What Went Wrong?

At the MLB halfway mark, the Seattle Mariners season is more dead than Mel Gibson at a Lilith Fair concert. What looked like a team primed for a postseason run has turned into yet another rebuilding effort for a franchise that hasn't reached the playoffs since 2001.

Everyone knew that the Mariners would struggle to score runs. And while they have, few could have predicted the M's would have this much trouble. Getting the Mariners to put runs on the board has become the baseball equivalent to getting George Michael to stop crashing his car. It only happens on rare occasions.

What makes the Mariners 2010 season even more frustrating is that every single regular sans Ichiro has underperformed. Add Chone Figgins to the unimpressive list of Mariners free agent signees who screwed the pooch in northwest green and navy blue. Casey Kotchman seemed primed to finally fulfill the potential that made him a top prospect for the Angels. What he's shown proves why he's on his third team in less than a year. Milton Bradley was supposed to recapture his 2008 All-Star numbers, but all he's done is have a mental breakdown and struggle to keep his average above .200. The list goes on and on.

GM Jack Zduriencik made a surprise winner of the 2009 team by unearthing talent that other organizations had given up on. While it looks like Jack Z overplayed his hand by applying the same strategy on the 2010 squad, nobody could have predicted such offensive ineptitude.

Nobody expected Ken Griffey Jr. to hit 35 plus home runs as the Mariners designated hitter. But nobody could have foreseen Griffey hitting .184 with no home runs and retiring in a huff.

Griffey serves as a microcosm for the M's season thus far. Hoping for the best. Getting the worst.

But for all the commotion over how bad the offense has been, the achilles heel for the Mariners season has been the bullpen. The offense was intended to put 3-5 runs up per game, while the starting pitching, stellar defense and lockdown bullpen would take care of the rest. The offense is a big issue. The major issue and the primary reason why M's fans are suffering at record high rates (OK, just me), is the bullpen, stupid.

M's relievers have a 4.81 ERA. Good enough for worst in the American League. They are tied for the league lead with 13 blown saves. If the bullpen did what it was supposed to do, then you're looking at a team that's very close to .500, instead of 18 games under. Everyone in the pen from closer David Aardsma to mop up guys like Garrett Olson have sucked beyond belief. Throw in setup man Brandon League who routinely quits on the mound, and you've got a real problem.

Luckily, a bullpen is the easiest thing to restock and revamp. The Mariners have enough live arms in their minor league system that it's hard to imagine the pen being a problem going forward.

This brings us to last week's Cliff Lee trade, aka raising the white flag. Lee had to go because the Mariners stand a better chance of resigning John Olerud next offseason than they do Cliff Lee. To let Lee leave via free agency for two of the Yankees (Lee replaces Andy Pettitte who will retire after the Yanks win the Series) draft picks would have been ridiculously irresponsible on Zduriencik's part.

But Jack Z is a master dealer and he brilliantly struck a trade with division rival Texas for Lee. Even with Lee, the Rangers aren't going to the World Series. So while this trade strengthens the Rangers in the short term, it undoubtedly weakens them long term as they gave up their starting first baseman in Justin Smoak, along with three pitchers.

All indications are that Smoak will has a great career ahead of him. But he's a prospect. Casey Kotchman was a prospect too. So was Jose Lopez. Let's hope Smoak's path diverges from theirs.

What can't be denied is that what the Mariners got in return for Cliff Lee was far better than what they gave up (kinda hard not to do considering they gave up a kid who's hearing impaired, and a French Canadian selected by former GM - high functioning retard Bill Bavasi).

With the trading deadline just two weeks away, one could assume the Mariners will start trading any usable parts. But the sad truth is that right now Lopez Aardsma and whoever else you want to throw in that pack aren't worth more than a couple A, or AA fringe prospects.

George Steinbrenner's passing on Tuesday got me thinking about the cost of building a winner. The Yankees are seemingly in the playoffs every year thanks to their never ending payroll. Yes, they've wasted ridiculous amounts of money on players like Raul Mondesi, Gary Sheffield and Carl Pavano. But their recent signings of Mark Teixiera, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, along with trades to obtain Curtis Granderson, Javier Vasquez and Nick Swisher have not only made the Yankees a better team, but also far younger.

The Yankees, along with the Red Sox spend money to make money. They've had competitive teams every year for the last 15 years. It makes for a great story when a team like the San Diego Padres, whose entire payroll is barely more than what Alex Rodriguez earns in a season, is leading the NL West. But the Padres, along with every other mid to small market team is going to have some good years and some bad years (unless you're the Royals, Pirates or Orioles and you always suck).

As long as the Mariners organization remains intent on spending just enough to give the impression that they're trying to put a competitive product on the field, there is no reason to believe the M's will be anything more than a team that produces a few solid years, mixed in with some really crappy ones.

Throw together some terribly poor performances on the field with the Mariners front office's refusal to up their payroll, and you've got what will ultimately be the fifth losing season out of the last seven in Seattle.

And that's Mariners baseball 2010.