Don Wakamatsu

[metirish]

Lennon has him as the strongest external candidate . I confess to knowing nothing about him , never heard of the man until he became the Seattle manager. Had a great first season, a 24 game improvement but things turned pear shaped quickly in 2010, what happened there with that?

Fred Claire who writes for mlb said this about him

"It is the relationships that Wakamatsu has built during his time in baseball that defines him best. He was somewhat of an unknown to the public when he was hired as the Mariners' manager last November, but he is well-known and highly respected within the game."

The ultimate insider?

[HahnSolo]

I thought he "lost the team" as they say in the industry with the Mariners. That and he tried to fight Chone Figgins in the dugout earlier this year.

Oh, and should add, if "exciting the fan base" is something they're looking to accomplish with their hire, this won't do it.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

"He gets cripplingly shy when he's talking to somebody that's NOT wearing officially-licensed MLB team gear... but he knows a LOT of secret handshakes."

He pulled Figgins from a game around midseason for failing to back up a throw; it ended up becoming a thing the next half-inning, IIRC, with a couple of other players jumping in between them.

[metirish]

There some thought too that bringing back Griffey messed things up but he was there for the 09 season so that doesn't seem to hold water, he had a fight with him too though right?

Being Asian I'm assuming he's into kung fu and shit like that.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Obviously.

There was that bit early last year about Griffey napping... then he ended up retiring. Weird stuff going on in Nintendoland.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think they over-invested in Kenji Johjima, among other bad moves, and he was holding the bag.

[Centerfield]

This is obviously just a PR stunt to entice Tak to stick around.

[TransMonk]