I just got done reading a very nice little interview that David Laurila did with Jack Zduriencik (I had to check the spelling on that three times!).  Check it out here.  

Dr. D did a break down of another Jack Z interview a few months ago (here and here), and came away with a fairly poor impression of Jack's interviewing skills opining at the end:

"I can understand the reasons for not wanting to talk to the fans, but then why give an interview?  :- ), Dr. D."

And after rereading that interview I can see why Doc got that impression.  This interview, though, Jack seems much more open and forthright actually giving full paragraphs as answers and not little sound byte nuggets of baseball speak.  Anyway I found a few of his answers intriguing and thought I would give a little break down :)

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During the first two questions David Laurila tries to get Jack to admit that he is a wheeler and dealer, even asking "You’re not in any way surprised at how active you’ve been since taking over?".  And I love how Jack responded to this, and I think it really shows us some insight into Jack's thought process.

In essence Jack says (paraphrasing), "Hey, don't try to label me, don't back me into a corner.  I just take opportunities as they come, I didn't come in here with the plan of making a bunch of trades or turning over a large percentage of the roster, my only goal is to make the Mariners better with every deal I make.  Whether that is through FA signings, aggressive farm promotions or, yes in some cases, trades, I don't care."

I think that this is a real key to what makes, and will continue to make, Jack a successful GM here in Seattle.  The GM's we have had in the past were all to some extents one trick ponies.  Gillick was all about finding the undervalued middle belly of the MLB, finding the Civics that didn't have huge star power, but were very good players, and then putting one of those at every single roster spot.  Bavasi was all about the big name, the big splash and the veteran.  He brought in Beltre and Sexson on huge FA deals and traded for the best avalible pitcher at the time (Bedard).  He figured if he had big time assets at a few positions then he could sprinkle in MLB TM Vets and win that way.  What is great about Jacky Z is he doesn't CARE how he wins, or how he acquires a player or the difference between stars and scrubs and civics or how he goes about his realizing his one, simple life goal: Make the M's better.  Of course we have heard it so many times that it is becoming annoying, but I LOVE that Jack has such dogged determination on that one goal, and that he doesn't let style or dogma get in the way of it :)

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David then goes on to ask about any underrated deals that Jack was really enthused about.  Jack proceeded to list off 7 or so names, not a single one of which is a ball player :)

Personally I love this.  We so rarely hear about any of the other names in the organization that are doing a ton of work behind the scenes and I love that Jack appreciates them AND USES THEM.  I remember back when Mat Olkin was hired that there was rejoicing on sites like USSM, thinking that Mariner deals were now going to have some statistical backing.  Then we got to watch as Bavasi brought in chumps like Silva, Batista, and Vidro and traded away Soriano, Choo and Cabrera and there were crys of, "Did Olkin die or something?  How can these moves get past the Saber guy?!?!"  and it was fairly obvious that either Bavasi did a poor job of hiring lieutenats (maybe Olkin was just no good at his job), or he didn't listen to them.  Jack seems insistent of not only finding very talented and bright guys to staff around himself, but to actually listen and take their input seriously.  This IMHO is a VERY rare and extremely important talent for a high end (fortune 500) business manager to have.  Carly Fiorina nearly destroied Hewlett Packard because she thought she was smarter and more business savvy than all here advisors, Apple has gotten a foot hold in the computing world mostly because Microsoft was content to rest on the laurels of Bill Gates genius (Windows) and stop inovating (even though lower level guys were begging for it), while Steve jobs was off conquering how to make computers cool.  Anyway, I digress, I am very enthused by the fact that Jack takes his assistants seriously!

Also, SabrMATT should be happy to read here that Jack continues to grow the statistical team in the M's org, and actually puts their expertise to work.

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For the first time with actual words and not just with his actions Jack admits that defense is a big time undervalued asset and that they have been emphasizing it.  He also mentions that you have to look at your ball park, your club, and your philosophy to see what players (and what sklll sets) fit, which is another thing we have accused Jack of, but have never actually heard him say.  So it is nice to get that confirmation.  Where as a guy like Bavasi just goes out gets the two biggest names he can find (Beltre and Sexson) with no regard to the fact that SafeCo would destroy them both, it is nice to know that Jack won't do these things.

As a side note the more I think about focusing on defense as the under valued asset of choice the more I like it.  And one of the reasons I like it is because I have a suspicion that while defense is getting more buzz than it used to it will never be valued correctly, and will especially never be over valued.  After the Billy Beane fueled walk (and OBP) craze of the late 90's early Ohs walks and patience quickly became no longer undervalued, and IMHO have actually become a bit overvalued now.  But, I don't think this will happen with defense for one reason: human beings are so extremely VISUAL.  Power is visually obvious a home run is a big physical action and is very exciting.  Walks and patience are also obvious, you see a hitter walk, you see him working the count, you see patience.  Where as defense is NOT so obvious.  IMHO it is not the splashy, bring back a Home run from over the wall plays that gives a guy like F-Gutz such value.  It is the unnoticed, gliding over to a spot and making a tough play easily, one that another CF would have dove for and missed resulting in a double, play and his consistency at doing that, that gives F-Gutz so much value and those plays are NOT obvious because how routine he makes them look.  Defense can be very visually deceptive.  YuBet, to a fans eyes, LOOKS like a great defensive player because he is a wispy water bug and makes a lot of diving plays.  However those same plays are made standing up by Jack Wilson, and in fact Wilson is a goofy looking white guy who does a lot of kick slides to make plays so he is not a visually impressive as YuBet.  So I think that defense has better chance to stay undervalued, and it is great that this fits in so well with our ball park and Jacks philosophies.

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I very much enjoyed this interview, and am even more excited that the M's have Jack Z as their GM.  I can't WAIT for this season to start!  GO M's!

A final quote from Jack Z, one that I am sure Dr. D is going to love:

"Well, Bill James is a hell of a lot smarter than I am and he’s got an enormous amount more experience than I do"

:)