FINALLY....

...the biggest tumor of them all has been removed. Now they can focus on the treatments needed to remove any additional smaller tumors and begin to restore this organization to a healthy place that the players, fans and the city of Seattle can be proud of.

Of course I am talking about the long overdue firing of GM Bill Bavasi. Bill came into Seattle and day by day drove this organization so deep into the ground it has seemed at times like they will never get out of it. He has taken an organization and single handedly demolished it. Sadly he was allowed to do so for far too long. Let's just look at some of the moves Bill Bavasi made during his time as the Seattle GM...

Free agent signings:

** = good signing
names in bold = horrible signing

**Raul Ibanez** - for the most part this worked out well
Eddie Guardado
Scott Spiezio - HORRIBLE - eventually released
Rich Aurilia - HORRIBLE - eventually released
Mike Myers (minor league contract)
**George Sherrill** (minor league contract) EXCELLENT signing
Ron Villone
Richie Sexson - good signing but too big of a contract
**Adrian Beltre** - Beltre's defense makes him worth every penny IMO.
Pokey Reese - this may have been a joke...
Aaron Sele - another joke
**Yuniesky Betancourt** - still love this signing
Jorge Campillo - never gave the guy a chance, now pitches for the Braves
Carl Everett - HORRIBLE - later DFA'd
Matt Lawton - HORRIBLE - later DFA'd
**Jose Guillen** - GREAT signing but declined option for this season, terrible call
Miguel Batista - this was a good signing last year, this year its looking sketchy
Chris Reitsma - BOMB
Jeff Weaver - EPIC FAILURE
Rick White - *shakes head in disgust*
Carlos Silva - money a little much, but I like Silva in the middle of the rotation
Brad Wilkerson - FAILURE

Look how many names are in Bold letters. It is pathetic the judgement Bavasi showed over and over. His evaluation of ability was out of this world, and not in a good way. And yet over and over he was allowed to bring these guys in. And almost everyone of them failed in a huge way and were released before their contracts had barely begun.

Now for some classic Bavasi trades:

Dec. 15, 2003 -- Acquired outfielder Quinton McCracken from the Arizona Diamondbacks for infielder Greg Colbrunn and cash. *McCracken was DFA'd just 6 months later.*

Jan. 8, 2004 -- Acquired infielders Ramon Santiago and Juan Gonzalez from the Detroit Tigers for shortstop Carlos Guillen. *The Mariners gave up on a young Carlos Guillen because he liked to party. Instead of nurturing him and helping him become a better person on the field and allow him to grow into the player he is now on the field they threw him away. The basically gave him to the Tigers for free. Good move by the Tigers considering Carlos is now one of the best infielders in the American League. Boy he would look good for us a 1st base right about now wouldn't he?*

July 31, 2005 -- Acquired RHP Jesse Foppert and catcher Yorvit Torrealba from the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Randy Winn. *Torrealba traded to Colorado Rockies 6 months later for player to be named later. Foppert released following season. Randy Winn still plays for the Giants. *

March 20, 2006 -- Acquired outfielder Joe Borchard from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for LHP Matt Thornton. *Thornton is still pitching for the White Sox while Borchard was DFA'd just a month after the trade and then claimed off waivers by the Florida Marlins. He is currently in the Atlanta Braves organization.*

June 30, 2006 -- Acquired first baseman Eduardo Perez from the Cleveland Indians for infielder Asdrubal Cabrera. *Mariners decline option on Perez at end of season (who retired) while Cabrera although he has struggled offensively has a dynamic glove in the field and is young with a bright future.*

Aug. 19, 2006 -- Acquired RHP Andy Baldwin and RHP Andrew Barb from the Philadelphia Phillies for LHP Jamie Moyer. *Baldwin is in the Mariners minor league system right now not put up great numbers with Tacoma. Meanwhile Moyer is still trucking down in Philly. At 45 years old he is still an effective pitcher and you have to think he would be better at the back of our rotation than what we have. He never should have been traded, he should have retired a Mariner. *

Dec. 7, 2006 -- Acquired LHP Horacio Ramirez from the Atlanta Braves for RHP Rafael Soriano.
* This will go down as one of the worst trades during Bavasi's tenure with the Mariners. Soriano was a power throwing bullpen arm that we never should have parted with. If we needed to part with him his value was much higher than Horacio Ramirez. Ramirez was due to be released in the coming weeks by the Braves, yet Bavasi made the trade anyways. While Soriano has had health issues he is still a very talented pitcher. Ramirez on the other hand was a train wreck for the Mariners last season and was released before this season started. He is now in the Kansas City Royals organization. Soriano is now on the DL for the second time this season. But DL or not the Braves will continue to enjoy his services while laughing every time they think how they got him for Horacio Ramirez*

Dec. 18, 2006 -- Acquired infielder Jose Vidro and cash considerations from the Washington Nationals for outfielder Chris Snelling and RHP Emialiano Fruto. * This was a bad trade not for the people we gave up but for the very reason that we traded for Vidro with the intention of him being our DH. The DH position is supposed to be an advantage. It is supposed to be a power hitting position. Vidro has ZERO power and gives the M's no advantage. He is a career 300 hitter yes. And yes he had multiple all star caliber seasons as a second baseman. But he is NOT nor has he EVER been a power hitter. Bringing Vidro in as the everyday DH was a mistake. The DH is posistion is one of the biggest holes on the M's right now and we have Bavasi to thank for that.*
Feb. 8, 2008 -- Acquired LHP Erik Bedard from the Baltimore Orioles for outfielder Adam Jones, LHP George Sherrill, RHP Chris Tillman, RHP Kam Mickolio and LHP Tony Butler. *It is far too early to determine whether this trade was a good or bad one. Bavasi probably did give up a little too much for Bedard but the reality is if you have a chance to grab a talented left handed pitcher you do it. This team needed pitching and he went out and got it. It is not his fault Bedard has not performed to expectations yet. Sherrill is having an amazing season in Baltimore and Adam Jones still has the potential to become a great player but I do not believe that these 2 guys would make this team any better right now. The jury is still out on this one. Although I for one am glad we have Bedard. My decision on whether this trade is a failure or not will be when we do or don't sign Bedard to a multi year extension. *

The theme that you must notice in all of these trades aside from the Vidro and Bedard ones is that all the players we received in return are either not playing baseball at all anymore, on a different team or rotting away in our minor league system. While the players we traded are actually having success elsewhere. So from that view point we traded them all for nothing. ZERO. ZILCH. Randy Winn, Jamie Moyer, Matt Thornton, Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Guillen all for nothing.

In the offseason last year Bavasi should be credited for bringing in Silva and Bedard. You can say what you want about Silva being signed for too much or the Bedard trade being bad. That aside he still went out and got the 2 best pitchers available to him. His mistake was the offense. He fixed only one problem on this team. 1st base, RF, and DH needed to be fixed this offseason. The Mariners needed at least TWO bats to improve their offense and he went out and signed Wilkerson. We all know how that ended. Jose Guillen should have been resigned, he wanted to be here and he was a HUGE asset on this team on and off the field. But Bavasi let him walk. Bavasi went into this season banking on Richie Sexson returning to form and crushing 4o HR's and leading the offense all the way to the playoffs. Well, that didn't happen and there was no backup plan. He led us all to believe we were a contender and some of us were stupid enough to believe him.

Thank the Lord he is gone. He was a disgrace to this organization. My only hope is that whoever is hired in the offseason has a real vision for this team. A vision that will bring a chamionship to Seattle after all these years. A vision that will spend 117 million dollars wisely instead of throwing it at garbage like Jeff Weaver and Scott Spiezio.

Good riddance to you Mr. Bavasi!!