Why Was Don Wakamatsu Fired?: Yesterday the Seattle Mariners fired manager Don Wakamatsu. There are two sides of the story why Don Wakamatsu was fired. Big League Stew claims Wakamatsu was scapegoated because of the failings of the front office. Joe Posnanski agreed with this assessment. Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times says Wakamatsu lost his clubhouse after the Ken Griffey Jr. falling asleep in the clubhouse during a game story was leaked. So what was it? Was Wakamatsu fired for losing the clubhouse or fired to be made out as the scapegoat for the terrible Seattle season? I think it was a combination of booth.
Wakamatsu did lose the clubhouse after the Griffey falling asleep in the clubhouse story was leaked. Wakamatsu lost the trust of the players and everything snowballed from there. There was the dugout fight between himself and Chone Figgins. There was the Milton Bradley benching. Then Griffey Jr. finally retired. While not all of these instances are Wakamatsu's fault, he did play a part in them.
Then there are the front office failings. As Joe Po pointed out the Mariners created huge expectations with their off-season moves. Seattle traded for Cliff Lee, Milton Bradley, and Casey Kotchman. Signed Chone Figgins and re-signed Jack Wilson. Traded a pitcher who just almost no-hit the Tampa Bay Rays. The Mariners created huge expectations before the season started for themselves and like idiots we bought in. We were idiots for doing that. We've should of seen the Mariners for what they really were, a 60-win team.
Much like the moves Bill Bavasi made once upon a time, the Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik made terrible off-season moves and we've should have seen that. I'm really? Light-hitting Casey Kotchman has a 3 hitter? Chone Figgins suckered the Mariners with a typical contract season in Anaheim. Figgins has never been anything special. The Cliff Lee trade was bold, but besides Felix Hernandez the Mariners have a terrible rotation.
Don Wakamatsu was scapegoated because of the failings by the front office.
The Grateful Dead & Bill Walton Sing "Take Me Out to the Ballpark" at the Giants game: Yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of Grateful Dead's lead singer Jerry Garcia's death. In honor, the San Francisco Giants had a Grateful Dead promotion at AT&T Park last night in Garcia's honor. The Giants passed out Jerry Garcia bobbleheads and two members of the Grateful Dead along with famous Deadhead Bill Walton sang "Take Me Out to the Ballpark" last night during the seventh inning stretch.
Nothing like the Grateful Dead, Bill Walton, Kazoo's, and "Take Me Out to the Ballpark" to ramp up the crowd. Oh yeah, former Phillie Pat Burrell kept his current team ahead in the Wild Card standings over his former team with a game-winning sac fly in the eleventh inning. Great night at the ballpark.
Although Zduriencik hasn't made many moves that have paid off (including re-acquiring Russell Branyan again in June for some reason), Bavasi's past trades & decisions look like a GM blooper reel, not even including the Erik Bedard deal. Carlos Guillen for Ramon Santiago? Matt Thornton for Joe Borchard? Drafting Brandon Morrow instead of a Cy Young winning Freak in your own backyard? Seattle is still years of wise decisions & spending away from cleaning up Bavasi's past sins.
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