Mariners fire Jack Z

[markedman5]

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 48s49 seconds ago

#Mariners announce that they have fired Jack Zduriencik as GM. Assistant GM Jeff Kingston takes over for rest of season.

[patrickgpe]

cue rumors of Montgomery as the GM, and Jack Z returning as scouting director.

[3and2Fastball]

interesting development. I suppose Jay Z is now, once again, the real "JZ"

[pogokat]

It is certainly interesting to have his name on the market at the same time the Brewers are looking for a new guy. It's hard to want to replace Montgomery at this point though---even so he can move up---what little we've seen of him has been really good. I'd really like to se him remain in his current role for a few years. I think if Jack Z was brought on, I'd hope it was in a Gord Ash type role...but I'd also hate for Mark A. to be hiring side players before he hired a GM.

 

I don't think Jack Z didn't an even half decent job as GM in Seattle, so I don't want him for that position in MKE.

[paul253]

We developed little if anything in the way of pitching under Jack Z. Considering we've begun to see a nice little turnaround I'll say thanks but no thanks to Jack Z.

[jerichoholicninja]

Surprised it took this long for him to get fired. He's been pretty terrible his whole tenure. Having said that, please keep him as far away from Milwaukee as possible. The organization needs need people with new ideas. While Z may have done some good things for Milwaukee it ultimately didn't really go anywhere. It's time for a new approach.

[DocLuna7]

Yeah, I am for passing on Jack Z's return trip to Milwaukee. I guess if they want to give him a job in the scouting department I would be ok with that, but not replacing Montgomery or as the next GM.

[pacopete4]

If we hired him it cannot be in the GM role. Scouting, fine. But no to the GM role. No way.

[reillymcshane]

Surprised it took this long for him to get fired. He's been pretty terrible his whole tenure. Having said that, please keep him as far away from Milwaukee as possible. The organization needs need people with new ideas. While Z may have done some good things for Milwaukee it ultimately didn't really go anywhere. It's time for a new approach.

This is pretty much spot on. I was surprised at how poorly Jack Z did in Seattle. I thought he had the chops to succeed. Ownership gave him a long leash. I appreciate what he did do while in Milwaukee, but it's time to move on.

[owbc]

Good riddance. After that Seattle Times piece, he should have been fired the next day. Instead, he was given another two years to completely cripple the franchise.

[MrTPlush]

Jack Z is so overrated. He wasn't a good scouting director and he wasn't a good GM.

 

I would rather have Doug Melvin as GM. At least he could get a team to the playoffs...Jack Z didn't do squat in 8 years and the only thing to his name is good drafts for the Brewers who were picking early every year.

[Thurston Fluff]

So much for the new Billy Beane. Classic example of the Peter Principal in action.

[logan82]

I thought I heard Jack Z. was not real big on metrics.

[Thurston Fluff]

It was in reference to a thread on here a few years back asking if he was the new Billy Beane.

[DocLuna7]

Good riddance. After that Seattle Times piece, he should have been fired the next day. Instead, he was given another two years to completely cripple the franchise.

 

I must have missed that piece. Do you have a link to that?

[1992casey]

I think it's probably this one, published on Pearl Harbor Day in 2013:

 

Dysfunction at the top: Eric Wedge, others point to trouble in Mariners’ front office

[xisxisxis]

The brewers farm system was highly ranked for many of the years that Jack Z's draftees were in the system. After he left, his replacement was abysmal and the system bottomed to the point it has been ranked near the bottom for several years. He took a poor farm system and made it one of the top 10-15 and left the brewers better off than when he joined. JZ did a good job while he was with Milwaukee. Period.

 

He was abysmal as a GM for Seattle and may not have left them better off after he left than before he came. From the dysfunctional front office to poor decision making on the major league roster (think Dean Taylor II the revenge of the nearsighted....). The AL West has 2 very pitcher friendly parks where you should be looking for high OBP line drive hitters with gap power who are plus defenders and maximize your pitching. Like Proller is finding with SD, no matter how many bats you add you cant overcome a strong pitchers park. The steroids era is over and pitching dominates and as others have pointed out, JZ isn't very good at identifying pitching.

 

Would I want him back now? nope. Some people really want to be the boss even though they don't have the DNA to do the job and the self-awareness to know what they are good at. JZ wanted the GM gig so bad even though he didn't really have what it takes and now he's probably done with baseball or he will have to take a job several steps lower (even lower than scouting director). Too bad because from all indications he was/is a nice guy.

[molitor fan]

Wow, that article is scathing, had not seen that before...Tony Blengino is now writing for fangraphs.

[TauPentaRei]

Thanks for that Xis. Completely agree.

 

 

The old adage is "promote someone to their highest level of incompetence"

 

That is usually coupled with "fake it til you make it"

 

 

I wish he was still in the Brewers organization doing what he had always been doing, but with the Fielder / Braun / weeks / Hart halo, I can see why people thought he deserved a shot.

 

More of a management lesson and a mystery as to why the Cardinals can keep their people in place...

[Nottso]

I think it's probably this one, published on Pearl Harbor Day in 2013:

 

Dysfunction at the top: Eric Wedge, others point to trouble in Mariners’ front office

 

Holy Guacamole, I'm not sure "scathing" is a strong enough adjective for that. I'm admittedly not nearly as baseball savvy as most of you, and I tend to buck the trends, at least internally. For instance, I really rooted for Yuni B, just because he was so horribly hated. Or the fact that I was watching Seattle circle the drain with a bit of satisfaction just because Jack Z was elevated to nearly "Scouting Jesus" status in so many circles (I'm not proud of it). I was already pretty sure that I didn't want any part of Jack Z back in Milwaukee, but this article really cements it. After reading this, if he comes back here, I may just lose what's left of my mind. It makes the dent in my head hurt.

[logan82]

Good riddance. After that Seattle Times piece, he should have been fired the next day. Instead, he was given another two years to completely cripple the franchise.

Honestly it sounds like he was a corporate yes man so I bet the owners loved him. I got the impression it is an ownership problem.

[jerichoholicninja]

Good riddance. After that Seattle Times piece, he should have been fired the next day. Instead, he was given another two years to completely cripple the franchise.

Honestly it sounds like he was a corporate yes man so I bet the owners loved him. I got the impression it is an ownership problem.

 

That's what I got from it too. Jack was just doing the bidding of his corporate overlords. That's exactly what they wanted so he got rewarded for it.

[Thurston Fluff]

Good riddance. After that Seattle Times piece, he should have been fired the next day. Instead, he was given another two years to completely cripple the franchise.

Honestly it sounds like he was a corporate yes man so I bet the owners loved him. I got the impression it is an ownership problem.

 

it does look that way but that does not mean Jack Z. is blameless. He either agreed to be a yes man ahead of time or failed to stand up to them when it became apparent that was what the owners wanted. Either way it is not a good reflection on him.

[logan82]

Not saying it isn't his fault. I'm saying he didn't get fired because he was doing what management wanted.

[LouisEly]

Good riddance. After that Seattle Times piece, he should have been fired the next day. Instead, he was given another two years to completely cripple the franchise.

Honestly it sounds like he was a corporate yes man so I bet the owners loved him. I got the impression it is an ownership problem.

Oh, there is an ownership problem. But then there is this too:

 

Blengino, who was working for the Milwaukee Brewers with Zduriencik at the time, said he authored virtually the entire job application package Zduriencik gave the Mariners in 2008, depicting a dual-threat candidate melding traditional scouting with advanced statistical analysis.

 

Blengino said he prepared the package because he was versed in the hot trend of using advanced stats for team decisions.

 

“Jack portrayed himself as a scouting/stats hybrid because that’s what he needed to get the job,” Blengino said. “But Jack never has understood one iota about statistical analysis. To this day, he evaluates hitters by homers, RBI and batting average and pitchers by wins and ERA. Statistical analysis was foreign to him. But he knew he needed it to get in the door.”

 

And this:

 

Blengino said Zduriencik became obsessed with power hitters, ignoring defense, baserunning and roster construction. He said the GM also dismissed the importance of evaluating players within the context of their contract values.

 

Zduriencik then made him “look like an ass” in front of baseball operations brass in spring training 2012 after Blengino gave a presentation on possible benefits from advances in computerized hitting data.

 

“He nitpicked about font sizes and column widths,” Blengino said. “He did what he always does and made fun of something he couldn’t understand.”

 

Kind of helps understand how the Brewers got to where they are/were - free-swinging HR hitters with below-average defense.