Zduriencik fired; Zunino sent to minors

Seattle’s GM, Jack Zduriencik, was fired this morning. No surprise, but was it all his fault?

Yes and no. It is not his fault the Bullpen , the strength of the team in 2014, was a disaster in 2015. His main problem was the inability to rebuild the minor league system. After seven years it is no better, if not worse, than when he took over. Kyle Seager is the only regular it has produced until this summer when Ketel Marte was brought up and his play shows he is a star of the future at shortstop.

With the demotion of catcher Mike Zunino to Tacoma, it looks like Jack was the reason Mike remained as catcher despite never batting .200 in nearly two seasons. He is one of the best defensive catchers, but his hitting is awful. He was kept up because Jesus Sucre is an even worse catcher and it was said there was nobody in the minor leagues to replace Mike.

Which brings up the trade for Welington Castillo from the Cubs, an excellent backup catcher, and one with power. But a week later Jack said he traded him to Arizona, because “Arizona needed a catcher.” Well, so did the Mariners Jack, so why trade him for the lumbering, defensively challenged, Mark Trumbo? A terrible trade, always is, when you trade a need for someone you don’t need.

The funny thing about Zunino’s demotion is that it was said, and I heard Shannon Drayer, who covers the Mariners say it, that “There is nothing he can learn in Triple A. All he will see is Triple A pitching and that won’t prove anything.” It would seem she was mouthing what the Mariners said. But most, it not all, young players who struggle at the major league level are sent to Triple A  to work on their hitting.

At this point I do not know who was recalled as the news just came over the radio. But it will be a good wakeup call for Mike. In the majors you have to play defense and hit.

How the 2016 team will be reshaped by the new GM, whoever that will be, and whether manager Lloyd McClendon will return are yet to be decided. Stay tuned at Mariner Central.