As an entire organization, the Seattle Mariners have officially hit rock bottom.

The organization has had a history of losing and poor decision making. What makes this year’s Mariner collapse different from past futility was the high expectation level.

Fans were excited coming off a surprise 2007 second-place finish. Season-ticket sales were up and pundits in the national media were predicting the team to win the AL West.

This Mariner team is probably the most disappointing, underachieving ball club I can remember. They will probably become the first team in baseball history to lose more than 100 games with a payroll exceeding $100 million. That’s truly pathetic.

Nothing has gone right. You’ve seen the games. Ichiro Suzuki isn’t even hitting .300 this season. His lifetime .331 average is tops in baseball among current players. He’s never had a season below .300 possibly until now. But hey, that’s the tip of the iceberg in terms of this team.

There isn’t one player on the entire roster having anything close to a career year, and the pitching staff is a nightmare. Oh, and please don’t get me started on Richie Sexson. That’s another column on its own.

What do teams do during a severe baseball crisis?

They usually blow the whole thing up and start over. This is clearly what the Mariners have begun doing over the last couple weeks. Let’s hope it continues.

The front office has done what was expected — firing general manager Bill Bavasi and team manager John McLaren.

Obviously both those guys needed a Greyhound bus ticket out of town.

Near the halfway point on this disgusting season I would certainly hope the team will begin a freakish GM and managerial search. Fans don’t want a lame-duck season. This team needs to begin next season now.

In order to do that, the most important positions within the organization — GM and manager — need to be addressed.

Right now there are plenty of legitimate candidates to take over as manager. There are a few guys that come to mind — Bobby Valentine, Buck Showalter, Joey Cora, Willie Randolph and possibly Bryan Price. Each appear to be possible successors to interim manager Jim Riggleman.

I think Valentine would be an excellent fit for this team. He’s an upbeat, rah-rah guy that could do nice things for a young team, which is what the Mariners will soon become. Valentine took the Mets to the 2000 World Series and had success during the 1990s with the Texas Rangers.

He’s been managing in the Japanese League over the last few years and won the Japanese Series in 2005 and is beloved across that country. With the large Japanese Mariners fan base, I think Valentine would be an excellent choice to get this team on the right track again.

The problem doesn’t entirely lie with the front office or coaching positions. Of course, the players are at fault, too.
I don’t expect too see next season’s opening-day lineup look anything similar to what it is now. In the last years of their contracts, Sexson and Raul Ibanez will certainly be gone.

The Mariners should trade Ibanez this season to a team looking for a solid left handed bat. Sexson is obviously un-tradable. Nobody wants him.

Don’t be surprised to see the team trade one of its stars — Ichiro, Erik Bedard or J.J. Putz.

In order to get top young prospects in Seattle the team may have to part with one or more of its best players.

Most Mariner fans I know have given up on this season, as have I. What the fan base must do for the next three months is hope the team begins its rebuilding process sooner than later and begin to convince its fans that winning is on the way — eventually. I think we all want to see new blood in the front office.

Bavasi completely wrecked this thing and now we’re in need of someone to come in and fix it.

It’s going to be a new Mariners era, which is sad because this past era completely flopped and the team is in a worse position than before Bavasi got there.

That’s baseball — Mariners baseball for sure.

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