When I began covering the Mariners for The Herald in 1999, I never thought I’d see one managerial change much less the six that have taken place through today. It seemed then like Lou Piniella would last forever here.
But the longer you’re around this game the more you realize that there’s no forever. Even for legends.
Lou Piniella leaves. Bob Melvin gets fired. Mike Hargrove drives off in his red pickup. John McLaren gets canned. Jim Riggleman isn’t asked to return. Today, Don Wakamatsu and three of his coaches are dismissed in the middle of a season like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It wouldn’t be a shock if we’re writing about the brief Daren Brown era in a few months.
General manager Jack Zduriencik got a few questions today about the continuity that’s being disrupted by the Wakamatsu move. Wasn’t Wakamatsu and his staff brought here as part of a plan to improve the Mariners at both the major and minor league levels? Isn’t 1½ years too brief a period to overhaul an organization into a consistent contender, especially so soon after 2008 when the Mariners lost 101 games and the minor league system was decimated of true big-league prospects?
Doesn’t this mess with the continuity of what the Mariners had started?
As unfair as it might seem that Wakamatsu took the fall for a faulty roster and the poor season that ensued, this isn’t college football where a coaching change can mean years of painful rebuilding. The next manager who walks in here, whether it’s Joey Cora, Bobby Valentine or Ricky Bobby, likely will be as successful as the big-league roster allows him to be. That could be good or bad, and where the Mariners stand now I’m not getting my expectations too high for next year.
The guts of this organization remains, especially in the player development and scouting levels, and Zduriencik seems happy with that. This regime has re-stocked the minor leagues well in the two years they’ve been here and there are a lot of interesting prospects in the system. With so many of them at the Class AA level or lower, it’s going to be time before we learn just how good they are.
So, for continuity sake, I’m not sure a whole lot has changed considering that the future of the franchise is, and will remain, in the minor leagues.
On the pace I’ve been covering managers in my time on the beat, Joey Cora or Bobby Valentine or Ricky Bobby or whoever the next skipper becomes won’t be around when these prospects are ready to succeed in the big leagues.
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