Mariners: An Interesting Read on What's Been Going On

[JB_Iowa]

http://seattletimes.com/html/mariners/2022420240_mariners08xml.html

 

 

I found this to be a really interesting story about how top management of the Mariners functioned.

 

While I have sometimes felt that Jim Pohlad was a little too "hands off", I don't think anyone would want ownership/top management to function in the way described in this story. (Oh, and I do think Mr. Pohlad redeemed himself by making it clear that the Twins needed to spend some money in the free agent market this off-season).

 

Obviously there are two sides to every story and Eric Wedge's is only one but the reporter has a lot of other sources that lend credence to his claims.

 

If even 50% of this is true, McClendon is going to need some awfully tough armor.

[notoriousgod71]

Sounds an awful lot like my boss....

[minn55441]

Wow, great read. Makes you glad you aren't a Mariners fan. Situations like this do not help your team succeed.

[kab21]

How many times did we have to put up with Jack Z is a genius being repeated in the media? I remember shaking my head at some of those moves.

[BigTrane]

Yeah, read this yesterday, GREAT story. For people who like watching car crashes, this is a must-read. (Personally, guilty!)

 

Anyway, Sea Hags are on a one-way-trip to Davy Jones' Locker. The Cano deal might just make that permanent. I dunno, pitch around him...? Enjoy the sea air. But I digress.

 

Best line in the story: "No, we *really* need to win." Give the writer a Pulitzer. Or a Nobel. Awesome stuff.

[TheLeviathan]

How many times did we have to put up with Jack Z is a genius being repeated in the media? I remember shaking my head at some of those moves.

 

Yeah, guy used to be able to do no wrong. I remember on BYTO I lit up a long thread questioning the Milton Bradley move and people rushed to defend it.

 

If this article is accurate, the guy is a clown.

[Riverbrian]

Quite the Article... You usually don't have people speaking up like that because of financial incentive confidentiality clauses built into termination contracts.

 

Besides... It doesn't look good to potential new employers to lob hand grenades publicly on your way out the door.

 

I think its normal to have dissension in all organizations from person to person or boss to staff but this looks much larger than normal.

 

Seattle just might be messed up... And it does make me appreciate the stability in Minnesota.

[ashbury]

This may explain the recent re-signing of Gardy after 3 bad seasons, to avoid the airing of dirty laundry.

 

I keed, I keed.

[ND-Fan]

The recent article interviewing Jim pohlad I found very informing and I Think the Twins are in process updating and improving organization but in their very quite way of changing things. I always have thought Terry Ryan knew baseball and was good boss to work for in that ne always respected people under him and never did things improper . Pohlads at least seem to stay arms length away from baseball operations but it does appear they like to set organizational philosophy and management structure on the big picture. Also they are concerned to keep team brand a valuable commodity and loosing like they have in long run wrecks this team brand and value. What I liked about this article from Pohlads is they are concerned they are competitive team in longterm not bunch of up and downs. They are studing this and trying to correct this in systematic way without large turnover of personnel. I think the future is bright for the Twins and for Mairners I think this is ship heading for crash and burn.

[Guest USAFChief]

Number 6 org.

[snepp]

Number 6 org.

 

No, no, no, it's #6 org.

[Guest USAFChief]

No, no, no, it's #6 org.

Right you are.

 

And it will never get old.

[Bark's Lounge]

Well, this partially explains the cause of Eric Wedge's stroke this past June. No job is worth that kind of stress and disfunction.

 

Good for Wedge and Blengino for speaking out. My gut tells me that what they are saying is true - It would take a lot of time and effort to make that stuff up.

 

If I were a Mariner fan, this news would definitely have a dampening effect on my good vibes from the Cano signing, but I would be thankful to Wedge, Blengino, and the other former employees that made the Seattle Mariner Upper Management's veil of incompetency more transparent.

[Thrylos]

I think that the most amazing thing about this article was the fact that a major reporter in the major Seattle paper wrote it and the editors published it.

 

Imagine that happening in Twins' Territory...

[Brock Beauchamp]

Yeah, guy used to be able to do no wrong. I remember on BYTO I lit up a long thread questioning the Milton Bradley move and people rushed to defend it.

 

If this article is accurate, the guy is a clown.

 

The Milton Bradley deal made sense. It was swapping bad contracts. I still don't see a problem with it.

 

Almost everything else the guy did was completely insane.

[howieramone1406390264]

I think that the most amazing thing about this article was the fact that a major reporter in the major Seattle paper wrote it and the editors published it.

 

Imagine that happening in Twins' Territory...

 

Why would a major Seattle paper publish it in Minnesota?

[Brock Beauchamp]

I think that the most amazing thing about this article was the fact that a major reporter in the major Seattle paper wrote it and the editors published it.

 

Imagine that happening in Twins' Territory...

 

If a tyrannical man were to take over the Twins and alienate coaches and staff enough to drive them all away while covering his own ass by blaming his subordinates, I'd certainly hope Minneapolis papers would write about it.

[snepp]

Why would a major Seattle paper publish it in Minnesota?

 

Well played howie, well played.

[TheLeviathan]

The Milton Bradley deal made sense. It was swapping bad contracts. I still don't see a problem with it.

 

Almost everything else the guy did was completely insane.

 

I would say the result justified my opinion - the guy was certifiably nuts and on the downside with his knees. Carlos Silva actually managed a halfway decent season for the Cubs too! I'd wager he managed a near historic consumption of deep dish pizza too.

[kab21]

I'm not sure if Silva's halfway decent season really factors in. He had just spent 2 seasons with the Mariners as one of the worst starters in baseball and probably wasn't going to pitch at all for them regardless. They traded their problem for someone's else's problem and IIRC saved a little money doing it. Overall this was pretty much a non-event.

 

The problems in Seattle had more to do with constructing teams that didn't play well in that ballpark and the players added didn't address major weaknesses. I remember them having horrific offenses and the FO was still adding no hit defensive wiz's like they were going to simply prevent the other team from scoring. And some in the media defended it.

[Boom Boom]

I think that the most amazing thing about this article was the fact that a major reporter in the major Seattle paper wrote it and the editors published it.

 

Imagine that happening in Twins' Territory...

 

I can't imagine it happening in Seattle, either. That's kind of why it's such a big story.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I would say the result justified my opinion - the guy was certifiably nuts and on the downside with his knees. Carlos Silva actually managed a halfway decent season for the Cubs too! I'd wager he managed a near historic consumption of deep dish pizza too.

 

The result certainly didn't pan out for the Mariners but given just how god-awful Silva had been in the previous two seasons, I still think it was a decent roll of the dice.

 

Sometimes you get burned by even a good bet. I don't fault the Mariners for swapping out useless contracts in hope something good would come of it.

[JB_Iowa]

Just to update, here's the response from Zduriencik:

 

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/mariners/2013/12/09/mariners-statement-from-general-manager-jack-zduriencik/

[TheLeviathan]

Sometimes you get burned by even a good bet.

 

My point had been the "good bet" only appeared that way because the national perception of Milton Bradley hadn't quite caught on to him yet. The guy was a broken down clown - they would've been better off paying Carlos Silva in Taco Bell gift cards and calling it a day.

[ashbury]

Just to update, here's the response from Zduriencik:

 

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/mariners/2013/12/09/mariners-statement-from-general-manager-jack-zduriencik/

 

When there are areas that need improvement, it’s my job to ask questions, suggest ideas and give direction to the field staff. When our upper management has questions or suggestions, it’s my job to respond to them. I don’t believe meddling is a fair portrayal.

 

IOW, Wedge's account was accurate.

[jokin]

Just to update, here's the response from Zduriencik:

 

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/mariners/2013/12/09/mariners-statement-from-general-manager-jack-zduriencik/

 

After a very quick read. this seems like a reasonable response and illustrative that there are 2 sides to every story (Wedge actually asked for a contract extension the day before he was gone?). I have to think that the M's are all-in on getting Tanaka, in which case, they would move to legit contender status in the AL West.