Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
June 20, 2008
Pummeling the Mariners

The media, both old and new, is having a field day with the Mariners this morning. First, Art Thiel in the Post-Intelligencer:

One constant voice with the Mariners is Chuck Armstrong, the longtime president who raised that voice on June 4 too, berating McLaren and the coaching staff before invoking not James Earl Jones but John Paul Jones, Revolutionary War hero whose famous quote, "I have not yet begun to fight," was reportedly relayed with much passion.

The appeal to patriotism apparently was as effective as the psychological wizardry of McLaren and Bavasi. But Armstrong still has his job, despite the fact he was the one who signed off on the hiring of McLaren and Bavasi, as well as previous managers Mike Hargrove and Bob Melvin.

"We are all accountable," Armstrong said Thursday. "We're not trying to duck responsibility."

Yet he, along with CEO Howard Lincoln and star player Ichiro, are the only prominent franchise figures who have endured through what will be a seventh consecutive season without playoffs. For a team that once was a national definition for futility, the Mariners are about to redefine that legacy -- a $100 million payroll for 100 losses. Who is accountable for that?

At Lookout Landing, a new Mariners slogan:

Something that just came to mind - you know what's a good mark of a terrible team? When the dismissal of its GM, manager, first baseman, and DH means that none of them will ever land the same position ever again. Forget Mojo Risin'; the real team slogan should've been 2008 Seattle Mariners: Career Destroyer. God we suck.

Whoever takes over as GM and manager on a permanent basis is going to need to love a challenge.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:03 AM | Team Evaluation | TrackBack (0)
Comments

The irony is that the Mariners have a lot of conspicuous strengths. They're one of the better organizations at developing talent. Their main problem is ineptitude at the top: they've been hiring mediocre GMs who make bad trades and worse free-agent signings.

This is a better situation than, say, the Pirates or Royals. It's arguably a better situation than the Mets. The Mariners have strong finances, a strong player-development system, and a good market. If they could just stop themselves from hiring retread GMs and talentless scions of great baseball families, they could get better in a hurry.

Of course, it does say something about the quality of ownership that they keep hiring no-hopers to run their ballclub.

Posted by: jvwalt at June 20, 2008 11:45 AM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?