Today, we launch the beginning of Mission Mariner as the Eric Wedge era, as manager of the Seattle Mariners, comes to an end.

Just three days ago, the Mariners issued a press release stating what many had anticipated after a disappointing 2013 season:  that Wedge would not be returning to manage the team in 2014.  Three seasons of questionable in-game decision making, an inability to develop top MLB ready prospects, and this season’s eventual 91 loss season, made it far from shocking that Wedge tendered his resignation.

And while the news of Wedge stepping down is arguably a good thing for this team, we should all take worry in the reasons put forth.

Wedge is not stepping down because he was about to be fired.  Jack Zduriencik (finally) offered up a one year extension for 2014.  Yet, rather than take the job and money, Wedge chose to walk away due to what he perceived to be a difference in opinion between he and Zduriencik, Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong as to the direction this ball club should be headed.

That’s right, a difference in opinion as to the direction this ball club should be headed.

This is the same Eric Wedge who has consistently toed the company line, professing over and over again how this organization is doing it the right way by building up the farm system, developing talent from the bottom up, letting young players cut their teeth at the MLB level even if it means taking a few lumps in the win/loss column, and building a strong core of young players the team will then supplement with proven veteran talent via free agency.

This has been the plan since 2009.  The plan Zduriencik was hired to implement throughout the minor leagues, the plan Eric Wedge was hired to carry out at the big league level, and the plan that has been sold to the fan base.

But now Wedge is leaving.  Leaving because he, Zduriencik and Armstrong apparently no longer see eye to eye with how this team should progress.   To what degree these differences are, we don’t know.  But enough to be irreconcilable, as Wedge would rather join the ranks of the unemployed than remain the on-field general of the Mariners.

In the midst of a 91 loss season, in year five of the rebuild process, Wedge addressed the media to rebut assertions by Zduriencik that he was leaving over his contract, and in doing so, offered everyone a glimpse into the actual modus operandi of this franchise.

“Let me be clear here: the contract is not the reason I’m not coming back here,” Wedge said. “If they’d offered me a five-year contract, I wouldn’t have come back here. So, let’s be clear with that.”

“It’s where they see the club,” he said. “They being Howard (Lincoln), Chuck (Armstrong) and Jack (Zduriencik). And where I see the club and my vision for the future and theirs, it’s just different. And that’s about as plain as I can make it.”

Wedge would go on to elicit his displeasure with the Mariners’ disfavor of supplementing the young Mariner core with quality veteran players who would create consistency, and help the team in the present and future.  Experienced players who were not just a year or two away from retirement, but in their prime years and signed to multi-year deals.

So what can we gather from all of this?

Without further information, it’s impossible to know for sure, as the Mariners are not talking, and Wedge won’t go into further detail.  But with the information we do have, it pretty much leads to one of two things.  Either A) Wedge no longer believes in the original Mariners’ rebuilding plan, or B) the Mariners have decided to alter the initial rebuilding plan as originally discussed with Wedge when he was hired.

Seeing how Wedge has consistently defended the plan to develop a core and supplement with proven talent, it doesn’t appear he has changed his belief in the original rebuilding plan.

Which leads us to option B.  And if that is the case, there seems to be only two paths the Mariners could go down.

The first would be to forego spending big (or bigger) money on multi-year deals for the kind of experienced players Wedge has seemingly coveted and been anticipating, and, instead, fill holes by promoting strictly from within the organization.

With money coming off the books, as well as added revenue attained via TV/cable deals, affording the cost of productive free agents who can help immediately shouldn’t be a problem.   However, if there is one thing this season has shown us, it’s that a team’s win/loss record and attendance figures are not nearly as important as they used to be in terms of yearly team profitability.  Because, as the Houston Astros demonstrated to the entire MLB world, producing the worst record in all of baseball and the fourth lowest attendance record, can still generate record profits if you have a Regional Sports Network deal tucked away in the organizational back pocket.

Which the Mariners now have.

And that would not be good for a Mariners franchise coming off a 91 loss season.  Sure, there is potential there.  But ultimately, this team needs help.  Serious help.  It has a lineup riddled with glaring offensive and defensive holes.   And if, indeed, the rebuild directive has changed and thus no longer includes the acquisition of productive veteran players to supplement the young core of players, that would mean potential offseason targets like Shin Soo Choo, or Jacoby Ellsbury, or Kendrys Morales – players in their prime who can help this team now and in the future – are no longer viable offseason options.

The other path to take would be to select a handful of young core players with MLB experience – like Brad Miller, Nick Franklin, Taijuan Walker, or James Paxton – and use them as trading chips for more established veteran players in hopes of speeding up the rebuild effort.

But combining a spotty trade record (see Fister for Wells, Morse for Langerhans, Jaso for Morse) with a win now objective, the result could prove disasterous, digging this organization into a hole deeper than we experienced under the Bavasi regime.

If either of these paths do become viable options, this organization may be looking at another 3 years before it contends for a .500 season, or possibly even longer if upper management trades away promising prospects for aging veterans.

And that should be concerning to all of us.

The weeks and months to come should tell us where this organization is headed.  But as of now, Summer is over.  Winter is coming.  And Eric Wedge’s resignation may very well have indicated an upcoming offseason ripe with discontent.