Friday, February 22, 2013

Eric Wedge is Annoying

Something I have noticed over the last two seasons of Mariners baseball is that whenever Manager Eric Wedge gives an interview all that he says is just super cliche and pointless. He never offers any real insight, just phrases like "respecting the game", "giving it all" or my personal favorite "playing the right way" (what the heck is the right way?). What is the point of even uttering these quips? Every sports fan has heard them a million times; Players must have heard them a even more. Can they really motivate anyone anymore? Is Justin Smoak suddenly going to turn into the next Mark Texeria because someone tells him "he just needs to play within himself", I doubt it.

Outside of the world of news quotes Wedge seems to live by these tire old mantras. He favors players like Kevin Millwood and Miguel Olivo who "provide veteran leadership". In fact no players better exemplifies Wedge's passion for gritty old school guys than Miguel Olivo. The former M's catcher could hit for average, draw a walk or catch a pitch (the CATCHer's primary job), but he constantly stayed in the Manager's good graces. Why, because he "played hard every play" and "had a fire to win". Personally I wish subdued that fire a little so he could concentrate on getting base more and screwing up less.

Basically what I am trying to say is Eric Wedge is super annoying and I doesnt appear to add any real value to the Mariner's chances of winning baseball games. So, is it just me or is Eric Wedge's old school cliche and stereotypical management style really pointless and annoying to anyone else?

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Time to Prove It GMZ

Hired in 2008 to replace the incompotent Bill Bavasi, Jack z is about start start his fifth season as the Seattle Mariners General Manager. So far the team has had limited success and I think this is definitely GMZ's prove it year

Throughout his time in Seattle he has been lauded for his ability to build a strong minor league system through the draft and trades, but so far none of those prospects have turned into good major league players. Sure several of them are still young and have showed some promise, but for every Kyle Seager there is a Justin Smoak to counter him.

The General Managers other job is to decide which players to keep, which players to let go and which players to add. Although a lot of his trades and signings were heralded at the time as deft moves almost none of them have panned out. The biggest and most obvious example was the disasterous Chone Figgins deal, but other moves like the Cliff Lee trade and/or the Brandon Morrow trade have also been failures.

The best thing gMZ has going for him is him not being Bill Bavasi. If some of the young guys don't finally step up and show that all the praise for drafting them was deserved or Michael Morse and Kendrys Morales don't hit bunch of Hr, Jack Z 's job is definitely on the line.