Have the Seattle Mariners Convinced You That 2009 Will Be Any Different?

This town needs a winner. The city of Seattle is hungry for a winning sports team to step forward and give the sports fan in the 206 something to hang their hats on. Something to believe in. Something to put their faith in to occasionally, and positively, distract them from the treacherous times our country is experiencing.

The 2008 seasons for the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners were frustrating and disappointing, if not depressing, and the 2007-2008 Seattle Supersonics season was more than just dreadful with 60 losses and a second straight top three draft pick. Not to mention the team left town altogether.

The University of Washington didn't help much, either, with their hoops team missing the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season and the football team going 0-for-12.

The sense of optimism on the Puget Sound sports scene centers not around the UW's hoops team that is off to a strong start, but its baseball team that lost 101 games last season when most were predicting they'd contend for the division title.

But the Mariners might be this town's best hope for 2009. Mike Holmgren has rode off into the sunset and the aging Seahawks roster sits light years behind the reigning NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals in their own division.

After the worst season in 16 years, the Mariners front office made wholesale changes. They fired two managers, the general manager and their scouting director after becoming the first team in Major League Baseball history to spend more than $100 million on payroll and lose 100 or more game in the same season.

Out is John McLaren, Jim Riggleman, Bill Bavasi and Bob Fontaine, replaced by first-time skipper Don Wakamatsu, rookie general manager Jack Zduriencik and first-year scouting director Tom McNamara.

There have been exactly zero trades or free agent acquisitions that resulted in the addition of impact talent, but the buzz remains strong, and very real.

Zduriencik and his staff have shown that they value the right things in players - defense, on-base percentage, youth and left-handed power - but the roster remains nothing more than mediocre.

Should Mariners fans be convinced that things are changing at Safeco Field? Should baseball fanatics in this town flock to the ticket office to get their ticket packages for the upcoming season?

There is no right or wrong answer to those questions here in late January. Most fans seem to be excited about the changes the Mariners have made in terms of their decision makers, just as Americans are optimistic about the changes made in the White House and the rest of Washington this winter.

As far as being convinced that the 2009 season is going to be be any different, maybe that's not the right question to ask.

Perhaps the process and commitment to long-term success is more important than what actually happens on the field this next spring and summer, just as it's more important that our economy is strong for the long haul, rather than a quick rebound without future confidence.

But until Zduriencik and Obama actually put the major portions of their plans to work and we start seeing positive results, we'll all just have to have a little faith.