Bavasi Fired
The M’s have fired General Manager Bill Bavasi. News conference shortly.
Lee Pelekoudas will take over as the interim GM and “a search for the new General Manager will begin immediately”. With as bad as this season has gone, it’s unlikely that they’ll promote anyone from within and try to call it change, so expect an outside hire. If Chris Antonetti isn’t on the potential interview list, we’ll burn Safeco to the ground.
And yes, with the new GM will come a new manager. McLaren’s being left in charge in order to not make the new GM feel obligated to keep around an interim GM in case the team starts winning immediately after Mac gets fired. The new guy will almost certainly bring in his own field staff.
Obviously, we’ve had our disagreements with Bill on roster construction and how to build a team, but as we’ve said repeatedly, he’s a really good person and it was our pleasure to host him at several USSM events in the past few years. I enjoyed all my conversations with him, and in the sense of having a good person to talk baseball with, I will miss him. But this is the right move for the organization.
One down, three to go. Submit to the indomitable will of Baghead Nation
Pinch me.
Interesting timing, right before trading season.
Yippee!!!!!!
Best Monday of my life. Well, okay, best Monday of my life since the day after I got married. Hallelujah.
Let us hope this is the first of many rolling heads, not an empty gesture that is quickly negated by a Bavasi #2…
Wonder if it was somewhat mutual.
Is Dave still in town to interview?
Please tell me this isn’t a joke.
I’m so happy I could cry.
I’ll hold off the celebration until I know we’re not going to hire a Bavasi clone.
Wow. I didn’t expect that today, but he deserves it.
Is there any reason to think that Pelekoudas will be better, or do you think this might just be to get through the end of the year?
I was hoping for Antonetti or similar, but maybe that’s not realistic during the season.
When can we start the prospective GM conversations.
Dave, best guess: what are the chances that the Mariners have learned their lesson and will tap someone more…21st century?
I thought this was a joke when I read it in the Willie thread. Or hopeful thinking.
Apparently all we needed was Willie’s disapproval and out goes Bavasi.
I must say I’ll miss him. He made just abysmal baseball decisions, but he was a great guy and a good community liaison. I enjoyed meeting him that one time I made it down to a USSM event.
I like Bill a lot. But he’s a terrible GM. So I have mixed feelings.
I could have sworn McLaren was going to go first. This is even better.
Totally agree w/ JI
Remember, this is the same organization that CHOSE Bavasi in the first place above all others.
Hopefully he fills in and they go hire a real GM. I’m a bit cautious about this because Pelekoudas has be considered before, and this organization never learns from anything. Ever.
Also, as is usual with big breaking news like this:
Please be kind to the server and limit your refreshes. We’re all excited but don’t want that to melt the server.
Day Late and Dollar Short! Good news though maybe next year will be better.
Pelekoudas is probably marking time. (Although he’s been with the org forever.)
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Mr. Bavasi may have been a terrible big league talent evaluator, but he did help re-build the farm system and the scouting department.
In other words: We could do worse. And that may yet come to pass.
This could indicate that the organization is ready to start from scratch. I feel like I’m walking on air.
Whoever makes the next moves for us hopefully knows it isn’t bad to have players that can walk…it really isn’t.
For the record, you guys scooped the Seattle PI by a good seven minutes.
Unfortunately, LINCOLN is the problem. He’s not shown competence in basic decision-making, which makes him sub-optimal in his current post. Here’s hoping our blind squirrel stumbles into a worthwhile nut.
It could be worse, he could do to the M’s what he did to the Cardinals.
Great news! They stopped him before he could kill again before the trade deadline.
I never would have believed they would have fired him before they fired Mac.
… for the Orioles, Indians, etc. Let’s bring in DePodesta, who’d at least provide entertaining blog fodder.
I’m honestly surprised that Bavasi got the axe before Mac did. I would have thought that Mac, or maybe Vidro/Sexson would have been the first to go.
Thinking about it, with all the talk of player accountability lately, it would have made more sense for a player to go first.
Thank you (insert deity of choice)!!!!
With any luck, Sexson, Turbo, and Cairo to follow….
I screamed so loud, my wife fell out of her chair! This is the best news in a LONG TIME!
If Antonetti wouldn’t take the Cardinals job, why would he come up here? Just wondering.
I’d like to encourage people to keep this in mind in their comments, too; while none of us were happy with the job that Bill did, especially over the last year or so, not a lot of GMs would have been willing to do things like come and speak at events for a fan blog, much less one that is often critical of the things that the organization does.
He always seemed to be a genuinely nice guy that was just overmatched by the changing game, so let’s try to be as respectful as we can. This can’t be an easy day for him, or for anyone in the organization.
[see comment guidelines]
The headline I saw over at MLB.com said: “Mariners relieve Bill Bavasi of General Manager duties”, and the first sentence said, “SEATTLE — Seattle Mariners Chief Executive Officer Howard Lincoln today announced that Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations & General Manager Bill Bavasi had been relieved of his duties with the club.”
Now, does that mean Bavasi is going to stay on with the front office in some other capacity, or does it mean he’s totally fired, divorced from the organization?
I’m very surprised it happened now, and pleased (obviously).
Now it’s time to get our hopes up again. So much depends on this hire.
I wonder what this means for Fontaine.
Fingers crossed for someone decent…
Thank goodness. The last few offseasons have been miserable. Every time I thought it couldn’t get worse it did.
Dave or Derek, will we be seeing a GM wishlist (or likelihood) post?
Honestly I’ve been waiting for this headline for so long, yet it somehow feels surreal. I’m numb. Please for all this good in this world can we end up with an awesome replacement.
I’m not at all suprised Bavasi got the axe before McLaren. McLaren, if he were fired, woud have been fired by Bill, and Bill doesn’t seem like the sort of guy to create scapegoats. He a built a team he thought would win, and they were really sucking. Disagree as we might with Bill’s baseball knowledge, even he knows that managers don’t turn 90 win teams into 60 win teams.
I think Bavasi had to know he would be fired. Everyone on the coaching staff probably knew. Based on what we know about Bavasi, I suspect he didn’t fire McLaren because now McLaren can be fired by the new GM, and simply lose his job due to a purge, rather than be blamed for the crappy M’s team. This probably makes his next interview for a manager position a little bit easier.
This also makes me question the Pentland firing. Perhaps Pentland requested to be let go early, knowing that his job was toast anyhow?
Why does that last part worry me?
Mariners’ CEO Howard Lincoln said in a release that new leadership was needed in the GM position. Lincoln says a search will begin immediately for a permanent GM, and Pelekoudas will be a candidate.
YES !!!
There is a God!
Now, let’s hope it’s Yama the god of death and justice, so that Lincoln follows suit and resigns out of shear embarrassment.
How long until the servers crash?
Going from ownership’s recent statements, I thought they were circling the wagons around management and just dumping all the blame on the players. That they’re firing Bavasi instead is a good thing, but I wonder when they finally came to the conclusion that this was necessary. Maybe getting swept at home by the Nationals provided cover to make a more drastic decision than they would have otherwise been comfortable with. In which case- Thank You, Washington Nationals!
This had to happen, and I only wish it had happened before the Bedard trade. I’m glad that he won’t be responsible for making the trades that will be made to “rebuild” the team.
Despite his drawbacks as a GM, especially in the trade arena, he did do some good work in rebuilding our farm system. Unfortunately, the Bedard trade really hurts right now.
Yeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaw!!!!!!! Jester’s Dead!!!!!!!!!!!
Screw the hard deck!
Now, let’s go after Viper!!!!
Maybe they’ll ask Bloomquist if he’d be willing to lend his veteran grittiness to the job of player/general manager?
…and let me chime in with those who are separating their feelings regarding Bill Bavasi the guy (pretty cool, decent sense of humor, long tradition of caring about baseball)–and GM Bavasi the employee (he built the mess we’re in.)
Sucks to be fired at doing something that you love and something that you really tried hard to be good at…but when you’ve spent as much money to be as bad as we are, you can’t be surprised.
I am equal parts ecstatic and terrified. I have no confidence whatsoever that Lincoln and Armstrong will recognize the institutional problems that led to this situation in the first place.
I’m betting on another “old” baseball hire, which can’t be worse than what we’ve got, but certainly isn’t the kind of change in philosophy this organization needs.
I want Ibanez as manager.
Remember this. Paste this on your pointy, geek laden head and remember it…
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Jay Buhner – Manager, Edgar Martinez – Hitting Coach
I’d pay to see that!
If Chris Antonetti isn’t on the potential interview list, we’ll burn Safeco to the ground.
I’d amend that to “If Chris Antonetti isn’t on the potential interview list or Lee Pelekoudas ends up with the permanent GM job, we’ll burn Safeco to the ground.”
The problem with the organization is systemic, not just based around Bavasi.
I’m hoping Lincoln and Armstrong luck into someone good. I think it might be a stretch that they get the right guy, but if they do, convincing someone to come to Seattle shouldn’t be that difficult with a great stadium and a $117 million payroll.
This is an AMAZING first step in making this baseball team a contender sometime in the future. I feel Bavasi would have continued to drive this franchise into the ground with terrible trade and complete lack of recognition of talent.
Now, that being said, I feel like the problem is bigger than a GM. There needs to be, from top to bottom, a PLAN to build a baseball team, and this current leadership doesn’t seem to have any kind of plan other than gut-shots and “proven veterans”
But that being said, I haven’t been in this good of a mood for a while. Let’s hope his predecessor is not of the same bloodline…
Finally, a glimmer of hope.
Whomever the M’s select as the next GM, he has his work cut out for him. Really, who on the current roster has value that other teams will want? When you are performing like the M’s, there aren’t too many parts that you can trade away and get value in return.
Along with the comment about lee being considered for the permanent position, this was indicated in the MLB.com article:
“He has also been extensively involved in discussions and decisions on the make-up of the Major League roster.”
Unless he was a dissenter in those decisions, he really should not be on the short list, given that they just fired Bavasi. Sigh.
I have been a fan of Buhner as manager for a while now as well. But he need to manage some minor league games first I think.
I just got a bad feeling in my gut, Fontaine may be leaving us now
Hot Damn!
OMG YES!!!
I am very excited, this is the first day in a while that I can smile about something to do with the Mariners.
Dude, guys……I wrote them an email this morning requesting this change! You can thank me for this wonderful day in M’s history!
(totally kidding of course)
You’ve had a rough year, Bill. I hope whatever you do next is a perfect fit for your skills.
I’m glad you’re moving on, but I can’t dance on your grave.
When and where can I see the press conference? I’ve been waiting for this for so long.. I want to fully experience it.
I wonder if Pelekoudas is being given the ship’s wheel just to keep going on the present course, or is he going to have the power to DFA Sexson/Vidro/Cairo etc…..
Oh, and if dw reads this: so, what odds are you giving on Cam Bonifay being the new GM?
I wonder how likely it is that Fontaine will stick around.
I’m even more of a fan than I was before, after hearing him speak at the event this weekend; so I hope he stays.
@ 59, John in LA:
Yeah, that was my first reaction too. Okay, I”ll be honest “Whoo hoo!” was my FIRST, then, “Oh man, what a rough few months. I feel bad for the guy.
Do you think you can type every day with your fingers crossed?
I know this won’t ever happen, but it would seem to me that a forward-thinking organization could hire a “horse trader” to clean house of the overpaid players for the next few weeks. There are plenty of people who are good at negotiating, such that the dead wood could be removed at the least expense… sort of like companies hire “consultants” to come in and fire people. The person would have to be labeled as “interim”, so that they could go about finding a better “long term” candidate. But I’d love to see a team try it. I think that the M’s, in their present situation, could save many millions by taking such an “everyone is available, always looking to deal” attitude for the next month.
Chris Antonetti is not coming. He’d make a fine GM, no doubt, but the reason that he turned down the Cardinals and then the Pirates (the gig went to Neal Huntington, the other assistant GM in Cleveland), is that the Indians made him a rather well-compensated man with the understanding that he was in line to succeed Mark Shapiro. I suppose he’s a free man and he could leave if he wants, but that’s where he is right now.
That’s…….what I’m afraid of….
Honestly, folks, if you’d been at the feed a couple of years ago with Bavasi, I think you’d have found him to be a completely nice guy. And I know he’s gone out of his way to Dave and Derek multiple times.
All that said, I’d rather be drinking beers and talking baseball with him than have him within 100 feet of the GM office.
Dio c’e'!
I think the Bavasi firing clearly indicates that player moves are on the horizon. It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to remove Bavasi if you were happy with his choice of players. Since he’s gone, I would expect changes to the roster to begin in short order, especially for those players that have little/no value and large contracts which terminate at the end of the season. Sexson and Vidro are two that immediately spring to mind, and I would expect Jeff Clement to be here to replace one of them in short order.
w/r/t GM candidates: everyone should be assured that content’s coming.
Also, w/r/t “Chris Antonetti is not coming” — you’re wrong, and we’ll get into that later.
While it’s good to see a guy go that has really struggled improving the franchise, I’ve got to say, I genuinely like the guy. He was intelligent, frank, funny….
I still remember sticking around after one of the pizza feeds there at Safeco and he talked to me for a few minutes about what it takes to work ones way up for a front office. It was quite enjoyable. Best wishes to him.
On the Ms front, now if only we could get rid of the real problem in the front office – those who don’t understand that baseball talent evaluation has made significant strides since the 80s/90s and are willing to go out and take a risk on someone young and bright.
I hear Pat Gillick will be looking for a new job at the end of the year.
Hear hear to much of what has been said, especially to the requests for respect to Mr. Bavasi on his departure.
Getting canned is never fun (I have a lot of experience). Getting canned in public, for embarrassing public failure, must be galling. But Bill has been a friend to USSM even while the site has been an unstinting critic of his decisions; that suggests a huge reserve of decency on his part, and we should return the courtesy.
And I’m as surprised as anyone else that Bill got the chop before McLaren. Firing Pentland was typical move for an organization more interested in PR than success. Cutting ties with the GM seems to indicate that they might actually recognize the sources of the team’s malaise and are serious about addressing them.
As for Lee Pelekoudas – well you have to have SOMEBODY step in as interim GM. And nobody is going to accept the interim job if the organization told them in advance that they wouldn’t be considered for the permanent post.
I wonder if Bill saw that he wasn’t going to keep the job into 2009 and decided he wanted out now.
Or was it Lincoln or Armstrong finally saying enough is enough and moving on?
Not to step on the toes of the upcoming GM candidate content, but the Seattle job is a really good job where you can work with one of the largest payroll budgets in baseball, with a lot of money coming off the books at the end of the season.
It’s going to be a much more attractive opportunity than you might think. There are problems, yes, but a smart GM prepared to make some audacious moves could turn this team around in a hurry.
I have to think that Pelekoudas will not be seriously considered for the gig. There is an absurd amount of flawed reasoning in the thought that he had all the answeres while he simply sat by and watched Bavasi bring about this mess.
And I would also LOVE to see Paul DePodesta brought into the organization.
Antonetti!!!
As far as Bavasi going away before McLaren, I would be very surprised if one of Pelekoudas’s first moves isn’t to can McLaren.
Maybe they went to Bill, told him he had to fire Mac, Bill said no, and the team said “Okay, we’re firing you and we’ll tell the next guy to fire McLaren”.
Oh, and if dw reads this: so, what odds are you giving on Cam Bonifay being the new GM?
That’s off the board. It’s so much a lock that we might as well go ahead and make this blog USS Sounder.
I wonder how likely it is that Fontaine will stick around.
I’m even more of a fan than I was before, after hearing him speak at the event this weekend; so I hope he stays.
Well, since Bill won’t be able to hire him immediately (unless he gets a GM job), it could happen- when Bill was with the Dodgers after getting fired in Anaheim, Bob was with the White Sox.
DePo has links to three team specific blogs on his:
Athletics Nation – he worked for Oakland
Ducksnorts – he works for San Diego
USSMariner – hmm…
Why the DePodesta love? He’s already demonstrated as much cack-handedness in personnel management and PR as he has success in player evaluation and statistical analysis.
DePo had a terrible, terrible relationship with the LA media. I don’t know how that affects his chances with the M’s. I’d have to think it makes him less attractive to Mariner ownership.
Bringing in Pelekoudas is about bringing in a guy with name and history with the org to give people the impression someone steady is holding the reins. Same thing any company would do after they fire their CEO — bring in someone who knows the company and the investors know well (or at least the investors saw for years in the annual report credits).
He’s not permanent. If he is, then it’s a bad sign — it means the M’s couldn’t get anyone to take the job or were too unimaginative in their search.
Because being run out of town by idiots like Bill Plaschke is really a point in your favor.
“With a new leader will come a new plan and a new approach.” This is the part of Lincoln’s statement that gives me hope.
Also Jeff Re: Fontain the amount of passion he has for the game after all these years is contagious. Amazing guy. “The will always be my guys” When talking about drafted players no matter where they go.
Glorious. What can be better than beautiful weather, news of Bavasi’s firing, Tiger vs Rocco as well as a historic Sonics rally at the court house?
I am on cloud 9.
So…is Kim Ng a possibility? Or has she sunk roots down into LA? (Or started a family?)
Does anyone have any insight into how much of DePodesta’s trouble in LA arose from Bill Plashke’s hostility, and how much from his own indifferent performance at media relations?
How much clout can one vindictive columnist really have?
No LL, he’s still doing it wrong.
He made awesome moves.
A thought to consider. An argument can be made that the M’s really opened up the pocketbooks to make a “real run” this year.
We keep saying that the M’s job would be attractive to a potential GM for, among other things, we have a big payroll.
If spending a lot of money didn’t get us the wins we wanted…and we’re obviously not a player or two away from being competitive (much less being championship quality)–could we see a few years of belt tightening and an unbreakable piggy bank?
In other words…we all know it’s bad. But, in trying to make it “better”, it could get worse. Much worse.
(Or, we actually hire someone who realizes that the solution is not just to throw money at some washed up veterans… What are the chances of THAT?)
There will be many, many posts on potential candidates in the near future. Trust me.
I wanted Bavasi fired as much as anyone, but the glee with which some of us are dancing on his grave is more than a little disturbing. The move needed to be made, but just because it was made, don’t think that the Mariners have magically turned some dark corner. There’s still a LOT of work to be done, and still a lot of reason to lack confidence that the people in charge know what needs to be done. Bavasi was just one problem of about 47 that should have been addressed long before now.
Let’s remember to separate the man — available to a fault, gracious and entertaining — from the job. There are zillions of good people out there doing jobs for which they’re ill-suited. Bavasi’s just one of them.
I just can’t see that Pelekoudas, an organization man forever, is going to be given license to do the thorough housecleaning needed beneath him. Mostly because some of that housecleaning needs to take place ABOVE him.
It’s good that Bavasi is no longer the general manager of the Mariners. But I’m still a little sad that he didn’t work out.
It’s easy to forget, as we’ve sunk to the point of hoping the M’s lose now so they’ll clean house sooner than later. It’s actually going to be weird at some point in the future to hope I remember how to root for the Mariners to WIN again.
“There will be many, many posts on potential candidates in the near future. Trust me.”
Oh goodie. Something about baseball that is fun to talk about. That’ll be a pleasant change.
I have to agree with Jeff Nye and Colm. Even at the current historical moment, one of my enduring memories of Bavasi is his willingness to come to meetups organized by some random guys on a random internet site and talk to them frankly and honestly about his job and his team. That’s pretty amazingly cool, especially considering how retardedly busy GMs usually are. I always wanted Bavasi to succeed, in part because of what a great guy he seemed like and what a good friend to USSM he’s been.
My understanding is that Fontaine is one of Bavasi’s guys. He’s with the organization because of Bavasi, and I’d be quite surprised if he stayed with the organization after Bavasi’s been fired. Which is a shame, ’cause he’s done a fine job with the scouting department. But that’s basically part and parcel of firing Bavasi.
I wonder who drove this decision, ultimately. Lincoln? Armstrong? Higher?
Anyone know?
(Colm, I have some thoughts on what happened to DePodesta in L.A., just from listening to the relentless assault every day down here. I’ll post them when there is a thread up about him.)
FSN is holding a confrence at 2pm
FSN isn’t holding the conference — the M’s are.
Yes, I know that’s nitpicky and annoying.
I’d think the phrase ‘Boston Parking Lot Attendant’ should have a prominent place in your thoughts. Ie, it wasn’t just about DePodesta.
bout time.
Probably the prime reason that Bavasi got fired was the poor performance for the dollars spent. In my opinion, a critical flaw in Bavasi’s thinking was that you could build a contender with free agents. Since free agents are generally the worst value in baseball, we ended up with what we have currently….a highly paid losing team.
I would expect that the team payroll will decrease rather dramatically in the next year or two. Hopefully, the new GM will continue to build through the farm system and pick up some cheap talent a la Beane. Only when a good foundation is built should the team’s strong finances be leveraged, in my opinion. I am sick of the M’s overspending for mediocrities.
So what obvious transaction does Pelekoudas make to illustrate his soon-to-be-uttered statement that “changes will be made”? Recall Clement? DFA Sexson? Vidro?
I’m not happy about this nor am I dancing. This is a sad day for BB and my condolences go out to him. However, I do applaud the Mariners for making the right move for the organization and I’m hopeful the leadership can right the USS Mariner ship and get it moving in the right direction quickly. I’m sure most of us would have preferred that BB was wildly successful with the M’s and that we were all praising his name…but it didn’t work out that way.
Let’s all take a moment and raise our drinks to wish BB well as he walks away and to say a prayer for the M’s leadership to make the right decisions on who they bring in next.
If we bring in an Antonetti type, the draw would be a getting a guy who understands how to run a team cheaply in an environment where he is free to spend some money. Antonetti’s philosophy is to not spend more than about 20 percent of a team’s payroll on one player, but that doesn’t mean the team’s payroll would necessarily take a dive.
I think it would, but the selling point for the front office to Antonetti would be: “Aren’t you tired of rocking in Cleveland only to find out you can’t afford to keep your studs around as long as they’re valuable? Here, you can make moves, stay young and still spend when you need to.” Billy Beane has always maintained that he runs his team the way he does because of efficiency — meaning he would spend more money efficiently if he had more money to spend.
The issue isn’t total dollars. It’s how you spend those dollars.
I think we’ll see Clement back pretty quickly.
Beyond that, who knows. Literally anything, or nothing, could happen.
Now for phases 2 (Lincoln) and 3 (Armstrong) . . . which are to be followed immediately by phase 4 (McLaren) and its subsequent phases 5 (Vidro) through 19 (Washburn).
Also, congrats to the server for not melting amidst our onslaught of unbridled joy.
Can I suggest the return of the Antonetti campaign button? I miss it.
If you think about it, Bavasi’s entire tenure is summed up in the Carlos Guillen trade. We trade a productive, but at that point fragile, player to Detroit for a bag of balls not in order to improve the club, but to get rid of the player. Then we sign a bag of balls in Rich Aurilia to replace him, when the exact player we needed was in fact the Carlos Guillen who became an All-Star in Detroit. Carlos was at his peak; we paid Aurilia like he was at his peak when he was far, far past it. So dollars go out the door, performance diminishes and the M’s start sucking. That is Bavasi’s legacy.
The Guillen trade was pretty much done when Bavasi was hired. Or else he had to do it at gunpoint due to “chemistry issues.” Either way, the Guillen trade is NOT any way to sum up Bavasi’s tenure.
No, it’s the Soriano-for-Ramirez trade that is the signature event for me. He traded away an awesome live arm for a huge gamble on a starter that had never proved himself. And since that trade, the M’s have lacked a consistent setup guy and a #4 starter, the former dooming the M’s down the stretch last year and the latter dooming them this year.
If he’d held onto Soriano, Morrow would likely be the #4 starter this year, taking his lumps but probably pitching better than Ramirez and pushing Batista into the pen. Or maybe the Silva signing wouldn’t have happened. But with Soriano you probably wouldn’t have had Rick White blowing games in August last year, and just maybe they could have snuck into the wild card.
Here are my choices in order of preference:
Chris Antonetti
Paul DePodesta
David Forst
Kim Ng
Jed Hoyer
I’m guessing that the team goes after someone like Rob Antony though. My worst fear is that Cashman gets fired before the end of the year.
Wow…but in a good way. This is one of those things that absolutely had to happen for the sake of the organization, but it is only half the job. I was a little surprised as others have said that Bavasi would go before McLaren. But this kind of all begins to make a little sense now…
…Bavasi is gone with an interim GM in place now. Wouldn’t expect to see anything happen to McLaren until the new full time GM arrives, at which time it will be their decision about manager and coaching staff.
It may be the remainder of the year before any wholesale changes get made but it seems they’re closer than they’ve been. As for the players I think they’re now playing for their future with the Mariners.
Of course if the wrong person gets picked for the GM spot then all this is academic…
Or, is Bavasi’s tenure epitomized by the Carlos Silva deal? He signed a starting pitcher that no one wanted, to a deal that no one else would have given him just to shore up the rotation on a team that was not close to contending. Plus, he did this while ignoring that every possible sign pointed to Silva as being a disaster waiting to happen. Really, I think there are too many ill-fated moves to point out just one.
Nah, it’s epitomized by the Washburn deal. Same thing as the Silva deal, but worse and earlier.
Or, is Bavasi’s tenure epitomized by the Carlos Silva deal? He signed a starting pitcher that no one wanted, to a deal that no one else would have given him just to shore up the rotation on a team that was not close to contending. Plus, he did this while ignoring that every possible sign pointed to Silva as being a disaster waiting to happen. Really, I think there are too many ill-fated moves to point out just one.
Seriously, you could replace “Carlos Silva” with Jarrod Washburn, Miguel Batista, Bad Weaver, etc.
Richie Sexson is the epitome;
He took hometown guys, and when they didn’t do well, he’d refuse to sit them/trade them/replace them in order to preserve “clubhouse chemistry” and the interests of passing fans.
I like that Rob Neyer’s blog over at espn.com is quoting Dave’s comments on this thread. Good to see some more national coverage about ussm.
Either Armstrong or Lincoln I think said something about looking under all of their rocks…I think that they are confused. Do you know what you find under rocks? Crabs, worms, insects, maggots…envision Bavasi: (overturns rock) “Hey guys, I found a left-handed pitcher with no out pitch and an 87 mph fastball. This must be a jarrodsuckitus maximus! I think I’ll catch it and pay it 9.8 million dollars!”
I’ll second a lot of the previous commenters, in that I’m not celebrating until I see who the replacement is. I sure hope McL is gone soon too.
Check out Dave Pinto at BB Musings. He links to his post from when Bavasi was hired as the M’s GM, and like the USSM (whose objections he mentions), he didn’t like the hire. He also points out that Bavasi’s record over his tenure here is the 3rd worst in the AL. Given the M’s enormous resources, that’s pretty damning.
I thought this was funny, but true…
I feel that my dreams have finally come true today, but I am very worried for the days and weeks to come. The organization is a mess, but it is a mess because of those above Bavasi. Before they can successfully rebuild this franchise they need a change in philosophy. Their “make more money now” attitude isn’t working anymore. For example, I think Johjima was signed to please the Japanese market rather than his play on the baseball field. The recent idea to give away our entire farm system for Griffey puts butts in the seats this year instead of winning for the next 3 or 4 years. Unless they change their game plan, our next GM is gonna have the same problems.
Well, I guess you can take the “Pepe Vidro” commercial out of rotation.
Well that happened when Pentland was fired. Now we just have to fire Vidro and that commercial will be done for good.
Why? You just recut it, Poochie-style.
“Hey Pepe, I didn’t know you had a twin brother. That’s nice. I HAVE TO GO NOW.” (Bavasi ascends through top of frame)
And then a handwritten title card appears on the screen informing viewers that Bavasi died while returning to his home planet.
Bavasi will always only be Destro. Destro doesn’t run Cobra.
Armstrong is Cobra Commander and Lincoln is Serpentor.
If Cobra is ever to rule the world, new leadership will be needed at the top.
It’s sad to see a genuinely good guy fail.
Best of luck to you, Bill.
Regarding DePodesta, why is there an assumption that a guy who’s fired at his first job of a certain sort can’t get better at it?
From out here in Massachusetts, I offer the example of Bill Belichick who didn’t win that much as coach of the Cleveland Browns (he inherited a terrible roster). The chorus of nays when he was hired by the Patriots was deafening. After one year building the team up they’ve been terrific.
People learn. People get better. Not always, but it does happen. Paul DePodesta actually made mostly good decisions with the Dodgers but he could have played some of the public relations and internal relations parts of the job better. Is it so beyond the pale to believe that a very bright, and by most accounts, personable young guy could get better at those things?
Yup.
Remember who you’re dealing with. A team that thinks 15 games is enough to see that a rookie can’t cut it. And that veteran goodness trumps inexperienced talent.
Today has been a roller coaster for me, personally.
I lost my job today, and was feeling kinda down and watched the US open playoff. Even though Tiger won it and deserved the win, I felt for Rocco.
Then, on the way home, I get the news the Bavasi joined me in the unemployment line. My spirits soared! I found myself thinking the Mariners could have a chance in the future. (Emphasis on *could*.)
By tonight, even though we got waxed yet again, I see Dennis Raben got a Web Gem on ESPN. And I’ve even got a few leads on new jobs.
The future is looking brighter and brighter.
Bavasi’s tenure of ineptitude leaves a black mark on a Mariners franchise that has worked desperately to erase a stained legacy of losing over the last 25 years. While Bavasi’s work, like a tangled mess of fishing line, will take years to undo, I find myself feeling oddly sympathetic and proud of the man that I once tabbed as “the bald Geico caveman”.
The tumult for the 2008 season extended beyond the field for Bavasi as his father, and mentor Buzzie Bavasi, died on May 1st. Bavasi, never used his father’s death as an excuse to duck questions from inquiring reporters as to the cataclismic collapse of the team that he put together. As the M’s struggles continued, he further took it upon himself to remove the post game spread and towels from the locker room until each player made themselves available to answer questions fired at them by local media members.
Ultimately, the accumulation of poor free agent signings, terrible managerial hires, dubious draft history, inefficient and poorly planned player development, and the lack of attention to team chemistry have sunk the Mariner ship and they had no choice but to toss their helmsman overboard. To his credit, Bavasi candidly fielded questions from the media for about 45 minutes. How many people, on the heels of being fired and ridiculed by strangers across the country would have the desire to stand up and answer for their failure to perform their duties? I would venture to say that many of us would opt to go home and wait for the severance check.
This stands out to me as being a huge indicator of the person that Bavasi is beyond his failures as a General Manager. Bavasi, by all accounts, is a man of solid integrity, dedication to his family and to his work. I wish him the best of luck in all of his life ventures and forgive him for the damage he has done to my beloved Mariners!