This would be a nice headline for a series.  Unfortunately, all I'm here to do is point out an interview that Larry Stone conducted with Tony Blengino several weeks ago that he's just now springing upon us.

Tony Blengino on how the Mariners use statistics

Here's a snippet:

What stat do you use to determine if a player is average?: Wins above replacement is a good barometer. And within that you can look at the defensive aspect, the offensive aspect. You don't need 250 homers to have a winning team, but you might need to hit more than 50. You just need to make sure you're not too far below average in any given area. Last year, at the end of the day, the reason we were not a playoff club, or at the end of the day in the running to be a playoff club in the latter days of the season, is because our offense was well below that level. We think we made some moves in the offseason to raise our offense up to the point where now we can compete."

As impressive as this off-season has been, nothing gets me going like knowing that our very own Front Office Engine is powered by the same analysis techniques, values, and ideals as the hard-working folks of USSM, LL, FanGraphs, THT, and a host of other sites that focus on statistical analysis.