As Mr. Watson told you yesterday, the Seattle Mariners finally went ahead and did what we'd all been waiting for them to do for a few weeks now: they fired general managerBill Bavasi. In other words, Monday was probably the best day that Seattle sports fans have had in a while, and a cause for celebration.
With the pending move of the Sonics, and the Mariners struggles this season, there hasn't been much to cheer about in the Emerald City lately. Still, while there's some debate in New York about the Mets firing Willie Randolph (was it deserved? did they go about it the right way? etc.), I don't think there's much debate amongst Mariners fans about how they feel for this move. If they're upset about anything, it's probably that Bavasi was the only one to go and that the team can't fire Richie Sexson.
As Watson mentioned in his post yesterday, Bavasi's tenure in Seattle is not one littered with success. He gave questionable contracts to Sexson, Carlos Silva, and Adrian Beltre (though I think Beltre has been a good addition to the club), actually gave Jeff Weaver $8 million to suck for a season, and made trades like sending Carlos Guillen to Detroit for Ramon Santiago. Those are some devastating moves, and yet, that's only part of what Bavasi did to help bring this organization down.
The Mariners will be finishing up a six-game road trip this afternoon at Yankee Stadium, and they'll be hoping to avoid going 0-6. Still, you have to wonder, despite the fact that they haven't won a game on this trip, do they really even want to go back home to Seattle? At least while they're in New York, the home fans can't kill them, so they're safer on the road.
There's probably also some fear in manager John McLaren and general manager Bill Bavasi that they may not hold those titles for much longer. The fans wouldn't exactly cry themselves to sleep at night knowing those two were gone, and they may be getting their wish soon as both have received the dreaded votes of confidence from team president Chuck Armstrong.
"Their positions are secure," Armstrong told MLB.com from his Bellevue, Wash., home. "They are not to be blamed for what's going on.
"In my 23 years, I have never ever seen anything like this. We saw it the other way in 2001. I mean, you have to ask yourself, 'How did the Mariners win 116 games that season with that roster, compared to this roster?' This is just as inexplicable the other way."
Yes, the former Mariners manager who strangely and abruptly took his walking papers in the middle of an up-and-down year is back. And it's with the most oddly named semi-pro team in the history of oddly named semi-pro teams: the Liberal BeeJays. Seriously, that's what they're called:
"When I resigned from the team, I said I hadn't lost my passion for the game but maybe lost my passion for the job a little bit," Hargrove told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. "Working with the BeeJays sounds interesting and exciting and fun. ... And if I can help them then it's the best of both worlds."
"My take is, he is retired, he can do whatever the heck he wants to do," Mariners outfielder Raul Ibanez said. "Some people jump on a sailboat. Maybe that's his way of having a good time and enjoying the game and being able to give back and maybe he'll make an impact or just have fun."
"He told me he wants to help the people who helped him get his start," said Bob Carlile, the BeeJays' general manager.
Funny team names -- and that is the single funniest team name I have ever heard -- aside, I sort of admire Hargrove's decision. Whatever you can do to get your passion, man, do it. Most of us never have the chance.
But seriously: the Liberal BeeJays! And this is in Kansas, one of the more socially conservative states in our fine union. Normally that thing only happens in bathroom stalls in Idaho.
With the way the Seattle Mariners have rolled over the last few weeks, and fallen out of the playoff race, you figure somebody has to take the fall. That's just the way things work in this game. Unfortunately for John McLaren, he's the one who's most likely to lose his job for the Mariners performance.
It may not be fair considering he only took over the team when Mike Hargrove decided he'd had enough, but McLaren took over a team that was playoff bound at the time. Any outsider looking in would see that the Mariners were winning under Hargrove, and fell apart under McLaren. All of which means it won't be surprising if fans and media start calling for the Mariners to find a new manager for next season.
"I know it's going to go that way at some point, because you guys (reporters) have a job to do, but I'm just thinking about the game today," he said.
"Knowing the guys play hard helps me," he said. "If they weren't playing hard and I was having to try to motivate them and stuff it would probably be extremely more difficult."
In his 37 years of baseball, McLaren says he's never seen anything like what's happened to the Mariners these last few weeks. Something I probably wouldn't go around advertising if I knew it could cost me my job.
I don't expect McLaren to be back next season. It's not like the Mariners went out and hired him to run the team, they just had to find somebody after they got blindsided by Hargrove, and McLaren was there. I think this offseason Bill Bavasi is going to go out and find somebody of his choosing to manage this club next season.
Jeanne Zelasko may not have been paying attention when Ken Rosenthal reported during last night's game that the Mariners and Ichiro Suzuki have come to terms on a new contract, or maybe she just doesn't hear very well after spending all those years in the pits of NASCAR races, but you can't really blame her for being unaware of Ichiro's contract situation. After all, if you ask Ichiro or the Mariners, they'll pretend they have no idea what you're talking about. Even Ichiro's agent will tell you that the two sides are still talking.
Yet there is one source, probably the same source Rosenthal got a hold of, that says the deal is basically done and has been for a while. It's just the Mariners are delaying the announcement to avoid a potential controversy.
One source said that the deal was essentially done, but that the club wanted to wait on making an announcement to put some distance between the July 1 resignation of manager Mike Hargrove and the announcement of Ichiro's deal.
It's not exactly a secret that when Hargrove first came to Seattle, he and Ichiro weren't exactly best friends. The relationship between the two got better as time passed, but the Mariners are still worried that announcing the new deal so close to Hargrove's resignation may make it seem as though Ichiro gave an "It's him or Ichiro," type ultimatum.
Mike Hargrove denies that's the case.
"If they had come to me and said it was me or Ichiro, I would never have left voluntarily," Hargrove said Tuesday. "They would have had to fire me, flat-out fire me. But that was never the case.
"I left on my own terms that had nothing to do with (Ichiro's contract)."
I don't doubt that Hargrove and the Mariners are telling the truth here, but at the same time I'm pretty sure Grover's announcement did nothing but accelerate the deal for Ichiro. Had Hargrove still been the Mariners manager for the rest of the season, I think Ichiro would have tested the market.
Most of us were pretty shocked yesterday when Mike Hargrove came out of nowhere to announce he was stepping down as the Mariners manager. Notice I say shocked, but not upset. I tend to get the feeling from most Mariners fans I've talked to about Hargrove that he wasn't all that well liked in Seattle anyway.
I'm not just talking about by Mariners fans either. I'm talking players. Including Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro isn't the type of guy who would come out and say it in public, but there's long been a feeling that he wasn't one of Grover's biggest fans.
So while we can't be sure how Hargrove's leaving will effect the team right now amidst it's 8-game winning streak, I think it's safe to say that it may end up helping keep Ichiro in a Mariners uniform for years to come.
Well, now that Mike Hargrove has stepped down as manager of the Seattle Mariners due to his lack of passion for the game, it didn't take long for Seattle to find his replacement.
"I am really looking forward to the challenge of taking over this club and continuing to build on what Mike has established here," McLaren said. "When I came back here I said I wanted to be a part of taking this team back to the postseason, and back to what our fans expect and deserve. That's still the case. My focus, and the focus of every one of my coaches is to help these players achieve what they are capable of, and that's getting this team back to the postseason."
The 55-year old McLaren has been a coach for 20 years-11 of which spent with the Mariners for both Hargrove and Lou Piniella-but this will be his first time as a manager. He's signed a contract through the end of the 2007 season.
He had been the bench coach for Piniella in Seattle from 1993-2002 before going with Lou to Tampa Bay. This was his first season back in the Emerald City, and now he'll be in charge of a Mariners team that's won 7 games in a row.
The Mariners have won seven straight, but that doesn't seem to be enough for Hargrove, who says he has begun to lose his passion for the game of baseball in general:
"Over the past several weeks, I have come to the realization that to be fair to myself and the team, I cannot continue to do this job if my passion has begun to fade," the 57-year-old Hargrove said in a statement.
Who knows what the Mariners will do from here. An interim manager is almost certainly waiting in the wings, and the front office will have to begin to look at candidates for the spot. Whether Mike Hargrove's absence will be a plus -- or, since he's apparently been doing the job without passion -- a minus, well, that remains to be seen.
Hey Mariners fans, it appears that you guys aren't the only ones who don't like your manager. Apparently some of Mike Hargrove's former players aren't exactly big fans either. Eddie Guardado wasn't shy about letting Grover know it either.
Hargrove, the Mariners manager, and Guardado, Hargrove's former closer now with Cincinnati, saw each other on the way into Safeco Field on Friday. Hargrove extended his hand, but Guardado refused it.
What ensued was a nearly half-hour conversation that had been a long time coming for Guardado, who was traded from the Mariners to the Reds last July after losing his job to J.J. Putz.
The issue between the two stems from last season before Guardado was traded to Cincinnati. Guardado had been the Mariners closer until Hargrove demoted him in May of last season in favor of Putz. According to Guardado, Hargrove told him it was a temporary move and that he'd have his job back once he got his stuff together.
Guardado never got his job back, and that's why he still held a grudge to this weekend.
Weaver told the team Wednesday that he would prefer not to go on a minor-league rehabilitation assignment. Instead, he is to throw a bullpen session in Seattle today, another simulated game Sunday, and then will likely go into the rotation when the Mariners travel to San Diego the next weekend.
Mariners manager Mike Hargrove, denying a rift between pitcher and team, insisted Wednesday that he and Weaver are on the same page.
Hargrove says he and Weaver are on the same page, yet on Tuesday he made it clear he would prefer the rehab assignment.
"We talked to Jeff and gave him his options and let him do what he wants to do."
As Mr. Watson told you yesterday, the Seattle Mariners finally went ahead and did what we'd all been waiting for them to do for a few weeks now: they fired general manager Bill Bavasi. In other words, Monday was probably the best day that Seattle sports fans have had in a while, and a cause for celebration.
The Mariners will be finishing up a six-game road trip this afternoon at Yankee Stadium, and they'll be hoping to avoid going 0-6. Still, you have to wonder, despite the fact that they haven't won a game on this trip, do they really even want to go back home to Seattle? At least while they're in New York, the home fans can't kill them, so they're safer on the road.
Yes, the former Mariners manager who strangely and abruptly took his walking papers in the middle of an up-and-down year is back. And it's with the most oddly named semi-pro team in the history of oddly named semi-pro teams: the Liberal BeeJays. 
With the way the Seattle Mariners have rolled over the last few weeks, and fallen out of the playoff race, you figure somebody has to take the fall. That's just the way things work in this game. Unfortunately for 
Jeanne Zelasko 
Given the Mariners' recent hot streak, this comes as a total surprise: 
Hey 
Yesterday at The Fanhouse I told you that 
