11 Awareness Day

With a day off from work, I definitely want to write today. However, it's surprisingly tough to write about baseball right now. I've always got ideas, but there is just so much going on outside of baseball at the moment. For starters, the stunning Penn State scandal is still setting in. Today is Veteran's Day too, and honoring the military is important. This isn't the best day to focus on baseball.

However, it is also 11/11/11, so what better day to take a quick break from reality to remember Edgar Martinez?

It's not as if I have some novel insight about Edgar to share with the world at this point. He was my favorite baseball player growing up though, so an excuse to look at his numbers is always welcome. Just for fun, to remember how amazing of a hitter 'Gar was, let's compare his career averages with what we just saw out of the 2011 Mariners offense. Where would Edgar stack up amongst the best of the 2011 M's?

Batting Average

Edgar Martinez: .312

Mike Carp*: .276

On-Base Percentage
Edgar Martinez: .418
Dustin Ackley*: .348

Slugging Percentage
Edgar Martinez: .515
Mike Carp*: .466

*Did not have enough plate appearances to be listed among qualified league leaders. In fact, only two mariners had enough PAs to qualify, Ichiro and Miguel Olivo. That says quite a bit about how well the Mariners offense "performed" last year. I lowered the requirement to 200 plate appearances.

All the following stats are 162-game averages:

Walks
Edgar Martinez: 101 (with 95 strikeouts)
Jack Cust: 106  (with 210 strikeouts)

Hits
Edgar Martinez: 177
Ichiro: 184

Doubles
Edgar Martinez: 41
Kyle Seager: 40

Home Runs
Edgar Martinez: 24
Mike Carp: 25

You know, I think a hitter like Edgar Martinez would be a difference maker for the Mariners right now.  I miss Edgar.