How can the Seattle Mariners move forward to be a playoff contender in 2008? Ichiro's not a leader, Felix Hernandez is not an ace, Bill Bavasi is not a GM, John McLaren is not a manager. Johan Santana would be a good start and picking up a workhorse like a Bartolo Colon would be great too, but we're missing a bat pretty badly, unless you count whatever it is that Richie Sexson does with his. I'm not seeing a lot of viable fills in free agency outside the idea of offering SafeCo Field and partial ownership of the Space Needle to Alex Rodriguez, but who wants that? I do if it means the Mariners win. Is there any way the M's organization actually pulls of a trade for some value here? No. Is there any allure for a Santana or Colon to pitch here? No. Can we send the Mariners along with the Sonics to Oklahoma City? Probably. Boston fans used to cry, Cubs fans still cry, but the people out there that are actually Mariners fans should cry the hardest because they couldn't even reach the World Series with four potential hall-of-famers on the roster in the mid-90's and things have steadily gone downhill since. Fuck.
