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Wedge's Contract - Things Look Different from the Inside, Bro'
Zduriencik charged with cowardice?
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Q. Wow. Lot of excitement today over the fate of a manager who is 207 and 263 with the M's!
A. This article warns us that if Eric Wedge is dismissed, it will represent an act of extreme cowardice on Jack Zduriencik's part -- and one that will hurt the franchise. It also scoffs at the (presumed) trigger for this decision -- getting pole-axed by the Houston Astros.
This article is no small hit piece. If you're going to put an op-ed like that up, you should be ready to own it, no? If you're going to call into question a man's integrity, without knowing much about him, let's at least get two sides of the discussion going.
This article, on the other end of the spectrum, warns us that Eric Wedge has well-and-truly earned his dismissal. It also scoffs at the idea that any manager would survive a showing like the one the Mariners are putting in right now.
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Q. Who's right?
A. One of the things I'll miss most about Geoff Baker: he never represented himself as knowing anything that he didn't know. He simply told you what he saw, from inside the locker room, and you could take it from there.
It's tough to guess at the processes that go on behind closed doors. How should we put it...
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I remember, in the 1970's, the music critics scoffing at Tom Scholz, complaining that "there wasn't a single original musical idea on the first Boston album." The problem is that most music critics aren't musicians, but they love to represent themselves as the professors -- of a class that is populated by great composers.
A few years ago, one of those reviewers was in an introspective mood. He was going over Smells Like Teen Spirit, and of course Kurt Cobain is the poster boy for originality at Rolling Stone magazine. It suddenly hit him that Teen Spirit sounds an awful lot like More Than A Feeling -- which itself was mercilessly crucified as a ripoff of Louie Louie.
The reviewer tried to explain why the songs sounded alike to him. He was left with, "Listen to the chorus. It's right there. You can't miss it."
The reviewer was unable to explain a process that is first principles to any composer: that both songs use variations of the I - iv - VI - V chord progression. It's a 1950's-style use of four chords in symmetrical tempo, creating a swing feel, and it's been done thousands of times, as all chord progressions have.
The reviewer excoriated Scholz for his use of the template, and extolled Cobain for doing exactly the same thing. Real composers are pained by these reviews, by "critics" who are both insufferably condescending and hopelessly uneducated.
Nevermind was no more original than Boston I, but a critic wouldn't be in a position to know that.
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Q. What's going on behind closed doors?
A. The top level of a skyscraper looks a lot different from the street, than it does from behind the PowerPoint projector in the conference room. You can guess all you want about how execs work, but if you haven't been there, your guesses are going to be wrong.
We're not saying that to be snarky. That is the crux of the issue here. If you're going to try to analyze Jack Zduriencik's thought processes, you need to be fair to him in doing so. That requires some experience in the boardrooms of big companies.
Honestly, gentlemen, high-level execs behave in a way that is different from what you would guess from the street. We are not talking about exchanging e-mails with executives. We are talking about scheduling a conference room, shutting the door with 4th- and 5th-levels around the table, and figuring out how to rescue the company from a $300 million IRS audit. If you haven't done that, you don't get Jack Zduriencik. Not so as to represent yourself as knowing how he thinks.
Criticize Zduriencik's results all you like. But to comment on what's in his heart? That's another matter. It's what I love about Geoff Baker. With far more access to Zduriencik than bloggers have, Baker says far less about what motivates Zduriencik.
Not to put too fine a point on it, Dr. D in fact has thrown hands with execs in conference rooms. So has Bat571. Mt. Grizzly, I think. A few other guys. But without that experience, you're liable to radically misunderstand Jack Zduriencik.
I'm not going to guess at what motived Admiral Hyman Rickover. But if Bat571 wants to give me his educated guess, I'll hear him out. He was there.
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NEXT
Comments
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Based on my exposure to the man over his entire tenure, he does his best so far as circumstance allows to be a man of integrity and fairness, more so than many in his profession. I don't see how anyone could conclude otherwise from his conduct on the job. I have increasing concerns about his level of competence in the sum total of his job (which is much bigger than anything he had done before), but never any concerns about his heart for the job, his competitive juices, and his motives for doing whatever he has done. Quite the opposite. He is an upstanding man and citizen. He has faced enourmous challenges, and so far he has not been up to them in as timely a fashion as I would have liked to see. How much of that is him, how much of that is the circumstances imposed on him by history and by his leash-holders is impossible to say for sure at this point. If he does end up being dismissed, whether this offseason or next year, my attitude towards him will be one of tremendous respect for what he did bring to the table and disappointment if it turns out in fact that it wasn't enough.
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:- O
Love the smile on Cobain's face. Knowing him, he pinched Teen Spirit off the Boston album and thought it was funny to let everybody know that?
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Agree totally - Zduriencik seems to be a classy man.
After five years, you have to question his ability to deliver results, whether you want to or not.
If it utlimately turned out that he was just snakebit as a Seattle GM, that would be a shame. Sometimes you do everything right, and it just doesn't work out. Maybe there's a juju doll in the Caribbean somewhere.
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I constantly tell my employees that they really only see the tip of the iceberg and that they shouldn't try to guess at what's under the water line. I get to see 30' under that water line, sometimes more if my expertise is needed for a big decision but there is a LOT more to this berg than even I have visibility to on a day in, day out basis.
As far as Zduriencik and Wedge goes, we really have no idea what is going on. We do know that Wedge is under doctors orders to calm down and he does look somewhat disengaged in the dugout. We also know that the team is playing listless. We don't know if Wedge has decided that he can't manage without that burning intensity and told the club. We don't know if Zduriencik has come to the same conclusion independently. We dont known if LincStrong is making the decision to give Wedge the ax. We don't know how the team is treating Wedge in the clubhouse. Are they treating him like most people treat a recently recovered family member that nearly died by walking on egg shells? We don't know any of that. But Zduriencik knows all of that and more.
I have trouble thinking that this is some kind of scapegoating, at least on the part of Zduriencik. He is going to have a heck of a time finding a replacement for all the reasons that Cameron lists. They pretty much have to stay in house and keep most of the other coaches. Is there really a material difference between Wedge and Thompson? Wedge and Brown? Maybe Simmons would step in. But the pool is going to be thin and Jack knows it. Scapegoat? Maybe but not for certain
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I was only in meetings with him a few times. But I will say that a difference was drawn ALWAYS between the guys that were trying their best, and those that had given up, when deciding how a change would be made. With those that were trying, but had proved unable to get the required results, much thought and effort went into their fate as well as to choosing the future leader being promoted. Talent was not wasted, but was regularly adjusted. More like the discussion of Maurer's future role than the discussion of Wedge and JackZ.
In no other walk of life but sports is failure so public -- your wife and mother get invited to the press conference announcing your failure. I don't blame Griffey for leaving the way he did - I blame the FO for putting everyone in the position so that it ended that way. But with the Ms, it was inevitable.
Same with Fusco. In today's world, no lawyer would advise keeping someone that contributed to that kind of error in public relations. Otherwise the organization is still "harboring" the impure. Forgiveness is not a part of our legal system. Someone must be held accountable! In an organization run by lawyers you cannot expect anyone to stand up and defend a faulty process or judgement. If JackZ tried (which I would guess that he did), he got told what to do.
I expect the same thing with Patrick Guerrero and Bob Engle - Engle was told to fire Guerrero for whatever reason and refused, so he went, too. Otherwise a regulator could consider it condoning the offense. But, the Ms aren't dealing with the SEC. No matter.
Is this scapegoating? I don't really think so, and certainly not by JackZ. We have created in our post-Watergate world an intolerance for malfeasance in public life. However, we show little regard for the difference between the public and private, or the difference between errors of judgement and errors of integrity. But the media thrives on it and the lawyers and PR experts (and whatever other experts A-Rod has working for him) thrive as well. We have made this world...
I hope there is a way out of this mess without succumbing to the type of analysis the USSM article represents to me. Vilifying someone's integrity and reputation is lousy. While we need not be happy with all of the outcomes in an organization, be it the Mariners, Boeing, or Congress, to still differentiate those who are really trying and those who are trying to substitute clamor for substance.
Wedge has not succeeded. If he is replaced, I hope the best for him in the future. We should harbor no ill will; it simply didn't work. I personally believe that JackZ has not yet failed, that there is more time required (and desired) to see how his handiwork proves out. But it would not be amiss to say the direction of the Ms, as a whole, has been negative, particularly since Lincoln took over in 2000. In fact, the franchise has gotten healthier fiscally while attendance and on-field success has steadily declined since 2001. Is the fault JackZ's or is it higher up? The fact that the long on-field nightmare seems to be on the verge of ending, mainly because of JackZ's and TomMac's eyes for talent, seems to me to point the finger in the right direction, even if Lou hadn't already pointed it.
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Great way to put it. Along those lines - if the "scapegoated" folks were really great, it is doubtful that they would have been let go. If Fusco was responsible for Lueke but the M's loved Fusco, they would have found a way to help him weather the storm...knock him down a peg but keep him in the fold for redemption. Similarly I have not seen any other teams snapping up Wak's managerial services (...just googled it and he's a scout for the Yankees now!)
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The spinning and knitting of yarns. Meant to stir up controversy. Fabricated Soap Opera at its finest.
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Do you want Endy Chavez and Brendon Ryan or Raul Ibanez and Mike Morse? It's sort of like asking if you want the hammer or the nail. What kind of stop gap do you prefer? Jack played both sides, probably to make everyone happy. Next year is a new day. Get over it.