Public face of Seattle Mariners disguises dysfunction

In an article in the Seattle Times former Mariner manager Eric Wedge and  former front office personnel and scouts painted a negative portrayal of Mariner GM Jack Zduriencik  and the front office. Truthfully it was more than negative. Jack was seen as a micromanager, one who throws people under the bus, including friends and confidants, is over demanding, and is ineffective. Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong came in for a share of the dysfunction as well.

Just as washing your car brings rain, signing a Yankee superstar brings turmoil and chaos. Robinson Cano should be accustomed to a dysfunctional franchise, after all he worked for George Steinbrenner. Cano is probably laughing all the way to the bank, which he now probably owns.

It is brave of Wedge to air dirty laundry as other GM’s and organizations may shy away from hiring him for going public with internal squabbles. Organizations like to keep the dirty laundry in house. And why did Eric Wedge say when he quit  that he would never accept a multi year deal from the Mariners when a day or two before quitting he was telling management he wanted a multi year deal?

On MLB Network this morning Jack was interviewed and when asked about the Times article, Jack said, “Case closed, we are moving forward.” When asked the question in a different way, Jack answered ” It is our policy to not comment on internal affairs.” One could say he was dodging the question, but there is no point in getting into a pissing contest about critical comments, especially when they came from multiple sources. There is nothing to be gained by exacerbating the story. And I am sure there will be more coming from Jeff Baker who wrote the article for the Times.

The truth is none of us know what goes on behind closed doors. We only see the public face. But here is a cliché-where there is smoke there is fire. How about another cliché-sour grapes from fired employees.

The Mariners lost the absentee owner who died, they lost a manger, they are losing Chuck Armstrong to retirement, and now we hear the front office is dysfunctional. But we have Robinson Cano and more players are coming within the week, I am sure of it. And if the Mariners win this season, no one will care about perceived dysfunction. Winning is a cure. If they lose, the dysfunction continues.

Here is a link to the article http://seattletimes.com/html/mariners/2022420240_mariners08xml.html