Having a 42-70 record at this point in August would be disappointing for any team, but for a team that was billed as a possible World Series contender before the season, it’s just too much to take, which is why the Seattle Mariners have gone and fired everybody:
Last-Place Mariners Fire Manager Don Wakamatsu, Three Others
To follow up, source: Wak has been let go along with pitching coach Rick Adair, bench coach Ty van Burkleo and performance coach Steve Hecht
Don Wakamatsu guided the Mariners to an 85-77 record as a rookie in 2009, and came into 2010 with as much job security as any manager in the league, but the team’s lousy performance put him on thin ice, and he made few friends by benching Ken Griffey Jr. and getting into a bit of a dugout altercation with Chone Figgins. When pressed about Wakamatsu’s job security just last week, general manager Jack Zduriencik avoided any direct answers, and recently gave Wakamatsu the dreaded vote of confidence.
Rick Adair, Ty van Burkleo, and Steve Hecht are lower-profile dismissals, but the Mariners also fired their hitting coach Alan Cockrell earlier in the season, so at this point it looks like a total house-cleaning.
AAA Tacoma Rainiers manager Daren Brown will take over the big league team for the time being. Be sure to read a lot more on the story over at Lookout Landing.
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