Tag Archives: Seattle Mariners

Lou Piniella Rejects the Mariners

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The mystic chords of memory.

In 1861, Abraham Lincoln gave his first inaugural address to a fractured nation, proclaiming that, despite the uncertainties of the time, the county’s shared grandeur of the past would soon be resurrected, thereby uniting a diminished populace.

This past week, another Lincoln (Howard, that is), Jack Zduriencik and the Seattle Mariners reminded Mariners fans that we, too – despite uncertain times – are forever united by a common history.

A common history of success that Lincoln and Zduriencik also hoped could be resurrected, thereby uniting a fractured and diminished fan base.

Recent reports from the hot stove indicate that Jack Zduriencik contacted Lou Piniella to see if he would be interested in managing the rudderless Mariners.  Some reports suggest the Mariners put on a “full court press” in an attempt to coax the 70-year old out of retirement, although Mariners officials are now refuting such accounts.  However aggressive the Mariners’ efforts were, it wasn’t enough as Piniella turned down the chance to once again don Mariner blue and teal.

Now, watching Sweet Lou once again out on Safeco Field lighting a fire under his players, shot putting bases into the outfield, and getting up close and personal with umpires when they’ve made a bad call would be a welcomed sight after being exposed to the managerial malaise of Eric Wedge the past three seasons.

But given the track record of this franchise since 2003 – a track record of focusing managerial pursuits on assistant coaches looking for first opportunities, or ex-managers seeking second chances – the anti Piniella types, if you will – the news of a Piniella re-hiring was indeed surprising.

Perhaps even baffling, in a “hey, let’s go out and acquire four DH’s” type of way.

And, of course, in this day and age of advanced statistics, there is the question of whether an old-school manager like Piniella, who isn’t the best at handling pitching staffs, and who puts more of a premium on player production than he does on player hand holding, is actually the right fit for team that, well, – let’s be honest – has needed a lot of hand holding the past few years.

And while most of my Mariner brethren are scratching their heads over an attempted Mariners-Piniella reunion, I’m wondering if there might be a little bit of intellect behind the move?

Perhaps a reboot  in tactic last seen since, yes, the hiring of Lou Piniella.

This past season, many had high expectations for a Mariner club coming off a 75-87 record, their third straight improved season.

With the additions of power hitters Kendrys Morales and Mike Morse to stabilize the middle of the order, expected improvements from their young core players, a solid bullpen, and the return of starting pitcher Felix Hernandez, many expected at least a .500 season with a playoff berth a possibility.

As things turned out, Morse struggled with injury all season, and never was able to display the power he produced in years prior.  The young core was unable to take any significant steps forward.  The bullpen was shaky at best.  And Felix wasn’t the dominating ace everyone has come to expect.

The result was a season where the Mariners finished 71-91 – the sixth worst record in all of baseball – while finishing 25 games back from division winner Oakland.

In the eyes of most, the M’s not only failed to reach expectations, but more concerning, took a big step backwards when most predicted continued steps forward.

Which now, unexpectedly, has the Mariners reaching out to Piniella to try and turn things around.

Sound vaguely familiar?

It should.

In 1991, Jim Lefebvre and the Seattle Mariners finally accomplished what its long suffering, infinitesimal fan base had been waiting for – a .500 season.

Led by a fairly young (yet fairly accomplished) core headed by 21 year-old Ken Griffey Jr., the Mariners finished 83-79 marking the first winning season in franchise history.

Riding a wave of optimism into the offseason, the front office traded for slugger Kevin Mitchell to bolster the middle of its offense.  Mitchell averaged 36 homeruns during the three previous seasons, and with his bat hitting cleanup behind Martinez and Griffey, and in front of Buhner, the Mariners envisioned a potent middle-of-the-order lineup that could make playoff contention possible.

But, as such the story so often goes, that vision never came to fruition.

Mitchell suffered through an injury plagued season, playing in only 99 games due to an early season wrist injury, and then a broken foot suffered the first week of September, placing him on the disabled list for the remainder of the year.  The vaunted power Mitchell had previously displayed evaporated that season, having managed only 9 homeruns and a .428 slugging percentage.

Adding insult to (Mitchell’s) injury, the departures of Bill Swift and Mike Jackson – the central pieces used to acquire Mitchell – left a Mariner bullpen short on quality arms.  The result was a relief corps that posted a 4.84 runs allowed in save situations, and 4.72 runs allowed overall.

In a season that began with high expectations and talks of the playoffs, the Mariners floundered.

Badly.

They ended the year with a 64-98 record – the second worst record in all of baseball – finishing 32 games behind first place Oakland

Much like 2013, the 1992 season exposed the Mariners for what they were – a fairly young and talented up and coming team, lacking confidence, and still trying to figure out how to win at the MLB level.

So the Mariners went out and did something that shocked most everyone in the MLB world:  they invested a significant amount of money on a manager who expected nothing less than winning.

Enter Lou Piniella and his three World Series rings – two as a player and one as manager of the Reds just three years prior.

No more Jim Snyders.  No more Jim Lefebvres.  No more Bill Plummers.

Most of all, no more coddling the kids.

This time, the hiring was about bringing in a leader who would set the tone and direction, not only for the players but the franchise as well.

Simply put, it was about attitude. It was about winning.  And as we all know, that’s all Piniella did with the M’s, posting  7 winning seasons over the next 10 years, including four 90+ win seasons, four playoff appearances and the historic 116 win season of 2001.

Now, 10 years removed from the Piniella era, the Mariners are again coming off a season where they failed to reach heightened expectations, and are again searching for a manager to help turn things around.

And like all those years since Piniella last managed the Mariners, the names that have surfaced in the media have been more of the usual suspects – assistant coaches looking for their first shot to manage in the big leagues.

Guys like Bryan Price, Joey Cora, Chip Hale, and internal candidates Daren Brown, Robby Thompson and even Ted Simmons.

But maybe the attempted Piniella hiring is a sign that this time around, the Mariners are looking for something more than just a low cost manager who won’t rock the boat.

An indication the Mariners are looking for a manager to first and foremost lead players, not pamper and tutor players.

Someone overflowing with so much moxy, the surrounding players will become saturated in excellence, confidence, and that “refuse to lose” arrogance that defined the Piniella years.

Maybe, just maybe,  this time around Zduriencik has come to realize that with youth and rawness on the field, it’s best to have success and experience in the dugout.

And that our own mystic chords of memory can cast a light upon the pathway back towards success.

The End of the Eric Wedge Era

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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.