Needing to clear the deck after a 101-loss season, the Mariners have hired Jack Zduriencik from the Milwaukee Brewers to be the club's new general manager.
Zduriencik, the last candidate to be interviewed in the first round, was one of four candidates to make the finals, and he beat out the Blue Jays' Tony LaCava, the Dodgers' Kim Ng and the Diamondbacks' Jerry Dipoto to get the nod. "Seattle is an outstanding organization with great fans, a great ballpark and an ownership group committed to the goal of bringing a World Series to the Northwest," Zduriencik said. "I believe that working together, we can make the Mariners a model franchise. I am looking forward to getting to work immediately and developing a plan to reach our goal."
Zduriencik has had a nice run producing talent in Milwaukee, including four young stalwarts -- first baseman Prince Fielder, left fielder Ryan Braun, second baseman Rickie Weeks, and shortstop J.J. Hardy -- of a team that made it to the National League playoffs as the wild-card team this year.
The Mariners will be retaining the core of their scouting and player-development staff -- Zduriencik made sure of that. He made as part of his arrival package a deal that keeps all the key scouts and player-development people in their same positions for at least the next season.
That list include scouting guru Bob Fontaine, chief international scout Bob Engle and their top lieutenants.
First up for Zduriencik is hiring a manager. The Mariners would like to get that done before the general managers' meetings start on Nov. 3 in Dana Point, Calif.
