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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/2010344131_jose_lopez...
A lot to chew on there.  Such as:
"The M's front office knows that RBI are almost entirely the product of luck and opportunity, not any serious skill. . . .  As smart as most GM types are (smarter than many of you think) they can still be blinded by the big power numbers. They make any incoming player an easy sell to the fanbase. They also get GMs drooling about a player's potential."
I assume he's getting this from somewhere.  Ms are down on Lopez and think other teams will value him higher than they do.
"I read an item over the weekend that listed the Mariners as one of three suitors for Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres should that team trade him."
Bats left; slugs .500; young.  Russ Branyan is a nice person, I'm sure, but that dream season he just had would have been Gonzalez' worst full season.  Now on this one, Baker admits he's just picking it up off the net.
And maybe most interesting of all:
"And please, let's not get into penny pinching and money talk. Yeah, some of the guys I've mentioned cost a whole lot more than Lopez. But the Mariners have money. Most of baseball is raking in a ton of revenue from media deals (traditional and new media) and that will more than offset any downturn in attendance. The Mariners have $50 million or so in contract payouts coming off the books with the free agencies of Adrian Beltre, Erik Bedard, Miguel Batista, Jarrod Washburn and Kenji Johjima. They have money to use on upgrading the offense (and the defense, in the case of second base)."
In the past the beat writers have passed along the front-office "poverty" line.  Interesting.