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And you hit the nail on the head, Matt.
Whether right or wrong - "at this moment" - Seattle agrees with you.
Personally, I just think many have forgotten what has actually ALREADY happened in 2010.
Kotchman lost his starting role in June, when mostly Carp took over.  Carp didn't get much of an audition - but he hit .167/.265/.200 (.465) while starting, and then they even started Josh Wilson at first for three games, and then went and got Branyan.
Branyan took over at first for all of 4 games, before suffering some minor health issues, at which point Bradley's health issues got bigger - so Branyan took over DH, (to save HIS back).
Kotchman was starting at first for about a week (with Branyan at DH), when the club snagged Smoak, who immediately supplanted Kotchman as the primary 1B.  Of course, in the second half of July, Smoak hit .159/.169/.270/ (.439) in his initial run, and was sent to Tacoma end of July.
With Wak gone - Tui actually got some starts at 3B - (his actual position) - and Lopez (currently hitting .606 compared to Kotchman's .651) got a little time off.
So, why is Kotchman playing?  Because Bradley is on the DL, so it makes SENSE to play Branyan (and his only barely better than Sweeney back), at DH.  That - and in the month of July, Kotchman actually hit .954, while NEITHER of the "future" guys the club tried posted a .500 -- neither was ready, (based on the club's actions).
Tui isn't a 1B -- he's never going to be a 1B -- so it makes little sense to play him there (as a strategy for either winning games or developing him as an MLB player).  And, of course, Tui started getting more PT in LF after Saunders got hurt.
Well, Carp is hitting .209 in August (.704 OPS), so I'm not getting a really great vibe that he's "fixed" what sent him down at the end of June.
Smoak is hitting .232 (.795) with 20 Ks in 82 ABs for August.  He's stalking pitches (16/20 eye), and hitting dingers (5 in August), but still has some obvious flaws in his game.  Moreover, he's only been down a month - and when rosters expand you can bring him up without any thought about who to dump over the side to make that move.
Is Lopez REALLY viewed as a significant part of the Seattle future drastically more than Kotchman?  Kotchman is out-hitting Lopez.  Tui is a 3B, not a 1B.  Kotchman has two more HRs in 130 fewer PAs.  They're barely a year apart in age - and their salaries are nearly the same. 
Smoak and Carp both got shots - and failed badly.  Is the argument really -- "it's been a couple of weeks - try them again - what have we got to lose?"  Because that's what it sounds like to me -- and that, to my ears - sounds a whole lot like desperation, not player development.
Me?  I think if Bradley and Branyan could've both gotten healthy - Kotchman would've been watching from the sidelines -- (oh, wait - for the week that was true - Kotchman WAS watching from the sidelines) -- not that I would've necessarily agreed with that choice, (being that Kotchman is hitting a teeny bit better than Bradley, too).  From my perspective, if you don't have a prospect READY to audition, then you're best served (developmentally), by putting the best role model you've got into the position until you do.  (Kotchman vs. Bradley as role models ... hmmmmm).
Hey - the team did put Josh Wilson at first for the 3 days Jack Wilson was healthy.  (Of course, Kotchman is hitting better than Josh, too).
In the end, I can only find ONE player in the entire organization (who isn't hurt), that one could actually make a legit argument to start at 1B over Kotchman.  That would be Langerhans - who started a few at first - and has had a quietly productive year - and was utilized way too infrequently back when his eye was really zeroed in.  Of course, Kotch has shown a lot more power and is 3 years younger ...
In the end, Kotchman is starting at first, because all of the other legitimate choices to start at 1B have either already failed or gotten hurt.  And in a few days, after rosters expand, Kotchman likely gets to watch most of the games from the bench the rest of the way anyway.