I could find no official transcript of the press conference but luckily for me DMZ at USSMariner did his best to transcribe what he could. So that's where i will be pulling my quotes from. "L" denotes Howard Lincoln and "A" denotes Chuck Armstrong.
It is interesting to note that for most of the season upper management has been publicly backing Bavasi and said he was doing a "good job" despite the fact he obviously was not.
When asked something along the lines of "How is this ship going to right itself?" Howard responds
L: I’m sure our players and coaches will get going and get this thing turned around. New approach, new thoughts, new direction. But we’re all responsible. Players, coaches, managers, all of us.
This is what bothers me about Lincoln and Armstrong. There is no mention that He or Chuck Armstrong are responsible. He says "all of us" but still leaves the responsibility squarely on the players and managers. Pass that buck, Howie.
When asked about he fact that he was a part of he decisions that led to this happening, Amrstrong passes the buck again.
A: We’ve been improving every year since 2004, seemed to me we were doing great, didn’t want to change horses in midstream. All of us, and all of you, recognized that we made some great moves, thought we’d get even better.
First off improving every year after nearly losing 100 games is not hard.
Second what great moves did "we" all recognize and in doing so think we would get better? If the FO really believes many of Bavasi's moves made us better, then they are horribly out of touch with reality.
These beliefs without any given evidence to back them up is what scares the crap out of me. Hiring a new general manger shouldn't hinge on some antiquated belief system lacking any kind of supporting evidence, i.e. "He's been around baseball for a long time so he must know what makes a good team."
When asked about John McLaren's job security...
L: John’s our manager. I’m not in the mood to sing the praises of anyone right now. I expect John and the players to get going and turn this thing around, and if that doesn’t happen, further changes.
"...John and the players to turn it around."? How do they expect this to happen, exactly? The no-talent bums with over sized contracts prior to BB's firing are still the same no talent bums wit over-sized contracts post-firing.
Richie Sexson, open stance and all, won't suddenly become the Richie Sexson of 2004-2005 era and magically recover his long lost bat-speed.
No firing will me cringe any less when Jarrod Washburn comes back out for the 6th after 95 pitches thrown This is because nothing has changed, he won't all of sudden be able to go deeper into ball games, and also not suck. Tremendously.
Q: You said Bill was awesome
A: Things got worse (he’s mad about this question)
Q: Where are you going to get names?
A: I know a lot of people in baseball, I’ll talk to the commish, come up with a list of names. It’ll be hard to interview people.
Q: Do you have a mental list already?
A: Yes.
Q: Are you satisfied with the job Chuck is doing?
L: Yes. I’m not oblivious to the blogs. I’m not oblivious to the emails we receive. … my entire focus is getting this turned around, don’t take lightly, I believe in it, M’s are part of the community, fans deserve to see it get turned around, they’re as disappointed as I am. I serve at the pleasure of the 7-person board, Nintendo, pleasure of Nintendo as well. I’ve let the ownership group and Nintendo know that I bear ultimate responsibility, they appreciate that.
The statement that sent chill's down my spine? The comment of talking to the people he's known in baseball for his twenty-some-odd-years. This team doesn't need a mind steeped in the traditional, old, out dated ideas of Armstrong's long time friends in baseball. We had that, often, and it doesn't work. In fact, it's long crippled this team, and is posed to cripple this team in the future if that is the direction the organization takes.
This team needs new blood, new ways to look at things, fresh approaches to the problems the team faces. Throwing obscene amounts of money at crap-tastic free-agents is not sustainable means to build a winning team. The Mariners need to look at organizations like The Tampa Bay Rays or The Cleveland Indians as a guideline. But unlike those two teams the M's play in much larger market, and thus, have far more resources to put into the team. This gives them an advantage that, if done properly, to remain competitive while rebuilding.
The Man for the job, Chris Atonetti . The guy helped turn Cleveland into the team it is today after suffering through a stretch not too dissimilar from the '04-current stretch of M's suckitude. I, and many other far more educated people, believe his fresh take is exactly what he M's need.
Also Lincoln is aware of blogs? News to me. I had no idea he was aware of the series of tubes that is the interwebs. Nothing, from the way they interact with the fans, to the way they evaluate talent leads me to believe they are very techno savvy.
There's more genius stuff, but my keyboard is on the fritz ad it's becoming increasingly annoying to attempt to type. Go to USSMariner, to see what else Chuck and Howie had to say, then bang your head into a wall out of frustration. I'll attempt to post more on this late if I don't end up throwing my computer out the window.
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