Mariners fire Wakamatsu and three coaches

The Seattle Mariners fired manager Don Wakamatsu and three members of his coaching staff on Monday.

Daren Brown, manager of the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers, has been named interim manager.

Also dismissed were pitching coach Rick Adair, bench coach Ty VanBurkleo and mental skills coach Steve Hecht.

Brought in under Brown will be Roger Hansen as bench coach and Carl Willis as pitching coach. Hansen, who lives in Stanwood, has been the Mariners’ longtime catching coordinator. Willis, formerly a pitching coach with the Cleveland Indians, was in his first year as the Mariners’ minor-league pitching coordinator.

In Wakamatsu’s second season as manager, the Mariners are 42-70 and last in the American League West Division, 22½ games behind the first-place Texas Rangers.

Last year, the Mariners won 85 games and finished third in the division, and Wakamatsu was praised for helping re-establish cohesiveness in the clubhouse of a team where bitterness existed the previous year, when the Mariners lost 101 games.

This year’s team has been marked by controversy and clubhouse distractions, however.

Ken Griffey Jr. retired on June 2 after he struggled at-bat and then had his playing time cut.

Second baseman Chone Figgins criticized Wakamatsu twice this season, once after the manager used Griffey as a pinch-hitter and later when Figgins, also struggling at-bat, was dropped to ninth in the order.

Last month, Wakamatsu removed Figgins from in the middle of game after he believed Figgins didn’t hustle to get a throw from the outfield. The two argued in the dugout, and several players, coaches and team personnel became involved in pushing and shoving as they broke up the incident.

Wakamatsu, the 16th manager in Mariners history, posted a 127-147 record.

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