The joke among those of us who have sat through decades of preseason gabfests is to walk in and openly wonder: "Gee, you think they're gonna be optimistic about the new season?"
Of course they are. They always say they are, at least. And protocol requires them to repeatedly stress: "We're optimistic we can sustain/reverse the success/failure of last season." It is my great pleasure to announce that - unless one of them slipped past me - the word "optimistic" never arose in Thursday's annual pre-spring training media session with the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.
So, while the team's motto for the season appears to be "A New Day, A New Way," I'd like to suggest they might also add "A New Reality."
Along with that might go the refreshing: "Talk's Cheap & Tickets Aren't, So We'll Clam Up." Or "2009 Mariners . . . Please Be Patient."
That the event actually spread substantive information rather than artificial sunshine is to be applauded.
New general manager Jack Zduriencik flat out announced the obvious . . . the Mariners have to improve the talent level top to bottom. And if anybody showed up expecting him to present a "warm and fuzzy" assessment, he admitted that he just honestly could not spit it out.
"There's positives here," he said, but sorting them out and expanding on them will "take a little time and a little patience," he said.
There's something about 101 losses that makes humility the best approach for the newcomers.
New manager Don Wakamatsu, while obviously energetic and enthusiastic, handled himself with similar reserve, careful to never overstate the possibilities, stressing the mass of work to be done and the steps that need to be taken.
He was measured and willingly accountable. And his even-tempered approach was one of the things that appealed to Zduriencik.
Zduriencik went through his checklist for a manager: Baseball guy, check; energy, check; leadership qualities, check.
But beyond that, he sought somebody who was professionally and emotionally consistent.
"I thought it was very important for the manager to have consistency," Zduriencik said. "When you go through the course of a sports season, particularly our sport, with the ups and downs the players go through, if the manager is not consistent with his rules, his beliefs, his thoughts and how he handles these guys, it's going to be a bumpy road."
Ah, yeah. Bumpy like 2008, an all-terrain season that featured a front-office and staff overhaul, and enough player disaffection for it to seep out of the clubhouse and into the media.
How will he deal with such issues? Wakamatsu talked about the importance of teaching the players the game from "the neck up." He wants them to play smart and act responsibly. If they don't, he said, it's on him. "The way the club plays is a reflection on the way I lead," he said.
Inevitably, he was asked whether the Mariners could contend this season.
As he does with most questions, Wakamatsu took a moment to formulate his response. With his left pointer finger, he made circles on his left thumb nail. It's like the pinwheel on your computer screen that lets you know the hard-drive is working.
"My goal is for everybody to play to the best of their ability," he said. "Where that leads, I don't know."
Apparently, he was told of the 2008 preseason pronouncements that the AL West Division title was within the Mariners' reach.
"They were breaking out the champagne," he said. "I don't want to do that. What I'm saying is I know this is a process. I believe that Jack is going to get us players and I'm going to convince these players that if they play the way we should play . . . that's our expectation. We're going to try to stay in the 'now' and learn to play the game on a day-to-day basis."
The teaching, coaching, developing relationships . . . those are part of what Wakamatsu calls "investment in the players."
The cumulative effect of the event was that both Zduriencik and Wakamatsu come off as dedicated and serious, sincere and purposeful.
And above all else . . . realistic.
Zduriencik told a story about hearing an interview of Wakamatsu on the radio the previous day. The manager had left a very positive impression on the interviewer, who was certain he was a "really good guy." The female announcer then piped in her opinion that he also "was really hot, too."
Zduriencik couldn't let it rest. "I said to Don at dinner, 'I gotta tell you, we sat across the table from each other during that interview process and I liked your ability and your talent, but I really didn't look at you as being hot.' "
Wakamatsu volleyed that he wasn't exactly overwhelmed by Zduriencik's sex appeal, either.
Was that cold? Nah, just reality. It's what these guys are all about.
Dave Boling: 253-597-8440
dave.boling@thenewstribune.com
