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The Mariners are not failing because of their draftpicks.  Zduriencik got here in 2009, and it takes a few years for the farm product to mature. We are now looking at:
- An OF with a 112 OPS+ (Ackley, tho it's 93 for his career)
- A 1B with a 112 OPS+ since the start of 2013 (Smoak)
- A 3B with a 111 OPS+ career (Seager)
- a catcher with a 93 OPS+ career, and rising (Zunino, who is also a tremedous pitch-framer)
- a brand-new CF who is opening eyes (Jones)
- Not one, or two, but THREE shortstops who have OPSed .900+ in AAA (Brad, Nick & Chris)
- A decent BOR pitcher with a 100 ERA+ (Elias) with TWO ultra-top-tier arms returning to the roster in a couple weeks (Paxton and Walker)
And more. The farm ain't barren, and there are plenty of decent talents still on the way.
If your farm gives you pitchers 3-5 (and 6-8), basically your whole bullpen outside of your closer (at least two of whom are better pitchers than your closer) with more on the way, and 4 position players who are plus offensively with one minor star for sure in Seager... what exactly do you have to do to build a contender?
You ALREADY have an ace, and lucked into ANOTHER ace on the cheap in Iwakuma.  We should roar down the tracks like a freight train once Paxton and Walker get here...
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Except Morrison is bad (and injured) and Hart has scuffled (and is now gone for two months) and Bloomquist is worse than useless, and Almonte got a month to set himself on fire in the outfield, and our RH outfielder was "surprisingly" injured again (sorry Guti) and we had no useful backup plan, and...
It's not the kids, DaddyO.  We might wish Smoak was a star, and Franklin would just OPS .900 at short against the AL and NL instead of the PCL, and Ackley would compete for batting titles, but we HAVE enough young talent to free up cash for an ace or two, a 240 million dollar middle infielder, and more.
But Jack - for a dude who has an undeniable ability to select talented players who have no pro experience - has very little ability to select hitters who DO have a pro track record. Every time he's gone for a guy hoping for a bounceback year, it's blown up in his face.  Then those guys can go elsewhere and succeed (hello, Mr. Morse). Of course, Morse played most of the year here with a broken wrist that was misdiagnosed by our team docs (see my shout about an incompetent medical staff for further rants on that subject).
The guy needs his minor-league self (and cohorts like McNamara) to save him from his major-league self. If this team falls down, he'll be about out of time.  The only thing that might save him another year if that happens, ironically, would be a team sale. Can't get a new FO til after the sale goes through.
Jack's plan had better work this year, for his sake.  I just hope he doesn't pull a Bavasi and throw away talent trying to add in guys who won't fix the problem. Taijuan and Paxton can't come back soon enough - but I hope they find a good RH hitter under the rosin bag or something.
~G