Blown Away!

Ready ... aim ... FIRE!

Bill Bavasi and John McLaren, shown the door by the Mariners over the past few days.

I actually now believe that a wholesale youth movement is on its way. And speaking for the majority of "stat geek" Mariners fans who never once believed the team was anywhere close to being as good as its 88-74 record last year, and thus by extension was nowhere near contending status as it was constructed this year, I can say this with a clear conscience: it's about freaking time.

The next GM needs to be a guy willing to build through youth and homegrown talent first, and when the time is right, supplement it with the right kinds of free agents. The fact that we have as many 30+ guys on our roster for a team that had one winning season in the last five speaks volumes as to the ridiculous way this team was built. Go back a few posts and read my quick synopsis of Cleveland versus Seattle, which really is an indication of the right way to rebuild (the Tribe) versus the wrong way (the Mariners). The Indians aren't doing well this year, granted, but injuries to studs are a big reason why. Prior to this year, they were a combined 48 games over .500 the previous three seasons, culminating in a division championship in 2007. We were a combined 16 games under .500, even with last year's aberration.

Pulling the plug and going entirely with youth - to whatever degree that's possible - will be unpleasant and is sure to dry up the coffers for a few years as attendance dwindles even more. In the long run, that's how you rebuild a team. Few can do it on the fly, and those are typically huge-money clubs and/or teams with very agile GMs. We're borderline there on the first order, nowhere near on the second.

Meanwhile, "Stand Pat" is riding high in Philadelphia. Welcome to the 1980's.