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Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Bloodbath Continues

posted by on June 19 at 10:09 AM

Mariners skipper John McLaren has been fired. Bench coach Jim Riggleman will be taking over.

Update: Here’s the official press release.

RSS icon Comments

1

come back to us, lou pinella!

Posted by max solomon | June 19, 2008 10:35 AM
2

Maybe it's just the 15-hour time difference ahead of Seattle that I have, but didn't I hear this news two or three days ago? Or did someone else get fired?

Posted by brappy | June 19, 2008 10:36 AM
3

Insert comment from non-sports fan:

1) who cares?
2) verbal attack on millionaire athletes....possibly include slightly racist overtones using words like 'thugs'
3) meh
4) express support for new soccer team

Posted by cw | June 19, 2008 10:38 AM
4

@2, that was Bill Bavasi, the General Manager, who got fired two days ago. Heads are rolling.

John McLaren was a terrible manager, but this disaster wasn't his fault. He didn't have any players to work with. Fare thee well, John.

Besides, managers don't matter.

Posted by Fnarf | June 19, 2008 10:40 AM
5

What they need is a firesale on their underperforming "talent". Anybody need a first baseman?

Posted by gillsans | June 19, 2008 10:42 AM
6

Riggleman manged the Cubs from 1995 to 1999, "leading" the team to one Wild Card post-season appearance in 1998. You know your team is screwed when an ex-Cubs manager is the best you can do. Meanwhile, thanks for Lou.

Posted by Bill.Chicago Fan | June 19, 2008 10:56 AM
7

Yes, gillsans, there probably are plenty of teams who need one. But none who need Richie Sexson.

Posted by leek | June 19, 2008 10:57 AM
8

The quickest way for the M's to regain my interest is to replace at least half of the current roster with AAA (or even AA) players. It's long past the time when they just eat the damned salaries of their disappointments.

Posted by umvue | June 19, 2008 10:57 AM
9

@4: he had 117 million dollars worth of big league players to work with.

Posted by max solomon | June 19, 2008 11:04 AM
10

Paging Mike Hargrove?

Posted by hohoho green giant | June 19, 2008 11:05 AM
11

@9, yes, but ultimately he failed to fucking buckle it up.

Posted by joykiller | June 19, 2008 11:09 AM
12

Keep in mind that Mike Hargrove had essentially the same players (granted Jose Guillen is gone) last year and managed to not only be competitive, but actually have a winning record.

McLaren certainly under-achieved and played a significant part in the Mariners woes.

Posted by Medina | June 19, 2008 11:11 AM
13

@10 - It's hard to tell if Grover knew the ship was sinking when he jumped off, or just went insane.

@9 - The only big salary on the M's that makes sense is Ichiro. The top 8 is rounded out by Richie Fucking Sexson (15 mil!!!), Adrian Beltre (13.4 mil), Jarrod Washburn (9.8mil), Miguel Batista (9.5mil), Jose Vidro (8.5mil!!!!!), Carlos Silva (8.2mil!!!), Erik Bedard (7mil).

Of the hitters, Beltre leads the way with a .236 average. Sexson and Vidro are sub-.220.

Bedard is decent, but is injury prone and refuses to throw more than 100 pitches per game. He's definitely not worth what the M's gave up. Of the remaining pitchers, Carlos Silva leads the way with a 5.79 ERA. Washburn (5.83) and Batista (6.09) are not far behind.

Posted by Mahtli69 | June 19, 2008 11:25 AM
14

I dunno, Beltre and Bedard's salaries would probably be fine if there were some good young folks on the team along with them. It's not like they're making ridiculously more than they're worth. Unless of course you assume that Bedard is super-injured or something.


Posted by leek | June 19, 2008 11:37 AM
15

GODDAMMIT IF I DON'T STOP INSERTING THAT EXTRA SPACE AT THE END OF POSTS I'M GOING TO GET MR. POE TO SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD!

Posted by leek | June 19, 2008 11:40 AM
16

@1 Fuck that. He's staying with the Cubs, thank you very much.

Posted by heywhatsit | June 19, 2008 11:46 AM
17

Too bad for Mac. Kinda hard to blame the crappy carrot cake on the barista, but that's the way it goes.

I'm fine with the Bedard deal; it addressed exactly what the main problem was last year: The starting rotation. But then Washburn doesn't bounce back this year, Batista falls off and everyone else gets infected (well, except Felix), and they're right back in the same situation. Then you have your stellar closer looking like a lost baby buffalo staring in at home plate, and it just gets worse.

The thing I feel worst about for Mac is that the offense and the moves that were made to, uh, improve it. Wilkerson gone, Norton gone, and TWO Willie Bloomquists on the team. Bad moves with the roster, panic early from the top down.

The fact of the matter is NO ONE on the team, nor the manager, nor the front office had enough gumption to motivate anyone to get it going and now we have a team that is mentally broken and has very little desire to win. For me, watching that body language is the most disgusting thing of all. So yeah, clear house and get some kids up in there (from our forever vaunted and till now unplayed farm system) and get 'em going.

Aaaaand, Amen.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | June 19, 2008 1:55 PM
18

McLaren did not decide to pay these guys $117 mil, Bavasi did. McLaren's the guy who had to come into work every morning and think "Fuck, Jose Vidro? I'm going to lose my job over this".

Hargrove got lucky last year; they were lousy in 2007 too (they were outscored). And everybody's a year older. And they didn't have Miguel Cairo. It's not McLaren's fault. John Mcgraw couldn't win with these guys.

Posted by Fnarf | June 19, 2008 2:12 PM
19

Damn, fnarf, you are not toeing the USSM line w.r.t. the lineup disasters of late, are you?

Posted by leek | June 19, 2008 4:19 PM

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