Mariners need a new breed of GM

The betrayal Mariner fans and the press felt after the July 31 trade deadline passed uneventfully has evolved into a cynical, I-told-you-so blamefest.

And while earlier in the year the main guns were leveled at Freddy Garcia's immaturity, Jeff Cirillo's vapid, expensive offense and the supposed disloyalty of Jeff Nelson, a third consecutive disappointing year is directing the blame where it is most deserved: the Mariner's front office.

In Monday's issues of The Seattle Times, Steve Kelley called for M's President Howard Lincoln to ax General Manager Pat Gillick in favor of someone who "isn't afraid to pull the chord on a deal in July."

He then asked a very legitimate question: "Competing dollar-for-dollar with the Yankees isn't the answer. But if Oakland and Minnesota can make July deals that make the difference, why can't the Mariners?"

Apparently, Kelley is getting nostalgic for the glory days in Marinerland, when clueless former GM Woody Woodward pulled the trigger on some of the most infamous trades in Mariner history.

His question is a salient one, though not for the reason he believes; Minnesota and Oakland are in the playoffs because of tremendous farm systems and an organizational devotion to on-base percentage, without question the most important statistic for evaluating the potential of those young players.

Gillick lost his job, not because of his cautious reluctance to trade away future stars, but because of his tenuous grasp of how to inexpensively build a contender. As the cores of his teams in Toronto and Baltimore grew old, Gillick ran them into ground. The same would have happened in Seattle.

So now the question is: who is the right man for the job?

The answer: Billy Beane.

Unfortunately, Beane is the man in charge of the enemy: the Oakland A's, where his strictly enforced sabermetric principles have produced a dynasty on par with the 1988-90, McGwire- and Canseco-led teams.

His success in Oakland has unleashed a wave of young, statistically oriented managers -- Beane disciples all, who are beginning to overhaul the baseball hierarchy, men like J.P. Ricciardi in Toronto, Mark Shapiro in Cleveland, Theo Epstein in Boston, and Kevin Towers in San Diego.

All these teams are building dynamic cores of young, patient hitters. It is imperative that the Mariners find a GM more focused on the statistical factors that win baseball games than the tired cliche of baseball intangibles (which Gillick and Woodward so naturally embraced).

Howard Lincoln must find the courage to hire a GM who will go against conventional baseball wisdom and incorporate the new wave of baseball intelligence. A man who won't be afraid to give young players like Rafael Soriano and Chris Snelling chances at the big-league level, a man who can make those deadline deals with a confidence bolstered by in-depth analysis, a man who won't leave Mariner fans feeling betrayed and cynical as another uneventful October rolls by.