what could have been

A few days ago, I started thinking about what the Seattle Mariners' lineup would look like if we hadn't made such foolish trades a few years ago.

Let's take a quick look:

• Adam Jones, Chris Tillman and others to the Baltimore Orioles for Erik Bedard, the talented but oft-injured pitcher who never really helped.
• Asdrubal Cabrera to the Cleveland Indians for Eduardo Perez, a platoon first baseman...
• Shin-Soo Choo to the Cleveland Indians for Ben Broussard, the second half of the Indians' platoon...

Those trades failed. We traded future stars and received little if nothing in return.

Here's what today's lineup could look like:

1. 2B Dustin Ackley

2. SS Asdrubal Cabrera

3. CF Adam Jones

4. RF Shin-Soo Choo

5. DH Jesus Montero

6. LF Michael Saunders

7. 3B Kyle Seager

8. 1B Mike Carp

9. C John Jaso / Miguel Olivo

There. A semi-decent lineup. The three hitters we traded would be in the middle! It wouldn't make us a playoff contender overnight but it would sure strike more fear in opponents. 

This is frustrating. Please don't make more trades like these, or the all-time evil trade for Heathcliff Slocumb...