I take it all back....

People make mistakes.

I spend a fair amount of time correcting the mistakes of others in everyday life, with the goal of helping them to improve themselves. It's a big part of my job.

So it's no surprise that I would combine that occupational inclination with my devotion to the Mariners, and criticize those in leadership positions for making mistakes when they make decisions that affect my team. More specifically, I've ridden Bill Bavasi for almost his entire tenure as GM of the M's for what seemed to be very few good decisions surrounded by an inordinate amount of mistakes.

Here's the thing: I'm willing to tolerate mistakes, so long as there is evidence that people LEARN from them, and make better decisions going forward.

In the course of the last couple of weeks, Bill Bavasi's front office has demonstrated that they are learning from past and mistakes. Jason Churchill and the P-I are reporting that Adam Jones is coming up after the break to play every day in LF. Turbo to the bench. Ibanez to DH. Whoo hoo!

This couldn't have happened with Mike Hargrove as manager, and although we may never know what REALLY happened with Grover's exit stage left, it seems just as likely as anything else that Bavasi ushered him out the door in preparation for the dawn of the Adam Jones Era.

Now, I'm still not completely happy. Sure, Felix is looking like he might dominate in the second half, but we've still got a horrible pitching rotation. But it's encouraging that Bavasi seems to have learned from his mistakes, and figured out creative (and, let's face it, humble) ways to fix them (Vidro to the bench is necessary but, given what it cost to acquire him and what we're paying him, it's also an admission of a mistake).

49-36.

Two and a half games back.

It's the Angels!

I don't want to hear any wildcard talk. I want to see one more demonstration that Bill Bavasi has learned something from past mistakes: let's have a trade in which we give up none of the important future in exchange for a pitcher to improve on that horrible last spot in the pitching rotation.

I can't recall the last season that was so much fun, since the previous three have just ground me down. But this is great, and I'm willing to recant on my Bavasi criticism as a result.

Kudos!

(Oh, and Ichiro! is staying. Ehhhhhxcellent.)