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Why haven't the M's had success with player development? I blame several things:
1) Insisting on having a "DH"
Blame Edgar for this one, but we treat the DH like an actual position here in Seattle and have brought players in to fill it. Carl Everett, Jose Vidro, Ken Griffey Jr, Mike Sweeney and now Jack Cust share a few things in common: All are near the end of their careers, none are fast and none of them can field a position. This creates a need for speedy pinch runner types, and with a 4 man bench, utility players like Willie Ballgame. How many developmental AB's has this arrangement stolen from young Mariners who could play in the field while the regular got the day off.
2) 12 man bullpens- I think this is one of the dumbest trends in baseball. This forces teams to find 3 guys to back up 7 positions. CF and SS take two of these positions and usually the guys who back up these positions are all glove no stick players. That leaves one spot, which usually goes to someone who can hit the ball out of the park in a PH situation. No room in this configuration for a young kid who might struggle for a while.
3) A "we play our starters every day" mentality- This was my beef with Grover. How in the world is a kid supposed to make it if he needs to crack the top 9 in order to get AB's. They play too early or the rot on the bench. Horrible. The need to make better use of job shares.
4) Blocking young talent with veteran acquistions- Think Jose Vidro pugging up the DH spot for two years when you had a bunch of young hitters trying to break into the bigs. Think acquiring Jose Guillen when Adam Jones and Chris Snelling are waiting to get an opportunity in the minors. Kids need to be able to win a spot on the big league roster as something other than utility player.
5) Not making strategic decisions with the vets they do pick up. Finding players who are clearly short term fixes with the understanding they will be mentoring a younger player along the way is a must. I hope the M's are doing this with Dustin Ackley and Adam Kennedy. Hopefully Branyan did that for Smoak. Same with Bradley and Saunders.
For what it's worth, I like what I see from Wedge. He's getting creative with the lineup but he doesn't have much talent to work with. We need to shed one of the pitchers and get this guy another bat to work with. I'm thinking Matt Tui sounds about right. Adds some hitting against LHP and he can play a little LF while Bradley spells Cust.