| By Chris Crawford |  | By 10-07-2010 |
Jason A. Churchill has learned that the Seattle Mariners are targeting at least one and likely two or more new special assistants to join Jack Zduriencik's front office. The names will remain off the board for now as at least one of the targets is working for a team in the postseason. Adding more chief scouts, which essentially the role of a special assistant in many organizations, does not necessarily mean that the current group that include John Boles, Tony Blengino and Ken Madeja will be ousted, and it appears this will have no impact on the status of assistant GM Jeff Kingston, who is thought of as a future GM.
Churchill hasn't heard word on a new pro scouting director to replace Carmen Fusco except that the process has begun and names are being added to the list.
The one candidate for a special assistant/chief scout type purposes that PI has learned is in the clubs cross hairs has a terrific track record, specifically when it comes to pitching and the intangible side of things. The "gut feel" side of scouting is what makes up the difference between a scout that can recognize physical tools and one that can sees those tools and has a good idea whether that player is a big-league player or not. This is especially significant at the major league level and can often save clubs from dipping deeper into the free agent pool than necessary.
On the managerial end, it sounds as if the club has a few big-time favorites right now and could make a decision immediately, but that they are going to give each candidate a chance before narrowing it down to those they will interview. If the club were to make a choice today, PI believes it would be down to three: Daren Brown, Ted Simmons and an unknown candidate -- not likely Joey Cora, Eric Wedge or John Gibbons -- and probably not Phil Garner, though that is pure speculation as Garner appears to be a candidate in Pittsburgh among other places.
front-office/manager-update
Comments
The following 20 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: sexymarinersfan on 10-07-2010 15:57:46 Is the Ryne Sandberg to Chicago a done deal? I'd love to see ole' Ryno in Mariner blue. I heard he's been awesome with his kids. Personally he'd be the perfect fit to help Mr. Ackley get confortable at his new position. I mean how much sense would that make? Joey Cora wouldn't be bad either. I'd love to get one as at least some kind of coach. |
| 2. By: ghill34 on 10-07-2010 21:47:42 Tom Allison? He was with JZ in Milwaukee as a crosschecker before he was hired as the scouting dir of the Dbacks. Was just let go by the Dbacks yesterday. |
| 3. By: ghill34 on 10-07-2010 22:41:00 Pat Gillick? He's a special assistant with the Phillies still and lives in Seattle. |
| 4. By: PositivePaul on 10-07-2010 23:28:46 Well, I'd think that if Gillick were to come back to Seattle, it'd be for a position higher than the GM AND Howard Lincoln would be gone... |
| 5. By: ghill34 on 10-08-2010 10:26:19 Gillick stepped down as GM of the Phillies because he didn't want to be a GM anymore. They convinced him to stay on as a special assistant to the GM in an advisory role to Ruben Amaro. That's what special assistants are, advisors to the GM. It's got nothing to do with who is "above" who. Maybe they want Gillick to be a special asst to JZ and he can be closer to home, not that he spends that much time in Philadelphia now anyway. |
| 6. By: maqman on 10-08-2010 13:08:27 As Edman suggests let's leave it up to GMZ, I still trust him to get it right more often than not. That said I like Garner and whoever the Cubs don't choose between Ryno and Quade. |
| 7. By: kyle_mahlstedt on 10-08-2010 20:12:36 A big name? I'm calling it right now! PAT GILLICK! |
| 8. By: baseballfan on 10-09-2010 12:55:31 Gillick has been quoted as saying he's open to a GM position if it's close to his Seattle home - i.e West Coast |
| 9. By: Chris Crawford on 10-09-2010 17:43:52 Just got done talking to Jason, and the Gillick topic came up -- here's a few important things to remember. 1. The position, like Ken Rosenthal says, has to be a west coast position. 2. it has to be perfect. Money, situation, total autonomy 3. The M's only fit the west coast part. Very unlikely Howard would hire Pat and pay him big money 4. There is very little (probably ZERO chance) that Pat works UNDER Howard ever again. Just some food for thought. |
| 10. By: Timberwolf on 10-09-2010 20:14:16 If we are going to get our hopes up, let's think big. Howard and Chuck retire and Yamauchi hires Gillick as CEO. |
| 11. By: masonb on 10-09-2010 20:46:11 Didn't Yamauchi sell off his shares of the club? |
| 12. By: Jason A. Churchill on 10-09-2010 21:01:15 Yes, he did, to NoA. |
| 13. By: ghill34 on 10-09-2010 22:00:06 Well, if that is the case, then don't look for Gillick to join the M's this year. They won't hire Gillick to a huge contract over what they have with JZ. |
| 14. By: jackson22 on 10-09-2010 23:04:09 A big name? I'm calling it right now! BILL BAVASI! JASON A. CHURCHILL WANTS HIM BACK! |
| 15. By: Edman on 10-10-2010 04:02:31 OK Jackson, it's a good thing that was sarcastic. I wouldn't mind Bavasi in a support role, but that ain't happening. He'll likely never see more than the doors of the Mariner's front office. There are a lot of possibilities, but Seattle hasn't exactly cheaped out when it comes to staff. So, I don't expect money to be an issue. I also wouldn't get any hopes up that the terrible twosome are going anywhere. As much as I'd like to see it happen, I refuse to try to convince myself that it could. |
| 16. By: Madison Mariner on 10-10-2010 16:13:06 Thanks for the news, Chris. Good to see that there's been some activity on the managerial front. :) A few thoughts: --I may be in the minority, but I do like Ted Simmons and would be thrilled to see him get the managerial job. I didn't realize until recently that he was over 60 years old, but he'd be new to the managing ranks if hired. I think a few of the other teams with managing vacancies may want him as well. --Regarding Lincoln and Armstrong: If they were to ever be fired(and hopefully that day will come sooner than later), who has the authority to do that? Does Lincoln as CEO have authority to fire Armstrong as President, or are they both more or less on the same level in the organization? Is the Board of Directors(on which both Lincoln and Armstrong serve) the only one with authority to fire Lincoln, other than Yamauchi(assuming he has the authority still)? Just curious, and thanks again for the info. |
| 17. By: gwangung on 10-10-2010 21:38:13 Personally, I have the sense that Armstrong is a bit more of a problem than Lincoln (very steeped in traditional ways of evaluating a player, of ways of doing things), and is more amenable to being removed. But, that's worth as much as any other opinion around here... |
| 18. By: Edman on 10-10-2010 23:59:38 Armstrong has very little to do with player evaluation, other than to look at all the facts he's given, and make choices. His job is to ask questions. Ultimately, it gets down to Jack. Armstrong is more into the day to day operation of the Mariners. I think many over-estimate his influence on baseball decisions. It's Jack who tells him why a player is valuable to the Mariners, it's Armstrong who asks why, and if they can fit the player into the budget. I just don't see him getting anywhere close to pretending that he has the knowledge to make decisions on talent. Sales and Marketing, certainly. Budget, certainly. His job is to keep the whole organization working. He doesn't have time to tell Jack how to do his job. |
| 19. By: gwangung on 10-11-2010 10:56:39 I was thinking more in laying overall strategy in hiring and allotment of personnel and budget. Allotting priorities in evaluation of players (which we've known in the past has happened). Not day to day stuff. And, of course, setting the budget will have an effect on what kind of players they get. |
| 20. By: Edman on 10-11-2010 11:08:47 Armstrong is not the one who sets the budget. His job is to enforce the budget he's given. Certainly, both he and Lincoln provide input into the budget setting process. But, the best they can do is argue their case. If those above them don't agree, then there isn't much they can do. I have no problem with seeing both Lincoln and Armstrong gone, simply because the team hasn't shown any ability to field an acceptable product. By their own fault or not, the last eight years under their leadership have been forgetable. If managers get the axe for non-performance by the team, then so should the CEO and President. But, I don't for a minute think that changing figureheads at the top is going to suddenly make the problems go away. It's far deeper than that. But, I do think it's time for a change. |
Haven't created a Prospect Insider account yet? Sign up!
|
|
 |
|
|
| Copyright 2010 Prospect Insider | Created by AQ Central Prospect Insider is optimized for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome |