During the 1996 season, Mariners general manager Woody Woodward asked Mike Goff, the team’s manager of the Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, who he felt were the “untouchable” players on his team. In other words, the ones with too much promise to give up in a trade. Goff gave him two names: Greg Wooten, a dominating right-handed pitcher, and, more emphatically, a power-hitting first baseman named David Arias. “He (Woodward) kind of laughed, and said, ‘You wouldn’t trade him for anybody?’ And I said, ‘No, I wouldn’t.’ ” Wooten, who was headed to stardom until an arm injury derailed his career,…
