Wedge unhappy about uncertain future with Mariners

By Brady Henderson

Without a contract beyond this season, Mariners manager Eric Wedge expressed some displeasure on Wednesday regarding his uncertain future with the club.

“It’s tough. I feel like I’m hanging out there, that’s the reality of it,” Wedge told reporters.

Wedge, in the final year of a three-year contract he signed before the 2011 season, confirmed to reporters that he hasn’t been given an extension and that the lack of clarity he has on his status heading into next season has put him in a tough spot.

“It is difficult. We shouldn’t be in this situation,” Wedge said. “But you man up, you handle it. It’s what you do. When you’re leading men, the men like to know who and what they’re being led by and if they’re going to be around tomorrow. So it does change the dynamic. But I knew that a long time ago. This is not just starting, it’s been this way for quite a while. It gets to be in the way.”

Wedge’s comments come a day after the Mariners confirmed that general manager Jack Zduriencik will be back next season. Wedge said he expects a decision to be made on his future “some time between now and the end of the season or right after the season ends.”

Wedge is 211-271 in three seasons with the Mariners, who improved their record in his first two seasons but will fall short of last year’s win total of 75 by at least two games.

Wedge has been steadfast in his public assurances that his young team will turn the corner under his direction, and he reaffirmed on Wednesday his desire to be the one who turns the Mariners into a winning club.

“The worst thing they could do is blow it up right now and start over,” he said. “You’ve got to stick with something at some point in time.”