I didn't say it was the draft picks. I merely included the draft picks along with fungible trade assets as the kind of advantageous assets that should have allowed the M's to succeed better than they have. I should have added payroll capability (as opposed to payroll deployment) to allow for free agent pursuit. In my previous post on this thread I confess I can't delineate the problem (or problems) behind the Mariners' run of what appears to be bad luck, but I agreed that there simply MUST be something behind that bad luck. As to whether the farm is poised to finally contribute in a way that it has not previously done, IMHO (and who am I to disagree with you), that remains to be seen. Perhaps the best that can be said is that the farm OUGHT to be ready to contribute and APPEARS ready to do so. But until it ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTES I am not prepared to concede the point given the Mariners' history.