After weeks of rumors, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu has been fired. This comes as no surprise to anyone, due to Seattle’s constant struggles; this season the Mariners are 42-70.
The Mariners had high expectations this season.
They acquired many good players last offseason: Milton Bradley, Chone Figgins, Brandon League, and Casey Kotchman. But of course, those players have not performed at all.
Bradley is now a full-time bench warmer, batting barely over .200 without any power or run production.
Figgins has been another big disappointment. He is hitting around .250 right now, but a few weeks ago he was hitting around .230. He is not showing the patience that he had last season, and the only thing he is good for is stealing bases.
League has had an up and down season. He is either striking out everyone, or he is giving up three runs. He has great stuff, but he has not reached his potential yet.
Kotchman has been terrible at the plate. He is hitting about .210, and he is not hitting for power or driving in runs. He is only good at defense; he has no errors this season.
You might say it is the player’s fault for doing so badly, but I think it was Don Wakamatsu’s fault. He did not take out or help the players that were struggling and kept on pitching/letting them play.
I think Wakamatsu deserved to be fired, and I hope that their new manager, Daren Brown, who was the manager of the Triple-A affiliate Rainiers, will do better in his place for the remainder of this season and, hopefully, years to come.
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