Pretty much everybody that gives a crap about baseball understands by now that the Mariners are way different from how they used to be, but people's minds have been changed by different events. Some people were convinced by the hiring of Jack Zduriencik. They knew about him in Milwaukee, they were familiar with his philosophies, and they saw what he meant and what he'd be capable of.

Some people were convinced by the Branyan signing. A guy many have wanted to see in Seattle for years, bringing Branyan into the fold showed that the front office was willing to take a risk in the name of getting good production for cheap.

Some people were convinced by the JJ/Gutierrez trade. The structure of the deal and the public justification for making it demonstrated that this organization knew which characteristics were important, which weren't, and how it wanted to go about building a contender.

Some people were convinced by the left field situation. Not only did the front office know how to value defense; it refused to deviate from its plan of having a strong defensive outfield, even when its original starter got hurt.

Some people were convinced by the team's 2009 record. Any team that gets that much better in that little time has to have done something right.

And so on. Ever since Jack Zduriencik and the rest of his new front office were brought in and put in power, there has been a series of revealing events, each persuading more and more people that, after years of prodigal lunacy, the Mariners organization finally had it figured out. And this afternoon we were able to add the latest landmark moment to the list when the following was written in the same place where just a couple years ago authors lamented the lacking of playing time for one Willie Bloomquist:

Wilson earned the Fielding Bible Award as the best fielding shortstop in the Majors in 2009, leading all Major League shortstops with 27 runs saved. In 1,143 starts at shortstop, he has recorded a .977 fielding percentage. He's a career .268 hitter.

The Fielding Bible Awards and defensive runs saved, on Pravda, used as evidence. I don't know if this was the author's idea or a suggestion from someone a little higher, but what difference does it make? Remember when the broadcast would talk about RZR and UZR? Forget whose decision it was. What matters is that not only does this front office intend to use its superior valuation skills to make this team good again - they're going to make damn sure as many fans as possible know how they're doing it.

A significant group of people were skeptical of the Zduriencik Mariners back when the hiring was made public.

Something tells me the remaining members of that group are getting sick of goodbyes.

Still nothing happening between parties to the best of my knowledge, but a couple hours ago we got this from Jon Heyman's Twitter:

#mariners gm zduriencik: Felix is our property. we're going to have him the next 2 years."

That's a bold statement from someone who isn't ordinarily so bold.

Something to think about.

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More photos » by Ted S. Warren - AP

Based on the angle, it appears that Ichiro is pointing toward Mt. Rainier AND THE BLOODY MOON BECAUSE HE IS TOO AWESOME FOR THIS PLANET

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That's all.

Brandon Morrow tonight in Tacoma

28 batters faced
89 pitches (3.17 per BF)
According to Divish, 36 (40.4%) were offspeed.
62 strikes (70%)
10 swinging strikes (11.2%)
5 strikeouts, 4 swinging
1 walk
1 home run

Against Fresno, which boasts a not awful line up.

Baby steps, but some good ones.

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Larry LaRue:

On the disabled list since undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur in his left shoulder on June 30, Beltre is pushing the expectations for his return. Initially, the prognosis was he’d miss six to eight weeks.

"I’d play today, if they’d let me," he said. "That’s how good I feel."

He won’t, but he may make it back by next week.
...
When the team goes to Kansas City a week from today, Beltre will be with it – and he might play in that series against the Royals.

So much for Beltre potentially being done as a Mariner. He won't be back in time to make a difference, but he should be back in time to receive a proper send-off.

I don't get why so many Mariner fans still don't like him. I really don't. He's an above-average hitter. He's strong. He's quirky. He's personable. He's funny. He's a magnificent defender. He runs well. He always plays at maximum effort. He's durable. And he's maybe the hardest-working player the team's ever had. The worst thing he's ever done is hit 48 homers for someone else. It's absurd. Beltre's five-year tenure with Seattle is nearly complete, and it's likely he'll move on to play somewhere more favorable to re-establish his value, but because they can't help but evaluate players by their potential peaks, so many people will have missed out on enjoying easily the greatest third baseman this franchise has ever known.

By pretty much all indications, Adrian Beltre should have about two months left in his Mariner career. Cherish them.

You always want them to suck. You always want the bad players to be bad people. It's why so many of us (myself included) love to discuss the unpleasant things we hear about Carlos Silva while by and large ignoring his more agreeable qualities. People love to rip on professional athletes, but it goes against our nature to believe that good people can fail or that bad people can succeed, so when a player becomes a problem, our inclination is to picture him in a negative light that extends beyond the lines of the field. We would feel guilty about bashing a bad player who's a good person. Ergo, bad players need to be bad people.

We've seen it happen with Yuni. At first, he was disappointing. He wasn't living up to his potential. Then fans started calling him lazy. Unmotivated. Fat. Unprofessional. And once the Vanity Fair article came out a year ago, people used the information therein to justify calling him all kinds of names and renouncing him as an asshole. Yuni used to be a guy who simply wasn't playing near his ceiling, but as more time passed and his play on the field kept slipping, he became a target for all kinds of abuse. Some of it was warranted, but some of it was not.

The truth of the matter is that we don't know anything for certain. Not as far as Yuni the person is concerned. The only window into his personality that we get to look through is the one provided by journalists like Shannon Drayer, and their accounts seem to paint the picture of a kind-hearted young man who just doesn't get it. A guy who's in over his head, a guy who cares a lot about a lot of things but who doesn't understand how to make himself better, or even that he needs to be better in the first place. Were someone to ask me to describe Yuniesky Betancourt in just a couple words, I'd probably call him a well-meaning idiot.

I don't mean to suggest that he's actually stupid. For all I know, he could spend his free time normalizing Heisenberg integrals. In baseball terms, though, he isn't smart. And ultimately, that's good enough for me to be happy he's gone. I'm sad that he has to leave the only team he's ever known, but for one thing, the Royals might be more Mariner than the Mariners, and for another, baseball trumps everything else. For me, anyway. Though this whole thing would be easier if Yuni were a total dick on top of being a lousy player, I'm not broken up about a polite and seemingly genuine person getting shipped away, because this is a deal that helps the Mariners, and that's all we ever want. This isn't a blog devoted to individual players. This is a blog devoted to a baseball team, and while some might wish otherwise, good teams don't have room for bad players, no matter how cordial.

That we were able to get two young pitchers back for a shortstop who can't hit, walk, or field is a nice surprise. I wasn't sure if a market for Yuni even existed anymore, although I guess it makes sense that the one team who'd want him is the Royals. Remember how Jose Guillen got all upset about a few Mariners who he didn't think were playing hard enough? This could be fun to watch. Neither of the arms we got back count as can't-miss prospects, but landing someone like Cortes - a power righty who profiles as a potential late-inning reliever even if he doesn't improve his change - is a bigger return than I would've expected, and he instantly becomes one of the system's better talents on the mound. That says a lot about the system, but it also says a lot about Cortes. Big 22 year olds with good velocity and a plus breaking ball are the definition of projectable.

For Yuni, this is going to be a difficult adjustment, and I'm glad that he's going to have a few familiar faces to ease him into a new clubhouse. I don't know why the Royals made this trade. Yuni's gotten steadily worse from the moment he arrived in the big leagues, and he doesn't seem to possess the motivation or cognizance to make himself better. Right now, he sucks. He sucks at pretty much everything. But change-of-scenery trades have their own name for a reason, and it's not without the realm of possibility that he puts himself back together with another ballclub. Stranger things have happened, and while the Mariners have disciplined him in a lot of ways, getting traded for a couple minor leaguers might finally be the wake-up call that gets him out of bed. We've seen flashes of his old defense from time to time this year. We know the ability is in there somewhere. It's just now become the Royals' problem to try and get it out. I'm skeptical, but interested.

All in all, it's a bittersweet afternoon. Bitter, because a young infielder once deemed untouchable has seen his stock fall so far that all he's worth now is a couple live arms, but - more importantly - sweet, because this concludes one troublesome era and ushers in another, hopefully more positive one. Yuni isn't our problem. Not anymore. Not now, and not in the future. Yeah, this team is still without a Major League-caliber shortstop, but Yuni wasn't a realistic solution, so it feels good to ship him off and wipe our hands clean. Whether we go forward now with Ronny :(edeno or someone like Jack Wilson, we'll see, but it most definitely won't be with Yuni, and I think that's reason enough to be pleased.

A list of current Mariners who are free agents at the end of the season:

David Aardsma: Currently lighting it up in the closing role. Legit sale piece. (Update: Aardsma is not a free agent at year's end. He is, however, still possible trade bait.)

Miguel Batista: Owed money and been merely average out of the pen.

Erik Bedard: Started off excellent, petered out a bit and currently is about to hit the one month mark on the disabled list.

Adrian Beltre: Even with his offense as horrid as it has been, his defense was still stellar and on pace for about 2.5 to 3 wins. He might have still fetched some interest at the deadline. And now he's on the shelf for two months.

Russell Branyan: Awesome. Legit sale piece.

Endy Chavez: Outstanding defense and expected level of offense would have made him a possible package piece to a team valuing outfield defense. Out for the year.

Ken Griffey Jr.: hahaha.

Mike Sweeney: hahaha.

Jarrod Washburn: Shiny ERA! Shiny ERA! Get him quick, other teams. Seriously, he's owed quite a bit of money still and his numbers are starting to slip. Compounding that are some balky back and knee issues. Fantastic.

Losing Beltre and the extended absence of Bedard makes this team much more unlikely to contend, even in the weak AL West. And if this team tanks over this difficult stretch of schedule and the front office decides to sell off their short term assets, they are now left with just a few pieces, Aardsma and Branyan, that might fetch much of anything somewhat valuable back in return.

Buy or sell was an interesting discussion a few weeks ago. Now it looks like the team is unlikely to be in position to do either. Well played, Scrappy. Well played.