Will the Mariners’ managerial job be a tough sell?
Oct 2, 2013, 1:44 PM | Updated: 1:44 pm
By Brady Henderson
Having hired two managers during his tenure with the Mariners, Jack Zduriencik says he’s confident that the third time will be the charm.
Jack Zduriencik |
“I’m into this now five years,” the Mariners’ general manager told 710 ESPN Seattle’s “Bob and Groz” on Tuesday, “and I’m a little more experienced in terms of exactly what I’m looking for …”
But will he have a hard time convincing that person to come to Seattle given his own contract uncertainty beyond next season? The question was raised once reports surfaced that Zduriencik was returning to the Mariners in 2014 on a one-year deal, the thought being that potential replacements for Eric Wedge would be reluctant to take the job knowing the team could after one season have a new general manager who may be inclined to hire his own skipper.
Zduriencik says he believes those concerns are “tremendously overblown.”
“I can tell you from the travels this year I have had numerous amounts of general managers as well as other managers come over, coaches come over, and tell me how impressed they are with this group of players, that they can really see that the worm is turning, if you will, and that, boy oh boy, that’s a great group of guys for somebody to get their hands on — before anything happened this weekend — and, ‘You guys have done a great job, we know what’s in your system.’ They’ve seen these young pitchers come up there and cut their teeth in September,” Zduriencik said.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a tough sell in any way, shape or form. And in fact if you had my cell phone and my email address over the last three or four days I think you would agree with me because I have gotten so many calls from agents, directly from some people recommending other people. Obviously, you can’t tamper with anybody — we’re not going to do that — but there are ways to let people know that we’re interested. And there are some great candidates out there that are going to have a lot of interest.”
Bob Stelton and Dave Grosby aren’t buying it, and they explain why in the video below.
You can listen to Tuesday’s show here.