Seattle Mariners

Going into this season, there is a list of top caliber baseball studs who are leadoff hitters or should be leadoff hitters.

Some have more power than others, some hit for a higher average, some are faster than others, and some have higher on-base percentages than others.

Let's take a look at the best leadoff hitters or some who are not leadoff hitters who should be hitting leadoff.

Every sports franchise has certain trades that linger with the team. To use basketball as an example, the Lakers' acquisition of Pau Gasol for peanuts in 2008 constitutes a good trade which sticks with the team. Conversely, the Vancouver Grizzlies trading a future draft pick (which could have been Carmelo Anthony) to Detroit in exchange for Otis Thorpe (yes, THE Otis Thorpe) is widely remembered as a bad trade.

Baseball is no different in this respect.

Jermaine Dye hit 27 HR last season. That's tied for 37th most home runs among players in either league last year, one less than Joe Mauer and one more than Justin Upton. And he has no job.

Joe Pawlikowski did a good job breaking down why Dye doesn't have a job on FanGraphs . To recap for the lazy, he had a terrible second half and his defense is utter excrement.

When Ichiro Suzuki entered the league back in '01 he was far from unknown, underappreciated, or underrated. In fact if anything for a guy who had never played a MLB game, there might have been a better argument he was overrated.

Since then Ichiro has slowly but steadily fallen out of the spotlight and has become virtually untalked about all around baseball.

My question is, why?

In Seattle Mariners' history, there have been dry spells (see 1980s) and hot streaks (see late 1990s and early 2000s). In most franchise-changing moments, the winning play can be traced to a single at-bat that changed the course of the game.

In this article, I have identified what I believe to be the five most important hits in Seattle Mariners history. Some of these are milestones accomplished by the franchise's most prestigious players. Others are single at-bats in which one man turned the fate of a series upside down.

As an African-American, I know that racism is still alive.

I know this.

But while I could go on and on about the injustices of this world from my point of view as an African-American, I will say this: Regardless of what color you are, if you play like horse manure, you deserve to get booed.

Period.

On Wednesday morning at my office, I watched the ESPN interview with Milton Bradley, which was more like watching college softball with the really gorgeous-looking players.

Established in 1977, the Seattle Mariners have competed in three complete decades: the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

The Mariners have featured few true "franchise players," who could be instantly noticed as the face of the franchise. Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr., and Ichiro Suzuki have all had a turn, but other prominent players, such as Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, and Tino Martinez, have come and gone.

In the three tumultuous decades of Mariners history, there have been studs (Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, etc.) and duds (Richie Sexson, Jeff Cirillo, etc.).

When the Philadelphia Phillies sent Cliff Lee to Seattle in order to make room for Rory Halladay, I shook my head. I couldn't understand the concept of sending a No. 1 starter and picking up another one.

Lee was not ecstatic to realize the team he helped to the World Series had the door open for him with his hat in their hand.

So much for gratitude, eh?

He is currently with his third team in less than a year. The Phillies obviously rented him from Cleveland in the middle of last season.

Established in 1977, the Seattle Mariners have competed in three complete decades: the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

The Mariners have featured few true "franchise players," who could be instantly noticed as the face of the franchise. Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr., and Ichiro Suzuki have all had a turn, but other prominent players, such as Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, and Tino Martinez, have come and gone.