As some of you may have heard the Seattle Mariners fired their field manager Don Wakamatsu on Monday (See blog post below). The dismissal came during a season where the club is a pace to lose 100 games. Although it is not uncommon for baseball teams to fire their managers during such terrible season, this event came as a big surprise to many in the Seattle sports community. Wak was only in his second year with the team, the Mariners had finished 85-77 in 2009 and much of the problem with the current team fell squarely on the shoulders of the players. It seemed to some that Wak deserved another chance to prove himself next season. Obviously, general manager Jack Zduriencik saw things differently.
Wak had been making bad managerial decision all year in Seattle. He insisted on batting Jose Lopez fourth despite the fact he couldn't hit for average or power. He continually used Sean White in high leverage situations. He chose not to pinch hit in situation that made since and chose to in those that didn't. During his first season many of these same mistakes happened but they were masked by the winning record. Decisions like these are the manager's biggest impact on a game.
On top of the bad decisions year, Wak's team was constantly making fundamental mistakes. The most obvious example being the base running. The Mariners constantly ran themselves out of scoring opportunities this season. Plunder followed plunder. Teaching and enforcing fundamentals is the coaching staff's main job. Being the head coach it was Wakamatsu's responsibility to make sure the coaching staff was doing their job. It was also his job to hold the players accountable. Based on the frequency of the miscues I would say he was failing here also.
All and all Don Wakamatsu was doing a very poor job as the field manager for the Seattle Mariners in 2010. I was not surprised to hear that Wak had been fired. What did surprised me was that the Mariners had fired the coach in the middle of the season. I had assumed the Mariners brass would wait until the year was officially finished not just figuratively. If the Mariners stood any kind of chance at competing next season it would have made more sense. With his current skill level he wasnt the best possible choice for a team looking to contend. However, the Mariners dont really have a chance next year. They should have let Wak finish out this season. Then evaluate him again in the offseason. There was no reason to rush the firing. The Seattle Mariners front office handled Don Wakamatsu's firing poorly.
The unfortunate truth is that Wakamatsu just didn't seem to be the right hire. I understand that managers need time to make their mark, but he made many mistakes that simply did not look like they would be fixed. I feel that having such success his first year may have led to him believing his original strategies would always work. An unfortunate situation all around.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate. It also stings because Wak was such a good respectable guy. He just had know idea how to run a baseball team.
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