals	162	1435.1	61	101	57	36	4.73	1016

Major League Baseball draft

Below is a complete list of the Seattle Mariners draft picks from the two 2008 Major League Baseball drafts.
The Seattle Mariners took part in both the Major League Baseball Rule 4 draft and the Rule 5 draft in.
The 2008 Major League Baseball draft was held on June 5 and June 6, 2008. He Mariners made the 20th selection in the draft, selecting Joshua Fields. The Mariners selected a total of 50 players and signed 36 of those selected players.
In the 2008 Rule 5 draft the Mariners selected two players, one in the Major League phase and one in the Triple-A phase. They also had three players selected by other teams, two in the Triple-A phase and one in the Double-A phase.