I'm Done

Closing this blog up. I'll continue to talk about the M's (among other things) on my Twitter page - search @terrence_oleary if you would like to follow me. Thanks to all who have followed this blog over the years (especially you Larry!) - I appreciate it and wish you all well.

Losing My Faith As A Baseball Fan

Mercifully for all of us who follow the Mariners, the debacle that was 2008 is over. This season has certainly been a disappointing one for me on many levels – but the most stinging disappointment has come in the form of losing my faith as a baseball fan.

I’ve been a baseball fan for many years (I’m well north of 50) and this is the first Summer that I can remember where I was totally and completely disinterested in the game. Mariner games used to be front and center on TV at my house. We always went to at least 2 games in Seattle every season. Not this year. I didn’t see a game on TV since early June. We did not make a trip to Safeco this year. And I didn’t miss it. At all. And that is sad. I feel like I have lost a dear friend. And in many ways I have.

What will happen next year? I really don’t know. I suppose that some killer moves over the Winter might entice me back. But I don’t think it is a certainty. The future of the blog is an uncertainty as well. I feel bad that I have not written more this year. We’ll see what happens in the Spring – when hope springs eternal!

Ichiro Selfish?

Okay, I know I said I wasn't going to post anything until the Mariners started playing good ball. Well they haven't, but I really wanted to put up a link here to the awesome post that Dave made over at USS Mariner today. He is responding to Geoff Baker's latest installment in his series concerning rebuilding. Check it out - I am in complete agreement with Dave here.

Bavasi In Review

I know I said I wasn't going to post until the M's started playing good ball, but this article from Detect-O-Vision caught my eye earlier and I wanted to post a link to it. Some very interesting analysis here - definitely worth a look.

So Long Bill

It's official, Bill Bavasi was dismissed by the Mariners today. Long overdue. This is just the start of many changes to come - thankfully it has finally begun!

Historical Analysis

Dave Cameron has a great piece over at Baseball Analysts that you should read. It's a nice rundown of all the dumb moves that the organization has made over the last few years.

Fork

Stick a fork in the 2008 Seattle Mariners - they are done. If you don't believe this to be true, check out what my esteemed colleague Dave over at USS Mariner has to say about this subject today. These are numbers that cannot be refuted. Hopefully Bill Bavasi will get rid of the dead wood currently on the roster, bring up the kids and start building a good team for 2009.

Whither Now?

It's pretty clear to me that, short of some miraculous occurrence, the Mariners have played themselves into a position of non-competitiveness - or as Larry Stone said last year, removed any "Playoff relevancy" that they may once have had. So if this is indeed a 100 loss club, one wonders whether or not sweeping change is inevitable. As has been mentioned elsewhere, said change may come to pass once the revenue stream begins to dry up. I don't want to speak for the average fan, but this average fan has mostly lost interest. I haven't watched a game in more than a week. And I probably won't watch any games until the level of play improves significantly.

I'm Done

That's it. I'm not writing another word about the Mariners until they start playing decent baseball. So I may be done for the year. If that's the case, have a nice Summer. See you in Spring Training! :)

Mariners = Padres?

Saw this interesting piece by Scott Miller this morning that got me thinking about the disturbing similarities between the Padres and Mariners this season. It would seem that they share more than just the Peoria Sports Complex. One must also wonder why we haven't seen any stories about a "livid" Bill Bavasi. I'm just saying.