Will the Mariners ever learn? How Bill Bavasi sunk the ship.

"To win the [American League] West division is something within our control, and something I think we have a very good chance of doing. The gap between us and the Angels has been closed."

Remember who said that? That would be Mariner's CEO Howard Lincoln, way back in January of this year. To be honest, many of people who supported the Mariners thought that way, or at least hoped that it was true. The problem is, its now July, the All-Star game is nearly upon us, and our only representative at the game will be (hold your amazement) Ichiro Suzuki. This is one of those years where you would be surprised that our beloved Ichiro was our only All-Star. After all, we have Gold Glover Adrian Beltre at third, dual Ace starting pitchers in Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez, and seemingly unhittable closer J.J. Putz. That seems like an impressive array of players, but the fact of the matter is that even with this seemingly star-studded team and record setting payroll, the Seattle Mariners are 19 games back behind the dreaded Angels.

So what happened to that supposedly closed gap between these two teams? Well, I guess it was never really closed in the first place. Losing lefty reliever and now All-Star closer and top prospect Adam Jones helped fill a void in our starting rotation, but in turn created gaps in right field and the bullpen. To help fill the void in right field, our fearless leader Bill Bavasi hired the services of a Richie Sexon mimic in Brad Wilkerson. To fill the bullpen gap, he brought back oft-injured Arthur Rhodes. Wilkerson lasted about a month until he was waived and taken on by the Blue Jays. To his credit, Rhodes has been solid out of the 'pen, but the situation wasn't helped by Putz's sudden inconsistency and injury.

But give the M's some credit, they made a move that should greatly improve the team in the present and future, by finally ditching Bavasi. There were two other casualties in Manager John Mclaren, who was never really given a chance with the team, and hitting coach Jeff Pentland.

It's time for the Mariners to rebuild follow in the footsteps of Oakland A's GM Billy Beane, and let the Angel's have their fun, while they still can.