Heartening news in Seattle on Wednesday, finally, with the swearing in of Don Wakamatsu as Mariners' manager.
Um, that's W-a-k-a-m-a-t-s-u.
Heartening?
At this stage for the Mariners, it was either think outside the box or join the line over there to the right for Federal bailout money.
The Mariners needed a new start like the Big Three automakers need a new beginning. Maybe not a $25 billion package. But some serious bailing out.
Let's just say that the Mariners for too long have been thoroughly uninspired in their thinking (Mike Hargrove as manager), have spent vast amounts of money unwisely (Richie Sexson, Carlos Silva, Scott Spiezio and Kenji Johjima) and have gambled away their future on short-term prayers (how many players did they ship to Baltimore for Erik Bedard?).
They've got a gorgeous stadium that still retains its new-car smell, and yet the phrase "Seattle's baseball operations department" remains one of the game's largest oxymorons. It has operated at breathtakingly inefficient levels.
Now I don't know if the tandem of Wakamatsu and new general manager Jack Zdurencik will bring the success of the Pat Gillick-Lou Piniella era.
But I do know that if the Mariners kept wandering down the same path, president Chuck Armstrong may as well have tried selling Model-Ts.
So good for him for handing the keys to the GM's office and a blank canvas to Zduriencik, who was one of the great brains on Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin's staff. He's never run a baseball club. But he comes with "executive experience", having been point man in Milwaukee for drafts that brought the Brewers slugger Ryan Braun, first baseman Prince Fielder, second baseman Rickie Weeks and shortstop J.J. Hardy.
Then, Zduriencik interviewed seven candidates to manage the Mariners. They were diverse and they were wide-ranging, but all had one thing in common: None had ever managed in the bigs.
"We wanted energy, a passion and the skills to translate that passion to the players," Zduriencik said in a statement. "We wanted leadership, a presence that could help us as we define the 'Mariners Way' to win."
Wakamatsu arrives with high praise from, among others, Oakland president Billy Beane and Texas GM Jon Daniels. He spent the past two seasons as Oakland's bench coach. Four seasons before that, he served as Buck Showalter's bench coach in Texas. When Daniels hired Ron Washington to manage the Rangers two seasons ago, Wakamatsu was the runner-up.
He knows players and, especially, as a former (mostly minor league) catcher, maybe he can help smooth Johjima's sometimes rocky relationship with the pitching staff.
Most importantly, however, is this: The Wakamatsu hiring right now shouldn't be judged solely on its own merits, but as simply one piece -- albeit, a crucial one -- in Seattle's overall picture.
In beginning to remake (and modernize) the Mariners, Zduriencik also brought with him from Milwaukee two of his top assistants, Tom McNamara and Tony Blengino. Zduriencik's plan is to create a department of baseball statistical analysis, which Blengino is expected to oversee.
Evaluating talent, statistical analysis, weaving both together through all levels of the Mariners' system ... there is a vision evident here that long has been missing in Seattle.
Think of the game's model organizations. There's an actual plan from the very bottom rung of the minors to the leather furniture in the big league clubhouses.
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| Don Wakamatsu's hire is a key piece of the big picture in Seattle. (Getty Images) |
Wakamatsu, incidentally, was there to help install that with the Angels. Then-farm director Darrell Miller hired him to manage Double-A Erie in 2000, and one season later, Wakamatsu was promoted to the Angels' minor league coordinator and roving catching instructor.
Zduriencik says he wants someone who sees the "big picture" to sit in his manager's chair.
"This is a guy who sees the big picture," says Bill Stoneman, the Angels' former GM who watched closely as Wakamatsu's coaching career was achieving liftoff back in 2000. "I think one of the Angels' strengths in terms of since Mike Scioscia has been there (beginning in 2000) is that Mike sees the big picture."
"He understands the value of everyone in the organization -- scouting, people we bring in, the players -- and from the day you walk into this organization, it's 'This is how we do things.' Wak has lived it and, to me, that's very important. There is value in everyone doing things the way, in our case, Mike and the coaches want it done."
If Zduriencik truly is going to build a "Mariners' Way", that's why Wakamatsu's hiring is especially important only in conjunction with all of these other moves. This is a crossroads in Seattle franchise history. The Mariners, hemorrhaging losses and attendance, can't screw up another top hire.
Besides, there's so much else for Zduriencik to do. The Mariners must decide whether to attempt to retain free agent outfielder Raul Ibanez, whether to trade third baseman Adrian Beltre (Minnesota, which attempted to acquire him at the July trade deadline, again inquired at the GM meetings this month), whether there's a way of declaring bankruptcy and avoid paying the $34 million Silva is owed over the next three seasons (just kidding).
For now though, cross one very important item off of Zduriencik's to-do list.
"Jack seems to me to be an open-minded guy who isn't afraid to hire a guy who didn't manage (in the majors) before," Stoneman says. "Quite frankly, I like that. I like that way of thinking. What that suggests to me is he's not going to be bound by traditional thinking. We did that when we hired Mike. Mike had never managed in the major leagues.
"To me, experience -- in a general sense, I'm not talking about managing here -- is not at the top of the list in your hiring criteria. What you really want is somebody who, given a little experience, has a chance to be at the top of that list.
"Sometimes, you have to do things that are not conventional."
Especially now, in the case of the Mariners. Conventional? They've been there, done that. It's been disastrous.
In 2008, they became the first franchise in the game's history to spend more than $100 million in player payroll and lose more than 100 games.
Now, here come Zduriencik and Wakamatsu, two guys who stand a good chance of burning out spell-check systems in computers throughout the land. And do you know what?
This stands a chance of becoming the best bailout plan going.
