The Seattle Mariners are doing the best they can to become the first team in Major League Baseball history to lose 100 games with a $100 million payroll.

Part of the reason appears to be the incompetence of the front office which despite tremendous interest has been unable to unload salary drags like Jarrod Washburn or solid guys that contenders were intrigued by like Adrian Beltre or Raul Ibanez.

None of the three were dealt by the waiver deadline July 31. Now, reportedly, the Mariners ran Ibanez and Washburn through waivers. Both were claimed – Ibanez by the Detroit Tigers and Washburn by the Minnesota Twins – giving the Mariners a 48-hour window to negotiate with them.

Not sure what the Mariners wanted for Ibanez, who is having a solid season. According to the Seattle Times, they wanted top prospects. Okay, maybe Ibanez could be worth a solid prospect. That the window expired there is forgivable.

But for the Mariners to turn down not only the opportunity to shed Washburn’s $13 million contract but also the gift of a younger pitcher with lousy stats but a decent arm in the Majors this season is dumb and incomprehensible. The Twins, according to KFAN-AM in Minneapolis, offered Boof Bonser. The Mariners wanted Kevin Slowey or Scott Baker – two of the Twins young, solid arms – according to the station.

What?!?!?!

I wouldn’t trade Baker or Slowey for Washburn if the Mariners agreed to keep paying the $13 million contract for the Twins – if I was the Twins I’m not sure I would even have offered Bonser, who’s ERA has been somewhere around 6 most of the season.

Now, it’s questionable enough why the Twins would even want Washburn. They’ve turned up their noses at several better options for their 8th inning setup role. And Washburn has been terrible.

Washburn is 5-12 so far and has lost five of his last six decisions during his last seven starts. He hasn’t had a .500 record since 2005 and other than that outlier season during which he was 8-8 with an ERA of 3.20, he hasn’t been below 4.32 since 2002.

Meanwhile Baker, Slowey, Glen Perkins and Nick Blackburn are all between 24 and 26 and all are among the reasons the Twins have hung surprisingly tight in the playoff race all season.

Yes, the Mariners have given evidence all season long for why they’ve underachieved and are heading toward one of the most embarrassing seasons in recent memory. The front office, in this case, is either attempting to fleece an inexperienced general manager in Bill Smith … or it’s just plain delusional. Given the rest of the team’s moves this season I’m putting my money on the latter.