The Seattle Mariners have struggled vs. the baseball odds this season and their lack of success has cost manager Don Wakamatsu his job.
He was fired on Monday along with bench coach Ty Van Burkleo and pitching Coach Rick Adair. Performance coach Steve Hecht was also let go. The Mariners were expected to contend vs. baseball lines in 2010 but not much has gone right.
Baseball odds on the Mariners are not likely to be impacted much by the firing. The Mariners will be managed by Daren Brown who was the manager at Triple-A Tacoma. The Mariners headed into play on Monday at 42-70 which was the second worst record in the American League.
The Mariners have a lot of problems beyond just the manager. Last season Wakamatsu did an excellent job but this year nothing went right and he took the blame. General manager Jack Zduriencik could be a big part of the problem but he is not getting the blame yet. The Mariners did not make good decisions in the off-season or during the season and those decisions were made by Zduriencik. In Seattle’s case the coaches took the blame and not the general manager. Seattle overachieved last season under Wakamatsu vs. the baseball odds but this year they simply did not have the Major League talent. The team made poor decisions by brining in Chone Figgins and Milton Bradley and they traded away Cliff Lee. Almost all of the player moves made by Zduriencik have been a disaster.
Brown will be the manager for the rest of the season while Roger Hansen will take over as the bench coach. Carl Willis was the Mariners’ minor league pitching coordinator and he will now be the pitching coach.
There have now been five managers fired in baseball this season. Wakamatsu joins Baltimore’s Dave Trembley, Arizona’s A.J. Hinch, Florida’s Fredi Gonzalez and Kansas City’s Trey Hillman as managers who have been fired.
Baseball lines will likely list Seattle as an underdog in many of their remaining games this season. The only pitcher who commands respect on the staff is Felix Hernandez but the Mariners rarely score enough runs for him to get wins. The Mariners are last in the league in runs scored per game.