General
Manager: Jack Zduriencik
Since the
baseball winter meetings are starting Monday I would like to detour from my
position by position look at the Seattle Mariners and talk about Jack
Zduriencik. There was a good article written on him by Jason Churchill the
other day and I would like to follow up with a few things as well.
I don’t need
to rehash all of his trades and free agent signings. They are all well documented.
Some worked and some didn’t. For this post I would like to focus more on what
kind of job it is to be the GM of the Seattle Mariners and not past
transactions made by the Mariners. Would
a lot of people jump at the chance to be a major league GM? You bet. There are
only 30 of those jobs in the world. But within those jobs, being the Seattle
Mariners GM has to be one to the toughest in the league. While we enjoy a nice
city and a beautiful ballpark, all be it one that hitters hate, it’s just
difficult to get players to sign with the Mariners. I remember years ago when Hugh
Millen said that Seattle just isn’t high on the list of young athletes to sign
with. There are more exciting cities out there for these players to go to, he
said. And I believe that. Seattle is tucked away up in the NW corner of the
country, making travel the most of any major league team. And as we are all
painfully aware of, we have been a losing franchise, save for a couple of
playoff appearances. The ballpark has been a hindrance in trying to sign free
agent hitters. I tend to believe the players that have actually played at
Safeco and an overwhelming majority have said they do not like to hit here.
Believe that or not but it’s the truth. Hopefully the new dimensions of the
ballpark with help in this regard.
Now, can we
get good free agents to play in Seattle? Sure you can. I am just saying it is
very difficult. Pat Gillick had great success signing FA’s which helped
tremendously with our most successful run as a franchise from 2001-2003. Gillick
by the way still lives in the Seattle area and has stated he would be
interested in becoming the President of a Major League team. Gillick and
Zduriencik would form a great team. But do we take advantage that? No, we
prefer to keep a guy that has been just receiving a paycheck for like 25 years
in our organization. In addition, can you imagine if someone like Bill Bavasi
was our GM when Griffey pouted his way out of town the first time? We would
have gotten a AA second baseman in the deal if he was in charge. Thank god we
had Gillick at that time.
Anyway, back
to GM Jack. I think this is the first year that it’s all on Zduriencik to make
the Mariners a winner again. In addition to the inherited disadvantages of
being the GM in Seattle, he had been hand cuffed with the wasted 18 million a
year contract for our singles hitting Right Fielder the last 4 years. Not only
did he take up a power position but he took up a bulk of our payroll. Now both
are available for Jack to use.
GM Jack said
he does have some payroll flexibility for free agents but also talked up the
younger players on the team and in our organization. Basically saying he is
looking aggressively at the free agent market but also hedging his bets just in
case he doesn’t make a big splash. But he has to talk like that because it is
difficult to get players to sign here. People say, why we don’t sign Nick
Swisher and Zack Greinke. Well, it doesn’t work like that, especially in
Seattle. I know people don’t like to hear that excuse but unfortunately it’s
not an excuse, it’s a fact. I believe GM Z will do all he can to sign an
impactful free agent this winter but “at the end of the day” to take one of
Jacks favorite quotes, the player has to want to come to Seattle.
I have been
a Mariners fan since they started and I too get frustrated with our team and the
organization just like the next guy but I try and put myself in the GM’s shoes
and be open minded about what he is trying to do and more importantly what he
is “able” to do. Now with that said, it is time for GM Jack to earn his money.
Let’s hope he can get something done to make us proud and excited for Mariners
baseball again!
Article By:
Cecil
Cecil's Corner
Article By:
Cecil
Cecil's Corner
I agree with some of the statements, however, like in the last year of Bavasi, he made a blockbuster deal (at the time) sending our farm system for Bedard.
ReplyDeleteI think Jack Z could do the same thing.
Let's face it, if the Mariners have another 90 - 95 loss season, Jack Z isn't coming back. He needs a bat (or 2 or 3) really bad and I think he is going to mortgage the farm for it.
Wouldn't hurt to lose a few other ball and chains, namely the people above Jack Z and the uninterested ownership.
ReplyDelete