Mariners should have signed Nelson Cruz when they had the chance

[seahawksfan234]

Currently leading MLB in HRs with 16, and is first in the AL in RBIs with 45.

Looking at his splits, it's not just hitting in Camden Yards that is boosting his stats, as he is hitting .256 in Baltimore with 7 home runs. 9 of his homers have come playing in opposing stadiums, and he is hitting .327 on the road.

Another player the Mariners were connected to during the offseason, Masahiro Tanaka is tearing it up as well.

 

[SeattleCoug]

On paper it definitely looks like a move that would have helped us greatly.

However what I am not sure of is if there was mutual interest. He may have had no interest in coming to Safeco or the Mariners. I personally wasn't a huge fan of bringing him here because I didn't see him fitting. Of course that is probably just the pessimistic Mariner fan in me speaking

 

[gohusk]

He didn't want to play here so unless we signed him for a ridiculous contract he was never an option. Our problem is that everyone young player we've acquired for the last decade has been a complete bust at the plate.

 

[cezero]

He didn't want to come here.

I don't blame him.

I really wanted him here. There were a lot of people on here who wanted no part of him though, which I could kind of understand.

 

[NWinAZ]

And that is why you consider trading pitching for hitting. They won't come here on their own so you have to kidnap them baseball style. You should be able to sign pitchers though so trade one, sign one.

 

[dude82]

When the reports came out that we were rumored to be interested in him and some contract numbers were floated out there, whether they were ever real or not, I recall a lot of people not being particularly interested in his services. Now, if you could go back to when those rumors first surfaced and been able to tell people (particularly Jack Zduriencik) with absolute certainty that he'd be leading the league in homeruns and RBI by the end of May, those rumored contract numbers wouldn't have looked so bad. Then again, as some have stated already, mutual interest is generally required for these things to happen and Cruz didn't seem that interested.

 

[navamind]

Too bad he probably isn't going to keep this up.