Former Seattle Mariners Slugger Offers Shocking Opinion on 2023 Team
The 2024 playoffs have been littered with former Seattle Mariners players.
In every single round of the postseason, there's been several players competing who used to suit up in the home clubhouse at T-Mobile Park. And that's been the case during the World Series, as well.
Current Los Angeles Dodgers Teoscar Hernandez and Chris Taylor and New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes are among the players former Mariners competing for a championship.
Hernandez played with Seattle in 2023. He batted .258 with 26 home runs and 93 RBIs.
Teoscar Hernandez - Seattle Mariners (26) pic.twitter.com/ZfqemQAiI5
— GHT⚾️24*7*365 (@GHTMLB) September 24, 2023
Hernandez hasn't always had the kindest words about his time in the Pacific Northwest. During the All-Star break, he talked about his down season with the Mariners and said he struggled to get comfortable.
Seattle was eliminated in the final week of the season during Hernandez's lone year with team. The Mariners didn't extend him a qualifying offer at the end of the year, leading to him becoming a free agent. Hernandez signed a one-year. $23.5 million deal with the Dodgers in the offseason.
Hernandez talked more about his time in Seattle in an article published by ESPN on Monday.
"It was a really good, really talented team," Hernandez said in the article. "But we were missing something. And I think it was playing as one group, not individuals."
Hernandez's comments since leaving the Mariners don't paint the organization in the best light. His comments during the All-Star break helped affirm the perception that T-Mobile Park is a bad hitting ballpark.
Implying that the 2023 Seattle team wasn't playing cohesively isn't necessarily a shock. But it still is disappointing. This is the same team that had three All-Stars: pitchers Luis Castillo and George Kirby and outfielder Julio Rodriguez.
Hernandez had a bounce back season with Los Angeles in 2024 and batted .272 with 33 home runs and 99 RBIs. He's made his impact felt during the World Series and hit a two-run home run during the Dodgers' 4-2 win in Game 2 against the Yankees on Saturday.
Many Mariners fans are probably disappointed to see Hernandez continuing to speak poorly about about his time with the team.
It will probably hurt more considering that Hernandez will likely be vindicated in his feelings with a long-term, big money deal in the offseason.
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