The Seattle Mariners 2015 was nothing short of a disappointment, and the team has now relieved General Manager Jack Zduriencik of duty according to their official MLB website. The move is not a big surprise as the team was having a disappointing campaign and seemed to be poised to change direction. Zduriencik was hired by the Mariners after the 2008 season from the Milwaukee Brewers, where he had a number of roles in the front office in scouting and personnel.
The Mariners are 12th (as of April 1) for MLB team payroll at $128M and were expected to contend in the American League West with defending champion Los Angeles Angels and perennial playoff contender Oakland Athletics. Instead, they come into Friday ten games under .500 (59-69) with the worst run differential in the American League (-93 runs) and 12 games out of first place (7 games out of the Wild Card with 8 teams ahead of them for the last spot).
The Mariners have made two high-profile signings the past two offseasons, luring former New York Yankees 2B Robinson Cano (10 years, $240M) and former Baltimore Orioles OF/DH Nelson Cruz (4 years, $57M) to big free agent deals. Cano has been a bit of a disappointment with just 28 HR in nearly two seasons (he did finish fifth in AL MVP voting in 2014). Cruz has delivered as advertised and is the current Major League Baseball leader with 39 HR with a month still to play.
The Mariners have not made the playoffs since 2001, when they won a franchise-record 116 games but fell short of winning the American League Pennant, which has alluded them since franchise inception in 1977.
Assistant GM Jeff Kingston will assume GM responsibilities for remainder of the 2015 season. The team will conduct a search this offseason for a full-time replacement. The Mariners might have missed out on the biggest name in the GM market, Dave Dombrowski, who was let go by the Detroit Tigers on August 5 but was snapped up by the Boston Red Sox two weeks later in a front office role.