Actually the Lerners have said publicly that they weren't going to spend money on the majors until they fixed the farm and that that was the plan all along. They knew it had to get worse before it would get better.
They also knew that a fat high school kid that went undrafted would magically turn into the best pitching prospect in history... and would be available for them to draft #1? And if that's the case... why didn't they do more to assure that they ended up with the #1 pick... and not have to luck into the Mariners winning their last three games to get the pick?
