In their first attempt at MLB organizational rankings — a sort of all-encompassing, forward-looking version of power rankings — Fangraphs named the Mariners the sixth-best organization in baseball, above teams like the Braves, Phillies, and Cardinals. Even with the reasoning behind the ranking, the writers were accused of bias by readers (many of the writers who created the rankings are fans of the Mariners). But the bastion of sabermetrics on the internet wasn’t the only place to buy into the defense-first philosophy, as Sports Illustrated wrote an article about the Mariners explaining the shift towards run prevention.* Even random baseball fans on the internet predicted the M’s to win 86 games and take the AL West title.

*Theo Epstein, the Red Sox’s young star GM, also believes in the power of the glove, considering his signings of Mike Cameron and Carl Crawford the past two years. He is also talked about in the article.

But as the 2010 season unfolded, it was clear that the Mariners were not going anywhere. Chone Figgins, their big offseason signing, was not hitting at all–neither was Casey Kotchman, or Jose Lopez, or anyone else on the entire team. If they wanted to win, the duo of Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee had the impossible task of throwing shutouts practically every time they took the mound. Somewhere along the way, the Twitter tag #6org became the chosen method of mocking the entire situation. I suspect either @samtpage or @willDavidian (correct me if I’m wrong here) was the snarky bastard behind it, and it was glorious. You couldn’t go a day without seeing a pathetic Figgins AVG/OBP/SLG slash line or a hard-luck losing pitching line from Hernandez followed by #6org.

The #6org 2010 Seattle Mariners ended up dead-last in the AL West with a record of 61-101 and scored only 513 runs the entire season. Such offensive ineptitude had not been seen since the inception of the DH. By comparison, the Yankees led the majors with 859 runs scored.

Naturally, when it came time for another go-around with the organizational rankings before this season, Fangraphs revamped their methodology and the Mariners ended up 17th. The team that ranked 6th? The 15-30 Minnesota Twins, who are currently scoring 3.43 runs per game. It’s not quite as horrendous as the 3.17 runs per game the Mariners put up last year, but it’s the worst in baseball.

Is the #6org curse more powerful than the Madden curse or SI jinx? Joe Mauer is battling knee issues and will probably be moved away from catcher sooner rather than later, destroying his positional value, and making his massive contract look much worse. Francisco Liriano may have thrown a no-hitter, but his ERA is 5.73. I guess it doesn’t help that the Twins traded away a competent shortstop in J.J. Hardy just to pay for a set-up man. At least Justin Morneau is finally hitting like a man whose brain isn’t totally concussed.

So which team will be doomed to a shitty season in 2012? Braves? Rockies? Blue Jays? I could see the Rangers dropping from 5th to 6th. If that happened, Josh Hamilton would fall off the wagon and into the coke pile, Neftali Feliz would be stupidly left in the closer role, and Adrian Beltre would hit like he was back in Safeco. At least the Mets have no chance of being named #6org any time soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDxn0Xfqkgw

The pinnacle of human achievement in popular culture condensed into 600 seconds, right here.

ESPN.com

All-Star catcher Joe Mauer and Minnesota completed an eight-year, $184 million deal, a contract which will inevitably be hailed within baseball as an example that teams like the Twins do have a chance to keep their homegrown talent.

The deal, which includes a full no-trade clause, ranks in scope with only Alex Rodriguez’s 10-year, $275 million contract and Derek Jeter’s 10-year, $189 million contract.

They don’t mention Mark Teixeira’s contract, which is the same length and only $4 million less. It’s the closest comparison, not only due to having almost exactly the same amount of years and money, but also due to being signed only last year. And I think it’s obvious in that matchup that the Mauer contract is the better deal. Mauer is the best player in the American League. Mark Teixeira — while being a great hitter who also fields his 1B position well — is not even the best player on his team. And think of how many other 1B there are who compare offensively. Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Miguel Cabrera, and Adrian Gonzalez are all in his league. This is ignoring the man in St. Louis who is arguably better than Teixeira at every aspect of the game.

Meanwhile, Joe Mauer not only stands alone at the catching position right now, he might stand alone when it comes to the entire history of baseball. The only catcher to hit like he did last season was Mike Piazza, and he was no Joe Mauer behind the plate. Mauer is one of the best athletes to ever squat behind the plate; he was the best quarterback in America in high school and also an All-State point guard. He was a legend in Minnesota before he was even drafted.

And this is why the Twins NEEDED to resign him. He is the franchise; he is Minnesota. Mauer leaving to go to the Red Sox or Yankees or any big-budget team would have been devastating. But the Twins aren’t exactly a small-budget team anymore. Their payroll is scratching the surface of $100 million. What if they were truly a low-budget team? I don’t see any scenario, for example, in which the Royals would have kept him. So I’m really not sure how much this says — if anything — about the ability of small-market teams to lock up the face of their franchise. Especially when you consider that Mauer absolutely could have gotten more if he waited for free agency. But I won’t downplay the fact that it’s good for baseball nonetheless.

Just remember if Mauer was a total douchebag, e.g., Alex Rodriguez, this wouldn’t have been possible.

I still can’t believe this trade.

From ESPN:

In return for Santana, the Twins would receive center fielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra — a package which some talent evaluators believe could be the fourth-best offer that Minnesota received during this process.

Excuse me while I laugh at the joke that is Twins management. (You should too, by the way.)

The amount of fail in this trade is immense. The very definition of EPIC FAIL. The Twins really must be run by a bunch of monkeys. First, they decide to build an open-air stadium in Minnesota, and now they push the Red Sox and Yankees so far that both those teams dropped out, leaving the Mets pitiful offer as the only option. Either that, or they *really like* Carlos Gomez. Just wow. I almost feel bad and hope that one of the pitchers turns out to be good. This of course assuming that Santana doesn’t break down. I will cry if that happens.

But I will probably hang myself if the Mets somehow botch the contract negotiations. They have 72 hours to agree on terms with Santana. There’s no way Omar will screw that up, though. I don’t want to contemplate upon the possibility. It’s just not possible. It’d be worse than finding Allison Stokke naked on my bed, but subsequently finding out that there’s a force field around her. Cocktease total.

I think this makes the Mets the team to beat in the NL, but they were the team to beat last year too, and we all know how that turned out. I still don’t see them being able to compete with the top of the AL. If Delgado doesn’t completely suck it up again, and the bullpen learns to get batters out, maybe they’ve got a chance. And obviously Pedro is a huge if. Him coming back like the Pedro of Old would definitely put them on the road to the World Series, and give them two lights-out starters. But the chances of that happening are probably like 25%.

For now, I will celebrate a great trade. One that almost makes up for the Kazmir trade of a few years ago. But not really. At all. God, that trade was fucking horrible.