As the MLB trade deadline passed this afternoon, Seattlest was warmed by the cozy, reassuring feeling we get this time of year when the Mariners steadfastly refuse to buckle under pressure (logic?) and break up our boys of summer via trade. Doing nothing trade-wise has become a summertime tradition here dating back to the "Stand Pat" era of Pat Gillick right on through to today. (Sorry, Arthur Rhodes for a case of Vanilla Ice CDs......

First, hitting coach Jeff Pentland was fired, then General Manager Bill Bavasi was shown the door, and yesterday it was John McLaren's turn to up the state's unemployment rate. All casualties of the worst record in baseball. Since Lou Piniella got frustrated with the front office and left following the 2002 season, President Chuck Armstrong and CEO Howard Lincoln have hired a series of "yes men" which they could control. This is what they get.......

KING 5 and the AP are reporting the M's have fired much-debated General Manager Bill Bavasi. Apparently, the booing worked. Bavasi has been replaced by Lee Pelekoudas, who will be acting on an interim basis, while a GM search is conducted. Under Bavasi this season, the Mariners were the worst team in baseball with a 24-45 record. Last weekend, the M's were swept at home by the second-worst team in the majors, the Washington......

With news that long time Seattle Art Museum director Mimi Gates is retiring next year, we are hoping that the Mariners will fire current General Manager Bill Bavasi and hire Gates as his replacement. SAM Under Mimi Gates: Greatly renovated and expanded the downtown museum. Opened the Olympic Sculpture Park. Oversaw the acquisition of over one billion dollars in donated art. Bill Bavasi's Mariner Resume: Turned a team averaging 98 wins (2000-2003) into a......

The Mariners announced yesterday that Manager John McLaren and General Manager Bill Bavasi will both be back next year. McLaren took over in mid-season, the team was 40-41 under his guidance. 2008 will be Bavasi's fourth year as Mariners GM. Out in blogland, they've been calling for McLaren's head since the M's went on a 15 of 17 losing jag, one of the biggest collapses by a contending team in baseball history. The main complaint:......

The Ichiro signing is official. Ichiro is signed through 2012, when he will be 38. Says Bill Bavasi:One thing we have made clear since spring training was that it was our goal to have Ichiro play his entire career in Seattle, retire as a Mariner and go into the Hall of Fame in our cap.Well we couldn't have said it better ourselves. UPDATE: Here's what Ichiro said in a 1:30 press conference. We've paraphrased the......

Mariners with Felix Hernandez Record: 2-0 Payroll: $106,516,833 Mariners without Felix Hernandez Record: 3-9 Payroll: $106,096,833 Sometimes, words can't tell the story as well as numbers. Look at that--the $106 million of player that Mariners GM Bill Bavasi recruited to surround Felix Hernandez can't manage to win more than 25% of its games. To put it another way--0.39% of the Mariners' payroll is responsible for 40% of its wins. The blueprint for the season was......

Our Venezuelan baseball correspondent, Pauls Toutonghi, has breaking news that will be made official by the Mariners on Sunday. ESPN.COM reported that Ugueth Urbina was sentenced to fifteen years in a Venezualan prison. Description of his crime is as follows: "The 33-year-old free agent joined a group of men in attacking workers with machetes and pouring gasoline on them at his family's ranch, located about 25 miles south of Caracas..." Upon hearing the news, Mariners'......

Could Randy Johnson don a Mariners uniform in 2007? Those speculating aren’t entirely convinced floundering GM Bill Bavasi could pull off a (worthwhile) deal to acquire the Yankees’ aging Unit, and although we’re not the most astute of M’s followers, we’re dubious, too. We think it’s more likely the Mariners will trade for another mound giant—the Dodgers’ Mark Hendrickson. Because we saw him downtown last night. We couldn’t help doing a double-take when we walked......

Three years ago, we all hoped for aging middle infielder Omar Vizquel to fail a physical so the M's wouldn't complete an agreed-upon deal for him. And our pleas were heard. Well, M's fans, break out your prayers to the patron saint of aged middle infielders failing physicals again, because we need another favor from him. Pending a physical, the M's are going to deal two good young prospects, Chris Snelling and Emiliano Fruto, for......

Rumors abound early this week concerning a most ghastly notion, a dark vision that has kept us sleepless: reportedly, both the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies called Mariners GM Bill Bavasi over the weekend to inquire about a potential trade for Ichiro. Candidates for the swap included Roy Oswalt from Houston and some insulting combination of Bobby Abreu, Cory Lidle, and Arthur Rhodes from Philly. Abreu and Lidle finally landed with the New York Yankees......

A few hours ago we were very happy with Mariners GM Bill Bavasi. He ridded the team of one of its most sour spots, and brought up a kid who, despite wicked injury troubles, we can't help but want to love. Now comes a move that garners a mixed reaction: Bavasi just traded minor league centerfielder Shin-Soo Choo and a player to be named later to the Cleveland Indians for 1B/DH Ben Broussard, completing the......

Federal judge Richard Posner defends President Bush's extra-legal (meaning, surprisingly, not legal at all) spying program thusly: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act makes it difficult to conduct surveillance of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents unless they are suspected of being involved in terrorist or other hostile activities. That is too restrictive. Innocent people, such as unwitting neighbors of terrorists, may, without knowing it, have valuable counterterrorist information. So, since anyone in the country may......

Seattle's own Bill Gates was named Time magazine's Man, or "Person," of the Year. Well, he and that wife of his, Melinda, who will share the honor with 'You Too' front man Bono. The magazine chose the three because of their, "charitable work and activism, and not because, "we needed to pick two white people and a foreigner, " like in 1987. The Medina couple's Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (selfishly named after themselves) has......

Kenji Johjima, the Fukuoka Soft-Bank Hawks' .300-hitting, 30-homer-slugging, seven-time Gold Glove winner, is your new Mariner starting catcher, according to the Seattle Times. The Times' Bob Finnegan reports that Johjima will leave the Japanese leagues and sign a three-year contract with the M's. Last year, the Mariners tried seven different catchers, including a 42-year-old, a 21-year-old, two guys named Miguel, and Holden Caulfield. All phoneys. Some in the baseball world suggest that Johjima's unilinguality would......

In contrast to local temperatures, here's three things that are heating up: the hype surrounding Spanish tennis sensation Rafael Nadal, the fire under Mariner GM Bill Bavasi's ass, and the race between presumed City Council election rivals Dwight Pelz and Richard McIver. McIver backers recently created The Dwight Pelz Magic-8 Ball, an online oracle that purports to see inside the mind of Pelz, who announced this month that he would run for McIver's city......

Three B's have killed the Mariners this season--Bavasi, Beltre and Boone. Bill Bavasi, the team's general manager, is the mastermind behind such trades as Carlos Guillen (batting .355 for the Detroit Tigers) for Ramon Santiago (batting .225 for the Tacoma Rainiers), and of last year's free agent signings of Scott Spiezio and Rich Aurila, the pop-out twins. His major signing this year was B number 2, Adrian Beltre, who, after hitting 47 home runs in......

It's true--the last place Mariners, in a bold and reckless move, have traded for baseball's Most Valuable Player. Would ya believe, former Most Valuable Player? How about...former Most Valuable Player of the World Series. OK, they got the Most Valuable Player of the World Series of 1992. That's right, the Mariners have traded for 42-year-old catcher Pat Borders, whose single spurt of baseball competence came 13 years ago when he hit .450 in the Fall......