Mariners Finally Address Bill Bavasi's Incompetence

Bill Bavasi's amusing run as general manager of the Seattle Mariners has ended. Hired before the 2004 season, Bavasi managed to assemble only one team that did not finish last in the AL west -- the 2nd place finishing 2007 team. The current squad is not only in last place, but its 24-45 record is the worst in baseball.

Some of Bavasi's questionable moves during his tenure:

• Signing Richie Sexson for four years $50 million
• Trading top prospect Adam Jones, George Sherrill (now Baltimore's closer), and three pitching prospects for Erik Bedard
  
• Signing Carlos Silva for 4 years $48 million. Silva is 3-7 with a 5.79 ERA

This list is kind of a waste of time because you can trace just about every Mariners player to a questionable signing or trade. The Tacoma News Tribune has Bavasi's lengthy rap sheet here.

The Mariners are going nowhere this year and probably nowhere next year or the year after, but this firing could set the stage for an Erik Bedard trade.

The new GM will have no attachment to Bedard and it would make sense to trade the team's most valuable commodity. The Yankees might be interested, now that Chien-Ming Wang is out for six weeks. The Cubs and Blue Jays have also shown interest in the past.