Sorry, this one fails to acknowledge the decade plus prior to Dipoto's arrival.
This organization, outside of a bizarre peak in 2001 (fueled by Pat Gillick and Lou Pinella, in spite of meddling ownership's efforts to the contrary), has never--not ever--gone for the throat competitively and been rewarded with on-field excellence.
In that way, Dipoto's a natural fit for Seattle, where the fanbase apparently isn't collectively concerned enough with competing that sufficient pressure mounts on Royal Brougham to spur management/ownership into actually trying to compete with teams like the Yankees, BoSox, Dodgers, and now Astros/Indians. If you're going to be a mediocrity, might as well hire a guy whose MO is to provide precisely that, no?
I'm half joking, but only half. The truth is that this team's legacy is one of 'also-ran' even when they had talent like Edgar, Jr., A-Rod, Buhner, Tino and Johnson on the roster at the same time. It's not like Dipoto brought such a mindset or product with him and that it replaced a superior system that had previously existed. He's doing what he does--which, honestly, I'm glad for. I'd rather that he be free to play the game of GMing to the best of his ability, and if that means he's a poor GM then so be it. What I'm sick to death of is ownership that sticks its fingers into the situation in order to exert bureaucratic pressure onto a competitive process.
That never helps the competitive quotient, as we here in Seattle can somberly attest.