For weeks the Mariners and their apologists have refused to make any number of moves to benefit the club, most obviously promoting Adam Jones is the most obvious out of the bunch.

Even the most hard-core apologists do not really argue that Jones would be a better left fielder then Ibanez even if his bat somehow does not translate to the majors. The reason for not making a move is that it would somehow disrupt "team chemistry" if one of our under-performing veterans should lose playing time or - heaven forbid - we might have to DFA a popular player like Jason Ellison.

While the roster paralysis is a problem, there is a greater danger here to team chemistry and morale through inaction than through making a move. Baseball, like all professional sports, is a game of results. Heck, that is what we all like about it. It is one of the closest things we have to a meritocracy in this world. Jackie Robinson might be a black man in a racist country, but since that man could run and hit he eventually made it in the league.

If Jones came up tomorrow or Broussard took time at first base, we would expect Ibanez and Sexson to be upset. But they are grown men who have to know their numbers just are not there right now. They would be upset, but I would imagine they would mostly be upset at themselves for not getting the job done.  

The greatest danger to the organization is that the Mariner management right now is sending the message to the whole organization that performance doesn't matter. They are giving powerful disincentives for a player to perform. That is a much greater danger than upsetting a veteran that is not performing. This is about more than personalities and individual performance. This is about the entire culture of the Mariners organization. Loyalty means something, but performance eventually has to mean more.