M’s to make announcement
Dave · July 1, 2007 at 9:48 am · Filed Under Mariners
The Mariners have called a press conference for 11:30 am to make a “major announcement”.
I don’t know what the news is, but here are my guesses.
60% – Ichiro extension
25% – Bavasi/Hargrove extensions
10% – Trade Announcement
5% – Free Ninento Wii for Derek
An extension for Ichiro would make my day.
Late Edit: Commenter ebcmc got this one right – according to Larry Stone (via Geoff Baker), Mike Hargrove is resigning as manager of the Mariners. Given the team’s recent performance, this is almost certainly not baseball related. While we’ve never been huge Mike Hargrove fans, we wish him all the best in his future, and hope that everything is okay with him and his family.
Just because people in Seattle like them doesn’t mean they are good choices.
BLASPHEMY! 😉
Buhner, Wilson, and Edgar could be brought in as a ‘triumverate’ bench coach crew.
This may be my fault. Team executives had to notice that there was, conspicuously, one fewer viewer for every game. Not to mention one fewer U.S.S. Mariner commenter. They had to be feeling the financial pressure of my boycott.
I do hope that everything is ok with Mike and his loved ones. I hope this is just what it is purported to be.
Also, re: never just burn out. That is very far from true. In fact, I’d say that sometimes other excuses are used when it actually IS just burn out. I’ve known many people in my life, in many different fields that hit that wall and walk away.
Even if it seems inexplicable (I’m crying over your autographed jersey, Barry Sanders) to people from the outside… I don’t think most can quite appreciate the pressure. And once you start not caring enough, it becomes an intolerable burden.
I wish him well.
Not to dredge up ancient history, but the Yanks back in ’78 went on to win the WS after Bob Lemon replaced Billy Martin mid-season. Sometimes, an in-season shake-up isn’t necessarily bad.
Get ‘er done, Johnny Mac!
judging from the Times blog, not just Japanese-speaking mind-readers …
Grover’s comments about the low lows and the calm duck that’s paddling furiously beneath the water make me think he might be depressive. Poor guy.
ESPN is talking to Hickey, who is not having any problems believing the ‘burn out’ story.
Miguel Batista interview on FSN right now and he doesn’t seem to believe the “burn out” is the entire story. He said that he is shocked. Obviously the team wasn’t given more information than the press got. I hope the team’s motivation doesn’t waver.
Holy crap, I flipped on the pre-game a few minutes ago to the one interview that I didn’t expect to see…. I hope all is well off the field for you Grover, and I wish you and yours the best going forward.
I don’t have any trouble believing the “burn-out” story either, but given the timing, I also suspect there’s more going on here. My guess is that if it was strictly about burn-out he would have waited until the end of the season (like Leyland has done). It’s very unusual for a manager or coach to resign in the middle of a winning streak. My concern is that there is a family illness or other problem; he’s looked weighed-down to me for some time, like something is really eating at him. If it’s a personal matter like that, the rest of us don’t have a right to know. The other obvious possibility is that there’s behind-the-scenes conflict in the front office, although again I think he would have waited until after the season in that case. I think we should just wish him and his family well.
Batista didn’t seem to think it was a move by upper management, though, just that there were a lot of layers to managing a team that can wear on a manager
Sharon Hargrove had an emotional interview, attesting to the pull of family and home
as he did in Baltimore– though in that case he was fired before he might have left on his own …
Buster Olney had similar sentiments to Hickey — he said people he talked to said months ago that Hargrove just didn’t seem to have the same passion and fire as he has had in the past.
This is really a no-lose situation for Hargrove. Team keeps winning, he gets some of the credit. Team loses, he looks better.
Well, not entirely a no-lose, since he’s losing his salary for the rest of the year.
Hargrove doesn’t need money.
and he is going to get paid as ‘a consultant’ …
My guess is he gets paid just the same. He’s only under contract through the rest of the year.
He may not need the money but a million bucks is still a million bucks.
Why would the M’s continue to pay him his full salary when he walks out on the team? I can’t believe they’d do that.
Just because they say he’ll continue to be a special assistant doesn’t mean they pay him the full amount for that.
Not a good idea trying to run on Guillen, especially a guy as slow as Stairs.
162: The front-office conflict factor would lend itself to the “burn-out” theory. Between Baltimore and here, Grover may grown tired of trying to rebuild ball clubs — and figured that once he’d gotten the team reasonably back on its feet, it was as good a time as any to get out.
This is probably part burn-out, part wanting to leave on his own terms, and part something else. It’s possible Hargrove is struggling with some personal issue, like depression – the comment about the “highs not being high enough and the lows being too low” sounds like a hint at something like that.
I have not hesitated to praise the guys that run this site, but I must also add props to the many posters who put up some insightful comments.
Well, ebcmc goes beyond that, and gets a big high five because he, or could he be a she, has reliable sources….way to go.
Like others, I find the timing very odd. This is the best the M’s have played during his entire tenure as manager, and now he quits….it does not make sense. I have to also wonder if there isn’t
something going on within his family that needs his attention….for example Andy Reid of the Eagles. I may not have liked him as manager, but I hope everything is ok with his family.
It’s the end of a long, winning homestand — why not go out on top? I’m shocked, but can believe what I’m hearing. If he resigns when the M’s are on a losing streak, it’ll look like he’s just a quitter, and/or a victim of a power struggle. If he quits when the M’s are at the top of their game, he can avoid those criticisms a bit more gracefully. I was not a Grover fan, but I wish him well and think I’ll actually respect his walking away sooner rather later if his burnout is real (and maybe even wonder why management didn’t sense it and decline to bring him back this year — it’s not like he impressed anyone last year).
Meanwhile, Weaver continue to impress with five shutout innings. Should we be more surprised by this than the Hargrove decision?
“Buhner, Wilson, and Edgar could be brought in as a ‘triumverate’ bench coach crew.”
Sigh.
“Buhner, Wilson, and Edgar could be brought in as a ‘triumverate’ bench coach crew.â€
If Wilson is Lepidus, who is Octavian and who is Antony?
Hoping McLaren does well…I love small ball.
But…What ever happened to Tom Kelly?
Wow, Hargrove is broken up. I’m leaning towards a personal choice now.