A fire sale is not in the Mariners' best interest. Here's why:
Suppose for a second that you wanted to cut calories out of your diet by drinking diet soda instead of regular soda. The logic behind this is that regular soda has lots of calories, and diet soda has zero calories. This sounds good on paper. The problem with this theory, is that nine out of ten healthy people don't drink diet soda. They generally abstain altogether, or reserve regular soda for special occasions. Diet soda has aspartame and gives you diabetes. I think.
Teams that have a good track record of signing desirable veterans don't have massive upheaval every July. Players don't like that.
The Orcs make their fire sale system work, but their fandom has the most nauseating ride at Six Flags. Cut bait on Dustin Ackley and Willie Bloomquist as best you can but keep the rest of them. I think that Ackley is upsetting the team mojo with his self pressure and beard, and Willie Bloomquist is upsetting the team mojo by hitting like a shortstop but not being one.
If the team didn't have to watch Ackley grind himself into dust every day, it might be able to chillax and get something going.
Or not.