Dear Nintendo: Please sell the team to somebody who cares

By Kshell

As I'm sure most Seattle Mariners fans are aware by now this offseason has been a complete bust. We have watched our division rivals the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim sign C.J. Wilson and the best hitter of the past thirty plus years in Albert Pujols. Meanwhile the two-time defending American League champions Texas Rangers just signed Yu Darvish from Japan. While the Mariners despite losing 196 games the last two years are in no hurry to do anything. They offered Prince Fielder supposedly a five year 90 million dollar deal which is PR move. That is the type of offer that isn't serious about landing the power hitting first baseman. Mariners beat writer Geoff Baker has already revealed that the Mariners are having some financial troubles lately and our wishes could be coming true very soon. The Mariners ownership who also owns Nintendo could possibly be selling this franchise which is exactly what this franchise needs.

This organization has been ran by morons since day one. Chuck Armstrong leads that group of morons in fact he's been team president since 1993 and was part of the team in the 1980's as well. Howard Lincoln is also part of the ownership group as well. When this ownership group first bought the team there was great success in fact from 1993-2003 the Mariners record was 933-780(.544) which in those 11 years including four playoff trips and eight winning seasons. Considering prior to 1993 this franchise had seen just one winning season that was impressive. The fans started to turn on ownership around 2002 and 2003 when they refused to expand payroll to make significant deadline moves to improve this ballclub. Which meant future hall of fame manager Lou Piniella and hall of fame general manager Pat Gillick left the franchise in disgust. That is when the franchise started to fall apart and the heat on this current ownership group grew.

The Mariners turned to failed Angels General Manger Bill Bavasi to run this ball club from 2004-2008. During the Bavasi years the Mariners were horrible sporting a 359-451(.443) record which saw the Mariners finish in last place in four of those five seasons. Bavasi didn't value sabermetrics at all and ignored age. The Mariners ownership also stepped in by extending Kenji Johjima and Ichiro to a five year 90 million dollar deal. Ichiro has only led the Mariners in WAR during one winning season which was 2007. Translation Ichiro can't be your best player on a successful team. The Mariners fired Bavasi after 2008 hoping to find the next quality GM. Several people said at the time it won't matter who the Mariners hire as long as Armstrong and Lincoln are running the show.

The Mariners replaced Bavasi with Milwaukee Brewers old scout Jack Zduriencik. Zduriencik could do no wrong that first year taking over a club who had lost 101 games the Mariners won 85 games that first year. Since then the club has regressed under Jack Z's watch as the team is just 213-273(.438). The Mariners are actually worse off record wise than they were under Bavasi. Zduriencik is building the team the right way but he is also making plenty of mistakes at the major league level. He signed a 31 year old Chone Figgins to a four year 36 million dollar deal. He is constantly going for the cheap bargains and that is why the Mariners offense under Jack Z has been terrible every single season. Then he traded away Doug Fister despite the fact he is pretty cheap and under club control. Fans still believe in Jack Z but if he doesn't sign Fielder this offseason that will be the second straight offseason where Jack Z failed to improve a team who lost over 95 games.

In conclusion, you don't win titles with bargain deals. You win titles with position players whether you find them at a discount or overpaid for them. There is no salary cap in baseball and if these owners don't want to spend they should do the right thing and sell to a guy who will. Nintendo should be thanked first of all for saving baseball in Seattle back in 1993 and providing the Mariners their only taste of the postseason. I feel like they don't get enough credit for doing just that. The Mariners ownership has come now to finally let it go as they tried and failed to deliver a World Series title. First thing new ownership will do is clean house which means no more Armstrong, Lincoln and probably Zduriencik who has proven he is just a scout only not a general manager. So I'm begging you Nintendo please sell the team to a passionate billionaire in Seattle who wants to win a title as much as every fan does. The problem with building with prospects is you are constantly building while the Angels will have bad contracts they'll stay competitive every single season because they spend money. Hopefully the Mariners sell the team to a guy who has no problem dishing millions and millions of dollars to provide a winner in Seattle finally.