We’ve made the Kansas City Royals’ collection of Mariner castoffs into a running gag the last few seasons, but the Mariner broadcasters made sure to talk about all the former Mariners on the White Sox last night, which got me thinking.  One, are we sure the Royals have the biggest collection of ex-Mariners on their active roster (and DL)?  Two, who has the best collection of ex-Mariners?

Only one way to find out.

Angels
SP Joel Pineiro
RP Brian Fuentes

Blue Jays
SP Brandon Morrow

Braves
SP Derek Lowe
RP Eric O’Flaherty (DL)

Cardinals
OF Randy Winn
RP Ryan Franklin

Cubs
SP Carlos Silva

Dodgers
RP George Sherrill
RP Jeff Weaver

Indians
OF Shin Soo Choo

Mets
SP R.A. Dickey
RP Sean Green (DL)

Nationals
UT Mike Morse
RP Miguel Batista

Orioles
OF Adam Jones

Padres
C Yorvit Torrealba

Phillies
OF Raul Ibanez
UT Greg Dobbs
INF Wilson Valdez
SP Jamie Moyer (DL)

Pirates
SS Ronny Cedeño
RP Chris Jakubauskas (DL)

Rangers
SP Cliff Lee
RP Mark Lowe (DL)

Rays
RP Rafael Soriano

Red Sox
OF Mike Cameron
3B Adrian Beltre
UT Bill Hall
RP Scott Atchison

Reds
UT Miguel Cairo
RP Arthur Rhodes

Rockies
C Miguel Olivo

Royals
OF Scott Podsednik
UT Willie Bloomquist
DH Jose Guillen
SS Yuniesky Betancourt
SP Gil Meche (DL)
MR Kanekoa Texeira

Tigers
INF/OF Carlos Guillen
UT Ramon Santiago

White Sox
INF Omar Vizquel
SU Matt Thornton
SU J.J. Putz
SP Freddy Garcia

Yankees
3B Alex Rodriguez
RP Damaso Marte (DL)

No former Mariners: Astros, Athletics, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Giants, Marlins, Twins

Of course, there are many others that have been connected with the Mariners in some way  that we could include if we were wanted to get a little more creative– including Aaron Heilman, Asdrubal Cabrera, Luis Valbuena, Tyler Walker, Corky Miller, David Ortiz, Jeff Clement, Jason Varitek, Juan Pierre and many others– but I don’t want to open up that can of worms considering the simplicity of this exercise.

The answer to question one is yes, indeed.  The Royals still have the lead in ex-Mariners by a margin of two players over those White Sox as well as the Red Sox and Phillies.

But who has the best collection of former Mariners?

That’s a more difficult question to answer than I anticipated, as you can’t really call one or two players a “collection.”  There are only four clubs with more than two former Mariners (by the guidelines I’m using).  The Rangers (Lee), Yankees (A-Rod) and Indians (Choo) could be front runners if they had anything else worthwhile to go along with the former (or, in Choo’s case, could’ve been) Mariner stars, but they don’t.

So I guess it comes down to this: Of the Royals, White Sox, Red Sox and Phillies, who wound up with the better ex-Mariners?

We can probably rule the Royals and Phillies out.  For the Royals, Guillen has had a nice year while Podsednik and Texeira have been useful, but Yuni and Bloomquist completely suck at this point while Meche hasn’t been great the past couple years between injuries.  For the Phillies, Moyer has remained useful but may just be done after his elbow injury tonight, Ibañez appears to be finished, and Valdez and Dobbs are fringe big leaguers at best.

The White Sox have a pretty nice collection.  Putz and Thornton are both shut down relievers this year who could be closers for many clubs.  Vizquel is still a useful role player.  Garcia has done well reinventing himself as an extreme junk baller and is throwing like a #4.

But I feel like the nod should go to the Red Sox, because they have two players in prominent roles, plus two other useful ones.  Beltre has been great this season as their starting third baseman, while Cameron has struggled with injury but is still getting it done in the twilight of his career.  Hall and Atchison have each been very solid in their respective roles as well.

(I guess this is the type of post you get in such a miserable season.)