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Kudos, Spec. Somebody had to start this thread. And you know what, I don't even have to contribute. I can just sit back and enjoy what's sure to follow.
Top Ten Things Howard Lincoln Could Have Said to Seem Even More Out of Touch
You can't make this stuff up (well, you can make some of it up)
I don't usually participate in piling on the Front Office, but the Howard Lincoln interview was filled with so much comedy gold, how can you resist?
Top Ten Things Howard Lincoln Could Have Said to Seem Even More Out of Touch
10. "Safeco Field has AWESOME ushers! Love those ushers. And the guys who roll out the tarp! Bud Selig tells me every year how we just dominate at that."
9. "Look, it's not about me. It's not about how hard I work to make our city, no, in fact, the entire region, a better place to live and work. It's not about how much success I've had, or how much money I've made for Nintendo. So don't worry about me. ... What was the question again?"
8. "You bet I hear it from the fans. Why, just the other day, the guy who restocks the caviar in my limo fridge let me know he thought Jamie Moyer was blowing too many saves. And, you know, I had to chuckle, since everyone knows that Randy Johnson is the closer. But I hear you. I do."
7. "Do you know how many fundraising galas I have to attend in a year? [*starts singing in gospel style*] Nobody knows the troubles I've seen ... ."
6. "Pujols and Hamilton could be tied for the batting championship next year, you just don’t know." [no, wait, he did say that]
5. "We're really good at everything except for that whole 'baseball' part ... but who's counting?"
4. "I can't really put myself on the hot seat, but, if I could, and, of course, I can't because that would be up to Nintendo, and, of course, Nintendo has full confidence in me, because, well, I've been very, very successful at everything I've done, and the community really appreciates how much I've done to enhance our quality of life, so, no, of course, they wouldn't put me on the hot seat, but, if I could ... well, it would be really hot. Ouch! Like sizzling hot. Because I feel the frustration. But I can't put myself on a hot seat. No, becuase Nintendo has so much confidence in me. But, boy, if I could, yeah, it'd be really hot. You bet."
3. "Money? Is there money involved? I've been so busy dedicating myself to the enrichment of life in our little part of the world, that I kind of forgot. But, sure, if we make a little extra scratch in the process of our community-building, well, I suppose we won't turn it down."
2. "We saved the darn team from Tampa already! Just be grateful that you've even got a team at all. We did that! We're heroes! Deal with it. Now get off my lawn!"
1. "Did I mention the ushers?"
Comments
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If you look at the structure of thought underlying the responses he clearly believes that the current ownership deserves a perennial pass, indeed deserves our unending gratitude because they saved baseball for Seattle. To him the fact that people don't feel that way says nothing about him, but everything about the unappreciative masses calling for his hide.
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"The Mariners will continue to do business in the exact same way, because we don't see anything wrong with it. We are meeting our internal goals. If we become competitive it will be due to luck and drafting success overcoming our inability to care about putting a good baseball product on the field. We certainly don't prioritize good baseball over good atmosphere."
With that being the case, we need one of two things: a new majority owner instead of Nintendo, or to trip over the right mix of manager, free agents, and draft gold that will make us competitive even with management that has winning a pennant as #7 on their priority list.
It's obviously behind a fun family night at the ballpark, taut animated hydroplane races, depleting the garlic supplies of Paraguay to top our fries, telling everyone what a great park we have and what a great city Seattle is, employing an army of habadashers to keep Dave's dapper lids flowing, and mowing the grass into pretty designs for Fan Appreciation Days evermore, to thank them for coming out to watch yet more fourth-place finishes.
But with that being the case, Zduriencik can stay as long as he wants. He and Mac draft a lot of good players, so at some point you'd hope that tips over into winning right? At least Z has one skill. Howard and Chuck don't have any in the baseball arena, and the odds of them finding another GM with their own level of baseball talent, as Bavasi had, are probably higher than them finding someone who can surpass Jack's one skill.
~G
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And this is why I tend to think Lincoln 'loves' GMZ. He can foresee a steady pipeline of cheap. but good, minor league talent coming through the system, which will keep his ongoing payrolls low, thus making even more money. When the player gets too expensive to keep hopefully there will be another one in the pipeline to take over (i.e. Smoak vs DJ Peterson in a couple of years, for example), thus allowing them to let the now-expensive player go.
If we can just 'stay the course' until we get the winning started and the pipeline primed, that is.
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"The course? The course? Of course we should stay the course. Courses are made to be stayed. A horse is a horse, of course, of course, and no one can talk to a horse, of course, that is, of course, unless that horse is the famous Mr. Ed. I am Mr. Ed."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ldRj1hHX8g
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We have become VERY jaded as a fandom...
I want the mariners to win just as badly as the next guy, and my impression of Howard Lincoln was very very low to begin with, but that article made my feelings for Lincoln improve, NOT dwindle!
All the above quips seem to me to be cherry picked and read into... Clearly the main thrust of the entire interview is that Lincoln is disappointed, suprised and humbled by the disaster that was this last year. He clearly says that the goal of the franchise is to have a winning baseball team. What more do you want to see from him? Did you want to see him in sac cloth, maybe slit is own wrists or flog himself with a cat-o-nine tails?
This interview showed more emotion and candor than you would ever see from the CEO of the company I work for, that's for sure!
To address some of the specific claims...
The Mariners only care about keeping a team in Seattle, and Hydro races. Winning would be a pleasent suprise...
What is that next step?
They have to win. They’ve got to win.
Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/mariners/2013/10/01/sitdown-interview-wit...
How is that not clear enough, that he expects winning?
"We're really good at everything except for that whole 'baseball' part ... but who's counting?"...
I have never understood this arguement... Why is it a BAD thing that the Mariners have a nice stadium and provide good entertainment at their baseball games? Clearly the Mariners want to be winning as well, but why is it bad that while trying hard to win They ALSO try hard at everything else involved in putting on a baseball game? I am a big OSU Beavers fan, and even while winning all half the fan base can talk about is, "when are we ever going to finish the stadium", complaining about your home town team putting large resources and effort into all the aspects of being a baseball team (and not just baseball players), has always just seemed strange to me and counter productive...
While the execution may be poor, they also clearly have a plan. The SAME EXACT PLAN as most of the folks here by the way. Build up a nice young core and supplement with wise free agent signings...
Bottom line of that interview is that Lincoln is just as frustrated as we are, he was EXPECTING a winning season this year!
Where do things like this: "We certainly don't prioritize good baseball over good atmosphere." even come from? Do we actually think that only having regular fries instead of garlic fries would have convinced Josh Hamilton to take our money instead of the Angels??? Where does that seintiement come from? just because Lincoln points out that we have a nice stadium?
"Pujols and Hamilton could be tied for the batting championship next year, you just don’t know." [no, wait, he did say that]
I actually think that both of these guys have a fine chance of rebounding to be good players, maybe notthe players they were at their peak, but good players, probably better than
Clearly Lincoln is feeling annoyed and cursed and dogged... much like the rest of the fan base, and yes he falls back on the tried and true human reaction when painted into a corner he lashes out a bit and trys to remind everyone of all the good he has done (I mean He and Nintendo and co, really DID save baseball in Seattle...) which is galling to most fans, and I grimaced when I read that part too. To be fair though, he said a lot of that as the setup to say that he has now FAILED, and is huumbled by that. And he is certainly a rich man and has rich man problems, but in the end I wa encouraged by his level of emotion and his desire to see the Mariners WIN, not just make money or provided "A good family experince", for me this was the money quote:
And this has been a humbling experience for me. In the first two years that I was CEO we went to the American League Championship and we’ve had other winning seasons. But these last few years have been a very humbling experience. And I know that my legacy is going to be determined by how this team ultimately comes out under my leadership. And I am determined to get this thing turned around.
Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/mariners/2013/10/01/sitdown-interview-wit...
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Can say that and be lauded and it is the right way to build a team, but then Lincoln says it and he is being a cheap, shrewd business executive who only wants to make money and doesn't care about winning baseball games?'
Lincoln clearly said that the plan was to build a good young core and then supplement that with *wise* free agent additions. I guess you could read that word "wise" as cheap...
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"Get off my lawn".
"Release the hounds".
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As a 'wise' free agent addition. Wise = absolutely no downside followed by earth-shattering performance.
Or maybe he's talking about Ichiro's initial contract of $10m/year for three years to acquire the clearly best player in Japanese history entering his physical prime.
Imagine this scenario, if you will: Two boxers are preparing for their fourth contest, with the first three having been narrow, hard-fought, somewhat controversial losses for Boxer A. Boxer B, having parlayed the earlier victories against A into a very lucrative run at the top of the boxing world, spends his time dabbling in local politics and singing (badly) for his adoring fans on afternoon television.
But Boxer A, who is six years older than B and knows his window of opportunity for revenge is closing fast, spends his life in the gym staving off the ravages of Father Time the best he can. He sleeps with pictures of B hanging over his bed so he's the first and last image A sees on a daily basis, further fueling his drive to outwork his longtime rival and put the right ending on their saga.
Want to know how this plays out? Google Pacquiao/Marquez 4 if you didn't see it already. You know what makes this particular metaphor even more damning? Pacquiao only stepped in against one man that night, while the M's compete with 29 other teams..
I expect a similar result to the one Pacquiao provided that night.
Bonus Style Points Award: Manny spoke of providing 'a good show for the fans' far more often than of desiring victory in ANY capacity. Sound familiar?
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double post
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There is a lot to be disappointed with as an Ms fan right now. And while I'm no fan of Lincoln, I too had more positive thoughts toward him after the interview(s). I wish the Ms would spend more money. But in the absence of that, I'm at least relieved they found a GM who knows what he's doing in the draft.
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is when we stepped up and signed Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre for good money. Don't know about any of you but I was pretty excited (shocked) when that happened.
Our team has been so bad for so long that those kind of signings wouldn't have made much difference until 2013 really. It sounds like there were tepid attempts here and there the past couple years. I don't believe the organization has done nearly enough overall the past decade, but now that we don't have black holes everywhere maybe they will step up again and surprise us like they did with Beltre.
A new owner dedicated to winning would be wonderful, but at least we are set up to be dangerous in the meantime. Lots of young talent and plenty of money to spend if they feel like it. Time for a nice little surprise under the tree for M's fans this year.
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Best friend from early childhood is a lawyer. What I have learned from him about his profession is that ANY good lawyer, as Lincoln must be, is:
Driven
Focused
Intelligent
COMPETETIVE!
Perhaps, with Yamauchi's passing, Lincoln will take the fate Of the team more personally, as ANY lawyer would regard their reputation in legal circles.
Many malign doctors, lawyers, politicians and executives today, but, with few exceptions, there are very good reasons that these people are where they are.
This is not to say others are not working as hard and thus do not deserve as much wealth and success. However, I would not be so quick to question a man like Lincoln's seemingly sincere sentiments.
I am encouraged, actually, that Lincoln seems determined to prove himself in MLB, as he did in legal.
Lawyers are, perhaps contrary to popular opinion, largely ethical, wildly driven, and mecilesly competetive individuals. Lincoln may not be a baseball man, but I think he can be trusted to give everything he has to this organization as a representation of himself. That interview, to me, did not come across as though his main concern was the annual profit margin.
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Incredibly Telling to me that Lincoln is talking about legacy. Every highly successful person I know, once the dollars earned go past a certain amount (amazingly low threshold actually) starts talking about legacy and reputation rather than financial well being. If he has attached his LEGACY to Mariners baseball being successful, ie winning (since even with all the fan friendly environs and fiscal well being, he is still "humbled" and "extremely disappointed") then he will move heaven and earth to achieve that or die (literally) trying...
Before I always questioned Lincoln's motives, I also wondered how much he really cared. Now I still question his baseball acumen, I still wonder if he has the actual skill set, youth, luck, etc. to lead the mariners to victory, but my worry about will and desire is seriously abated by this interview.
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I'm actually more optimistic than almost anyone, and I'm usually willing to dig through the dreck to find the pony, too.
But you don't have to be jaded to find humor in absurdly clumsy things like:
-- "if you separate out the baseball, we're actually really good"
--"I understand where the fans are coming from because all my fishing buddies on our trip to Alaska were giving me grief (but not too much grief because they all love me)"
--"people know it's not my fault because they understand how important I am to the community"
--"I can't be held accountable because Nintendo loves me too much"
--"we don't care if we make money or not"
I got no problem with people finding hopeful stuff in there, I just thought it was a PR person's nightmare, and seemed like it was scripted by writers from The Office.
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Dude stepped in it multiple times, trying to fix his "hot seat" mistake of before, he just made it worse. And I agree with Daddy-o that they seem a little clueless. How can teh PR dept of the Mariners NOT know that a large portion of the audience is sick of hear about what a nice ball park we have...
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Seriously. Was he drunk or something? Even if he really does think that way, he has to know it sounds awful to say those things out loud. Right? It really reads like something out of The Onion.
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I really did like those two signs at the time (although I preferred Glaus to Sexson quite a bit, and he ended up costing less) and they were fairly intelligent decisions, all told.
Sexson collapsed earlier than anyone could have predicted, which was a shame because he truly did transcend Safeco during his first year and did exactly what he'd done elsewhere while in an M's uni...at least, for that first year.
Beltre actually managed to earn his contract by being, quite literally, the exact same player he'd been prior to his monstrous, breakout, 48 homer walk year in LA. I just wish he could have been left-handed...if he were, this would be Beltre's Town. Felix, who?"
Ok, thanks for the level-headed reply. I am just literally so sick of this FO's top floor that I could puke... They are one Felix injury away from NOBODY showing up to the park on a regular basis.