SEATTLE (AP) - It took just 15 bizarre minutes, back when there were still more than 100 games remaining, to sink the Seattle Mariners' season.

June 4 began with team president Chuck Armstrong ripping into the coaching staff.

Then immediately after another loss to the first-place Angels left Seattle 21-39 and already 15½ games out in the AL West, general manager Bill Bavasi ordered the meal room locked. The architect of a $117 million payroll that became baseball's greatest waste of money prohibited equipment men from passing out towels. It was a comical effort to get the players to sit at their lockers and learn a lesson in public accountability.

Players steamed, effectively writing off Bavasi.

"What are we in, kindergarten?" one pacing reliever muttered.

Minutes later, manager John McLaren went on a profane, contrived tirade in front on live TV. How contrived? The 35-second rant began with the folksy Texan saying calmly: "All right. We're going to do this a little bit different. I'm going to say a couple things and that's it."

Within two weeks, both Bavasi - who later called his ploy "stupid" - and McLaren were fired.

The Mariners were no better under promoted bench coach Jim Riggleman. He went 36-54 to finish the season while leading a transition from fading veterans - Richie Sexson, Brad Wilkerson and Jose Vidro were released, Arthur Rhodes was traded - to rebuilding with youth. Seattle finished 61-101, the first team with a $100 million payroll to lose 100 games.

The only series sweep of the season, to end the year, cost the Mariners the No. 1 overall draft choice next June. The stunning disaster that was 2008 cost them more than that among the frustrated locals.

Safeco Field attendance has dropped from 3.5 million fans in 2001, Seattle's last year in the postseason, to 2.3 million this year.

"I know there are a lot of disgruntled fans who would like to string Chuck up, perhaps me, too," said Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln, the action man for Hiroshi Yamauchi, the titular head of the team who lives in Japan. "Chuck can go first.

"We apologize - sincerely apologize - to every one of them for what they have had to endure in this very disappointing season. This is our 17th season with this ownership group and with this management team. ... I am very confident we will meet this challenge."

That challenge: Find a new GM, a new manager, a new lineup, likely a new RBI leader and a new direction for the franchise. The crossroads of an offseason began Monday, with Armstrong calling Bud Selig to inform the commissioner of Seattle's timeline for hiring a new GM, then calling other teams to ask for permission to interview candidates.

Lincoln said the new GM will get full autonomy to shape the Mariners' new course. That new executive will pick the new manager.

Riggleman angered veterans by enforcing basic rules, such as being in the dugout during games. He said some veterans were in the training room or clubhouse instead of supporting teammates.

"I know I've ruffled a few feathers in there," he said, nodding toward the clubhouse on the season's final day. "In the long run, the ballclub will be better for it.

"I wasn't here to make friends."

Raul Ibanez led the team with 110 RBIs and played in all 162 games. He has been with Seattle for all but three of his 13 seasons in the major leagues. He is 36 and entering free agency for probably the last time.

He said he loves the city but sounds like he's leaving.

"I'd like an opportunity to be competitive," he said Sunday.

That may not happen in Seattle for a while.

When asked why he just doesn't declare the Mariners are rebuilding when they obviously are, Lincoln said: "I don't think there is a hesitancy. There is a timing issue. I don't want to tie the new general manager's hands."

Make no mistake, he added, "We're starting over."

The bullpen produced a team-record 31 blown saves. Closer J.J. Putz, dominant while an All-Star in 2007, got hurt in the second game and wasn't right until the summer.

One of the only positives was the emergence of Ryan Rowland-Smith as the staff's best left-hander, though given the failures of Erik Bedard and Jarrod Washburn that wasn't too difficult a feat. Rowland-Smith excelled in 10 starts after returning from Triple-A Tacoma, where he was converted from a reliever. He will join ace Felix Hernandez and Brandon Morrow, another young former reliever, in the rotation to begin '09.

Bedard may not. The failed left-handed "ace" for whom Bavasi traded five prospects to Baltimore in February had just six wins and didn't pitch after July 4. He had shoulder surgery last week. Doctors did not find the major damage the Mariners feared, but Bedard may not be ready when next season begins.

Lincoln said Bedard could be "a critical component" to next season's staff. He is eligible for arbitration this winter and could be a free agent after the '09 season.

Armstrong acknowledged not tendering a contract to Bedard is an option.

"It's like trying to invest in the stock market," he said. "If you make a bad stock pick ... you don't hold on to it hoping it's going to come back. If it's a bad one, you move on."

That's the best the Mariners can do with their entire fiasco that was 2008.