Another well-known executive with the Seattle Mariners is out.
Benny Looper, the player personnel director who completed his 23rd season with the club, has decided not to accept a re-assignment into a scouting role. On Monday, new general manager Jack Zduriencik fired scouting director Bob Fontaine.
Zduriencik offered Looper a job on the professional scouting side of the organization, but Looper said no thanks. He believes he is strongest in a supervisory role and hopes to land that type job with another organization. His Mariners contract runs through Friday.
“I’m a free agent on Saturday and I’m hoping there’s some interest,” Looper said today from his home in Oklahoma. “I think there will be from some other clubs. I’d like to work in a capacity where I’m working with people in a supervisory role. I think that’s one of my better assets. Being a pro scout is a great job, but I want to have something to do with working with people.”
Looper, a former catcher in the Cardinals’ minor league system, joined the Mariners in 1987 as a part-time scout. He held several roles in the scouting department before being named player development director in 1997, then vice president of player development in 2002. He was promoted to vice president of player personnel after the 2006 season.
“The sad part for me is the close friendships I’ve made,” Looper said. “It’s the people in the office who’ve been here 10-plus years, the scouts and people in player development, even the big league players who I’ve known since they were kids. Walking away from that is the saddest thing.”
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