Jack Zduriencik’s tenure with the Mariners was characterized by long streams of firings, resignations and strife, Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times writes. Those began early in Zduriencik’s time in Seattle, with Zduriencik apparently frequently blaming others for the team’s problems under his leadership. Baker prints excerpts of a rather amazing email from Zduriencik to then-manager Don Wakamatsu about the struggling 2010 team in which Zduriencik seemed to blame his staff for the failures of the players he had acquired the previous offseason. “When putting this club together throughout the winter, everyone was involved,” Zduriencik wrote. “I asked many questions about the acquired players this offseason and in all cases moved forward to acquire or refrain from acquiring a player based on received recommendations.” He also suggested that the struggles of that 101-loss 2010 team might be due to a “lack of urgency and preparation,” implying that the coaching staff was to blame. The Mariners finally fired Zduriencik this week. Here’s more on front offices.
- Former Angels GM Jerry Dipoto looks likely to be a talked-about name as the many teams with vacant GM positions search for candidates, FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi writes. Dipoto appears likely to be a candidate for both the Brewers and Mariners jobs. The Mariners have said they will prioritize experience (which, obviously, Dipoto has), and Morosi notes that Dipoto was a finalist for the Mariners GM job years ago, when the team ultimately hired Zduriencik.
- The Blue Jays are still seeking a team president, but when they hire one, that person will endure criticism if he or she fires GM Alex Anthopoulos, Morosi says. Anthopoulos’ acquisitions of veterans like Josh Donaldson, Russell Martin, Troy Tulowitzki and David Price have helped propel the Blue Jays to first place in the AL East. The team’s decision to keep Anthopoulos shouldn’t be a difficult one, Morosi says.
What do the LAA followers/fans think of Dipoto? He did not get free reign while GM there and some LAA past moves were questionable… but it may have not been his call. The fact that he did not get along with Scioscia seems more like a positive to me.
I don’t really get how Anthopoulos went from borderline fired to now “must-extend” because he acquired all of those stars. Of course acquiring Troy Tulowitzki and David Price would make your team a whole lot better, it doesn’t take a good GM to understand that. Most teams COULD get those guys if they wanted to with the right prospects, but they value the future of the team more than a rental acquisition or a high risk/high reward player. If Price ends up leaving in FA and Toronto doesn’t have anything to show for it (WS trophy), did AA really do a good job in managing the future of this franchise? I know it’s a little unfair to set the bar at a World Series victory, but when you make these kind of franchise-altering moves, that’s sort of where it is. Of course, hindsight will be 20/20, but this could really end badly for Toronto if Price leaves and Tulo’s health problems persist in the future.
I couldn’t agree more.. The Toronto farm has been set back a few years because of the trades he has made.. Although I think he did fairly well in the Tulo trade, especially, since he unloaded the Reyes contract at the same time.. The Price trade was necessary but in the long run he probably paid too high of a price.. At least with the team built solidly for next year with Stroman stepping into Price’s #1 spot they should be very competitive again.. Its 2017 and beyond where Toronto starts to look a little bleak..
When you’re not given the best financial situation, have a 20 year playoff drought and the life of your GM depends on making a run at it, you go all in when you feel you got the right team. Yeah they parted with a ton of really good young players in Castro, Hoffman, Norris, etc, but its worth it. They still have Pompey, Travis, Sanchez, Stroman, Tulo, Donaldson and Martin for the next few years;
The price was steep but aa has shown that he doesn’t need much time to rebuild a farm system. When he first took over the farm system has nothing and he built it up quickly. He traded a lot of it in 2013 and people said he emptied the farm system but within 2 years he has built it back up again to where he had enough talent to get donaldson, tulo, price amongst others. Not to mention he still has talent left. The whole narrative that aa completely emptied his farm system is overblown. AA still has talent in the minors and has said there are quality players coming up that people haven’t really heard of yet. The jays will be fine and they should definitely keep AA.
I agree. You have to evaluate him on his entire tenure, not just how he does in a contract year. Kudos to him for the moves he made. Kudos in particular to him for stealing Josh Donaldson.
But what about the last two years in particular, where a team that looked like a contender got no reinforcements whatsoever and ended up not even making it in? Maybe it was shrewd; he didn’t think they were real and held onto his chips. Maybe it was fear to trade his prospects. Maybe he should have went and found SOME upgrade either way.
What about Dickey? What about the trade with Miami that got so many headlines and so few results?
I’m not arguing one way or another about whether AA should stay or go, but his entire body of work needs to be examined and a new president does a disservice to his franchise if he fails to do exactly that.
The point is that he has built a very strong team, even if the minor league system is relatively weak for the moment (a minor league system he built up in the first place). Your argument that any GM knows Price or Tulo are good players, so getting them proves nothing as a GM is a totally bizarre way to view things. Just recognizing who are good players means nothing; being able to get them means everything, and AA has shown a penchant for being able to pry stars away from other teams. That takes not only the minor league talent to pull off (and not every team has it), but an existing strong team to surround those players with to make the additions worthwhile, and these are all things AA has built over several years. You do him a disservice to just act like anyone could build the team he has just by sacrificing their future: no they couldn`t.
Nor will the Jays just wither up and die after this year; doomsayers to that effect are really out to lunch and clearly don`t have a grasp on the roster the team has under contract going forward. There is a very strong core of all-star veterans and good young players under contract for at least 3-4 more years, even if they lost both Bautista and Encarnacion after 2016 (they`ll probably only want to keep one anyway, as the DH).
Both VanMan (Norris) and Boyd look like they may make the rotation and be league minimum players for the Tigers for multiple years. They do not have to be superstars, they just have to be bottom of the rotation innings eaters that cost next to nothing (in baseball terms).
I think AA was in a bit of a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” with the Jays this year. The price for Price was steep, but this team has an embarrassingly long playoff drought. He likely has this year’s MVP on his roster and Bautista and EE aren’t getting any younger. I think he made the right move.
Only move I disliked from AA was his trade for David Price. It was a steep price and for a team like the Jays for getting an ace long term is hard to do since they are in Canada and have a “no longer than five years” contract rule.
If I were AA, I would’ve went for Cole Hamels if I was dealing Norris and company, but I understand the need of an ace like Price right now with EE, Bautista, Donaldson, and others playing like they are.
That five year rule probably doesn’t apply any more now that beeston is gone and with a lot of money coming off the books they can definitely take a run at resigning price.
Fyi, it seems he did try to inquire on hamels but was told by the Phillies that hamels wouldn’t waive his no trade clause.
Anthopoulos has done a great job. But he’s left with a few free agents, a lot of aging players, and a below average farm system. Again.
2015 or bust!
Arguably the best offense of the 21st century will be back next year completely intact. I’d hardly call this a do-or-die year.
I think AA’s job was on the line and he had to make some major acquisitions this year. The Dickey trade i did not like, and definitely do not like today with dickeys sub-par performance. Hiring Gibbons as manager was also a mistake. The marlins trade i felt seemed good at the time but obviously johnson was a bust only buerhle and reyes being factors. Most of his other trades were pretty much non significant. I applaud him for his moves this year though.
Geoff Baker is a complete Douchebag-