Managers Fired

Willie Randolph requires his own post but in recent news John McLaren, (ex)manager of the Mariners, was fired. This proves that the Mariners are cleaning house. Hopefully they won't go for old fogies this time around, instead opting for GM 2.0(Theo Epstein started it). There is no correct way of judging a manager's influence/performance so I'll just follow the saying of "a manager is only as good as his record" as the main decider. Also because I have rarely seen the Mariners play in the last year therefore I don't know if McLaren was a good or bad tactition. The one thing I do know is that he is a very fiery manager, you can understand this once you know he was Lou Piniella's bench coach for many years. According to his record, last year he did a fine job with the Mariners and this year they're the worst team in the league. What changes have they made? They traded their farm system for Erik Bedard and signed a mediocre pitcher in Carlos Silva to a 4 year $48 million dollar contract.

So, what happened? It's called luck. JJ Putz was the best closer in baseball last year according to WXRL(Win Expectancy above Replacement Level) by more than .6 wins. Also, Miguel Batista had a career year last year at the age of 36. The Mariners are just all old and washed up. I hate to say I told you so http://baseballoutlook.blogspot.com/2008/04/season-predictions-al-west.html. Last year the Mariners were only a fluke and therefore they should just tear it all up and restart with Adam Jones(whoops he was traded for Erik Bedard). I'll be seeing(scouting) the Mariners this Tuesday night so I'll then give you guys my personal report.