The Ten Worst Mariners Free Agent Signings Ever

6. Greg Hibbard

2016 equivalent: Taijuan Walker

It’s not quite fair to compare the terrible 14 starts (in 15 games) Greg Hibbard turned in for the Mariners in 1994 with former Mariner Taijuan Walker. Hibbard was signed to be yet another middle-of-the-rotation arm and age 29, should have still had some gas in the tank. Instead, Hibbard was ineffective when healthy and dealt with shoulder issues during his season in Seattle.

Hibbard went 1-5 in his 14 starts, walking 31 batters, striking out 39, and posting a 6.69 ERA in the process. The Mariners gave Hibbard $6.75 million over three years, which was a significant deal in those days, especially for a middle-of-the-rotation starter. Hibbard was still earning dollars from his performance in 1990 with the Chicago White Sox. In over 200 innings that season, Hibbard went 14-9 and put up a 3.16 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. His stint with Seattle was the last action he would see in the MLB in his career.

Hibbard was previously durable and serviceable at worst, but the Mariners committed the sin of giving a mediocre starting pitcher top-of-the-rotation money, a sin they would forget several times later in their history.

As for the unfair comparison to Walker, Taijuan still has plenty of promise and doesn’t figure to be terrible for Arizona, but he played for the M’s at a similar time in his career to Hibbard’s. Thankfully the Mariners didn’t have to put up millions of dollars to coax Walker into their rotation the past few seasons.