The Mariners Still an Expansion Team after 35 Years

I have not written a post in a couple of days mostly due to the fact that I have simply been uninspired. It seems to be a common theme amongst people around town who like myself have followed the Mariners for so long and see no real hope for a return the playoffs in sight and can no longer ignore the fact that the current ownership doesn’t really care about us, or winning.

I read a few articles today about the speculation that the Mariners are prime to be sold with a value at around $750 million. The books are balanced with not to many long-term contracts to hamstring a new owner and little to no debt. From a business perspective I suppose Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong along with the board of directors are doing their jobs and thus are setting themselves up for a nice “Golden Parachute” should a sale happen.

That is all well and good if I had money invested in this team but instead like a lot of fans I have invested time, emotion and yes lots of money hoping to some day be World Champions.But after 35 years this team still looks like a semi-expansion team despite a promising group of young players that may gel in a couple of years.

It is absolutely crazy to be feeling this way in April even though we are 6-5 so far but it is a reality that has to be admitted. I was going to head down to the Safe tonight and cheer for our boys but just can’t rationalize dropping a hundred-dollar bill on parking, tickets and food though I may change my mind and go or perhaps head down there Wednesday.

I don’t seem  even to be able to muster the same anger towards the Top Brass and their marketing hacks for the various gimmicks they use to attract the casual fans like I used to.Chuck and Howie know these casual fans really don’t seem to care whether we win or lose and just seem to enjoy watching hydros and looking at their smartphones while guzzling over-priced drinks out in center field.

It is refreshing to see Geoff Baker at the Times staying on point and calling out the ownership group for the hustle they are pulling on the NW population. But it seems like even a lot of the local Mariners Bloggers and facebook crowd have bought into the thrifty develop your own players philosophy that Jack Z. keeps hammering home when he does his little sound bites. You know the line about were doing it the right way (on the cheap) and it will get better soon just you wait.

The trouble is the local fan base is shrinking as evidenced in the drop-off in attendance on days two and three of the Oakland Series over last year. I would be surprised if we break 15,00 tonight and if the Mariners go into a tailspin there could be some sub-10,000 nights sooner than later at the Safe this year.

Don’t mean to be such a Debbie Downer today but I think I speak for a lot of fans or former fans out there who have reached sort of a critical breaking point in their enthusiasm at this point in time. I could be wrong and maybe Eric Wedge will somehow motivate his crew to play over their heads this year and we will play respectable ball once again here in Seattle, time will tell. What do you think? Go M’s http://jeffsmariners.com