Mariners’ Broken Hiring Process Could Cost Them Bobby Valentine

by Seth Kolloen on October 14, 2010

Winning Smile=Winning Ballclub!

If you think of the “Hat Trick” as a revolutionary development in entertainment, you will love the Mariners’ manager search.

When the Seahawks needed a new on-field leader, they identified the best possible candidate, offered him truckloads of money, and secured his services stealthily. The NFL rule requiring they interview a minority candidate? The Seahawks basically ignored it.

The Mariners’ manager search, by contrast, shows the same lack of imagination evident in the franchise’s between-innings entertainment choices.

Despite the availability of Bobby Valentine, far and away the most talented manager on the job market, the Mariners are plodding along with their traditional interview process. First round of interviews is this week, with Valentine coming to town along with four inferior candidates.

You may ask me: Seth, why is Bobby Valentine far and away the best candidate for Mariners manager? And I will answer you simply: “Because he got a team to the World Series with an outfield of Benny Agbayani, Jay Payton, and Timo Perez.”

If Valentine were a political candidate, this would be my “It’s the Economy, Stupid.”

Like any sound bite, it’s flimsy evidence. But if you followed the Mets in those years (I was living in New York at the time, and had season tickets), you saw Valentine’s genius on display every night. Valentine arranged the meager pieces on his chess board in amazing ways.

Valentine deployed 118 different batting lineups in 2000.

He pinch hit 249 times, most in the major leagues that year.

By season’s end, he was platooning six different players in the outfield.

You have a manager who’s proven he can squeeze the most out of limited offensive ability. And if ever there was a team with limited offensive ability, it’s the Mariners.

None of the other four candidates have Valentine’s experience or talent. Only one has even managed a team to baseball’s playoffs. It would be like making Carroll interview the same day as Ty Willingham.

Yet the Mariners stick to their process–a process that has resulted in them having had six managers since 2003. They are a slow-moving organization in a fast-moving business. The Florida Marlins already offered Valentine their managerial job. Luckily for us, he turned it down. But the Blue Jays, Cubs, and Mets all lurk as competition. Iif the M’s don’t move quickly on Valentine, they could lose him. And with the gap between Valentine and the existing candidates so vast, this isn’t something to leave to chance.

Filed under News
  • Frank

    I can’t believe you’re holding up the Seahawks Carroll hiring as a beacon of good management. It was a rash move that people will regret in two years.

    Let me rephrase your first paragraph in less Pro-Carroll terms:
    When the Seahawks needed a new on-field leader, they rashly selected a successful college football coach (ignoring a track record of failed college football coaches for other teams). They offered him truckloads of money, and secured his services without considering the alternatives. The NFL rule requiring they interview a minority candidate? The Seahawks arrogantly ignored it to hire a coach that no one else in the league was after, due to his scandal plagued career at his former employer and lackluster previous success at the pro-level.

    Pete Carroll is a rah-rah coach that goes against the current (positive) trend of higher smart, tactical coaches (Belichick, Mike Smith, Rex Ryan, Gary Kubiak) that can build game plans and strategies to beat an opponent.

    I’ll admit he’s been a better Head Coach that I thought he would be after 4 games (good, but possibly gimmick of a defense scheme, improved pass protection with a decimated offensive line), but I’m still not sold.

  • Frank

    …I want Valentine as the M’s Manager, too.

    Also, Valentine made it clear that he passed on a job in Florida because the hiring process in that organization was a shit show. Faster is not always better.

  • Red Wilson

    Valentine has been around long enough to get lucky and have something stick. HE got to the World Series and Lost. So maybe we should get Dusty Baker or Joe Torre. Do you think Sweet Lou will come back? I hear Bobby Cox ix available. He’s lost plenty of World Series. Tommy Lasorda and Cito Gaston could help.