In a transparent effort to both deflect responsibility and appear qualified, Seattle Mariners GM Bill Bavasi fired Hitting Coach Jeff Pentland Monday, June 9th.  Pentland inherited a team in 2006 that was in the bottom third of MLB teams in hitting and proceeded to improve the team's overall batting average by thirty points in just two seasons, to .287 in 2007.  But, the Mariners regressed in 2008 - Seattle's hitting woes are well-recorded sixty-plus games into this season (a .249 team BA and .306 OBP), and Pentland paid the price for it - and Pentland was fired.

There is no question Pentland's termination was justified, but the changes cannot end there.

Mel Stottlemyre, the M's Pitching Coach, has not benefitted the club at all after being picked up prior to the 2008 season - Seattle has sported a team ERA that has lingered at or near the bottom of the majors all season long, and this after the team signed Carlos Silva  from Minnesota and traded for Erik Bedard, formerly of the Baltimore Orioles.  Bedard has been okay thus far, but far from the spectacular acquisition that was supposed to send Seattle to the playoffs this season.  He missed a couple starts with a ribcage injury, and while he's been inconsistent, Silva has been outright awful the last month or so.

Silva's career ERA was about 4.40 coming into 2008, but it's been hovering at roughly 6.00 for a while now, and no one seems to know why.  Some people blame his 81-mph fastball (his 4-seamer is actually more like 88-90; it's his sinker that clocks in at 81-82 or so), some people say he was never any good to begin with, some say it's any number of things.  In reality, his woes this year have come due to a combination of the following: poor infield play (he's a ground-ball pitcher), Mel Stottlemyre's tinkering, busted confidence, poor pitch-calling, and poor pitching.  Carlos Silva is a victim of the system in which this entire team operates, and the same can easily be said for Jarrod Washburn and Miguel Batista, both of whom were supposed to have been renewed and energized by the addition of Sottlemyre to the yteam's coaching ranks.  This, flatly, has not happened.

One of the few bright spots for the Mariners in 2008 has been the bullpen.  Brandon Morrow has been outstanding since being called back up from AAA Tacoma early in the season, and the probability that he will be in the starting rotation after the All-Star break has many Seattle fans salivating - his aggressive approach and 95+ fastball are promising.  Ryan Rowland-Smith and Sean Green have been solid all season, and the addition of R.A. Dickey as a long reliever allows Manager John McLaren some versatility where there used to be none.  J.J. Putz has struggled to get past an early-season injury, and the once-dominant closer of the M's appears to be well out of shape.  Some conditioning drills and undoing some of Stottlemyre's changes to his delivery should help him bear down for the remainder of the season, but his woes only further reflect the issues facing this franchise.

The Mariners' starting pitchers' ERA is bloated beyond comprehension, however, and starting pitching is once again their gratest flaw, as was the case in 2007.  That fact can only result in the firing of Mel Stottlemyre as Pitching Coach, and ultimately in Manager John McLaren's termination, as well.

The coaching staff is at fault just as much as anyone else in this organization, but not more than anyone else.  The players have not performed anywhere near expectations.  Field-management has been spotty at best.  Ownership is absent.  Leadership is non-existent.

Be prepared for some major, wholesale off-season changes within this franchise.  An entirely new face of the Mariners will greet us on opening day 2009, and frankly, I'm okay with that.