Two or three times annually, I revert to my years-ago role as a Seattle sportswriter, usually to assess the state of our Mariners — despite Seahawks and Husky claims, the local team closest and most important to the hearts of Seattle sports fans.

The Mariners leave town today for their final road trip of the season. They will finish out here at the end of the month. They hope to avoid a 100-loss season and become the first baseball franchise with a $100-million-plus payroll to lose 100 games. It will be close. But, under interim manager Jim Riggleman, the team has shown greater focus and improvement and just might squeeze through short of 100 losses. It will, in any case, have either the first-, second-, or third-worst record in the major leagues this season and will receive a top-three 2009 draft choice as its reward.

This is a team which will not climb back into contention in 2009. But, with sensible decision-making, it can play .500 ball next year and be back in contention a year later. Here is a season-end sum up of where the franchise stands.

Management Needs Improvement

Any organization reflects the quality and character of the people running it. This is a forgiving, even complacent city when it comes to tolerating less than high performance among its elected, business, and even sports-team leaders. Yet, in 2009, few would dispute that Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln and COO Chuck Armstrong have done well in presenting an enjoyable game experience at Safeco Field but have been careless and, at times, outrightly stupid in their stewardship of the team on the field.

Former general manager Bill Bavasi, fired at mid-season, made dreadful decisions about player talent and value during his tenure. Huge multi-year contracts were bestowed on mediocre and weak performers such as Richie Sexson, Jarrod Washburn, Miguel Batista, Jose Vidro, and Carlos Silva. Pitcher Rafael Soriano, a valuable asset, was traded to Atlanta for a weak-armed Horacio Ramirez. Two good young players, both now major-league regulars, were traded to Cleveland for half-year, stop-gap veterans long gone from the team. Most damagingly, coming outfield star Adam Jones, relief ace George Sherrill, and three quality pitching prospects were traded to Baltimore for pitcher Erik Bedard, who has been down with a sore arm since early this season. No one knows if he will be able to pitch again in 2009, the final year of his contract here. Bedard had an injury history in Baltimore. Clearly, the Mariners did not do their due diligence in checking him out before making the trade. Only third baseman Adrian Beltre, a steady rock at third base, has been a successful multi-year signer from the Bavasi era.

The first task, therefore, for Lincoln and Armstrong, will be to get the right general manager sometime next month to lead the team into 2009 and beyond. Reportedly, a huge number of qualified candidates have expressed interest in the job. Lincoln and Armstrong must get this hire right. Lee Pelakoudas, a longtime Mariners front-office employee, has been acting as general manager since Bavasi's departure. But he is unlikely to get the permanent job. Lincoln and Armstrong demonstrated their lack of confidence in him when they refused to allow him to deal Washburn and outfielder Raul Ibanez to pennant-contending teams at the July 31 trading deadline, and again in August, when they were at the height of their trading value and could have brought young talent in return. Armstrong last week took responsibility for cancelling a Washburn trade, indicating he might be too valuable to lose. (Washburn will never be more than a .500 pitcher, is aging, and will make about $10 million next year in the last year of his Mariners conract. Ibanez has had a good year but his contract expires at the end of this season. He no longer can field, run, or throw, and the club would be foolish to re-sign him for next year, when he will be 37, at the big salary he will seek).

Smarter management would have instructed Pelakoudas to deal both Washburn and Ibanez for best offers, if just to clear payroll and send a signal about the future. Lincoln and Armstrong complicated the new general manager's job immeasurably by signing fading and mediocre catcher Kenji Johjima to a three-year, $24 million contract extension early this season, reportedly at the order of Japanese ownership. They might have told ownership that it would be $24 million down the toilet, and better spent elsewhere, but you wonder if they did. There are at least three catchers better than Johjima on the Mariners' major- and minor-league rosters.

Riggleman, Good But Endangered

Former manager John McLaren was fired shortly after Bavasi. He has been replaced by Jim Riggleman, who started the season as the Mariners' bench coach (No. 2 man). Riggleman is a professional with a solid background as both a player-development director and both minor- and major-league manager. McLaren was popular with his players as an 'inmates can run the asylum' proponent. They liked McLaren but played sloppily for him. Entering the season as a supposed pennant contender, the club did a top-to-bottom dive. Fundamentals were glaringly lacking. No one appeared able to work a pitch count, lay down a bunt, run the bases professionally, or understand stituational hitting. It was careless, hack-away sandlot ball being played by multimillion-dollar athletes. The expensive starting-pitching staff, assembled by Bavasi, kept incurring minor injuries and failing on the mound. Relief ace J.J. Putz came down with a sore arm, lost playing time, and made every appearance a Perils-of-Pauline experience in which he flirted with late-inning disaster. Often he found it.

Riggleman quite quickly restored order, although reportedly, he is less liked than McLaren. That is good. During his short tenure, discipline clearly has tightened. Even free-swinging shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt has begun to draw a walk and to take a pitch or two per at-bat. His diffident fielding also has improved recently. Second baseman Jose Lopez' hitting has picked up at the end of the season, not dropped off as in prior years. His fielding lapses also have been less frequent. The team now is playing hard. Riggleman appears to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of his players and is using them to get maximum efficiency from the talent at hand.

Riggleman has knowledge of the players on and near the Mariners major-league roster. He clearly is a tough-minded pro. Trouble is, a new general manager almost certainly will want to bring his own manager on board — unless he has known and worked with Riggleman previously. A new manager in 2009 will have to start fresh in learning about Mariners players and will have his own approach. The rebuilding process thus will be slowed several months during the transition.

My vote goes to retaining Riggleman. But I recognize that is a long shot. The first priority is to hire a solid general manager. That person must hire his own manager. If that is Riggleman, good. He also must be left alone to do his job, within general budget parameters, by Lincoln and Armstrong.