Mariners part ways with GM Bavasi - 美國職棒

重點整理：

1. Lincoln 認為球隊已經到了必須改變方向的時候了，之前他也盡量保持耐心，
過去這個周末，他終於下定決心要火掉Bavasi

2. Bavasi 對此消息並不感到意外

3. 副GM Lee Pelekoudas會暫代GM職務


Mariners part ways with GM Bavasi
Assistant GM Pelekoudas will take role on interim basis

MLB.com
http://tinyurl.com/5p7rln

SEATTLE -- A season that started with high hopes, but quickly went sour and
has remained that way, cost general manager Bill Bavasi his job on Monday.

With a team expected to compete for a division championship and reach the
playoffs for the first time in seven years playing far below those
expectations, Mariners chief executive officer Howard Lincoln pulled the plug
on Bavasi's four-plus seasons as the GM.

The change was announced late Monday morning and explained during a press
conference held at Safeco Field, not far from the Mariners clubhouse that
houses the players that have compiled a 24-45 record.

"As of this morning, the Seattle Mariners have the worst won-lost record in
Major League baseball," Lincoln read from a prepared statement. "Since 2004
we have been building this team to contend. However, after steady improvement
on the field since 2004, the team's performance in 2008 is simply not
acceptable to me, and our ownership group.

"We have tried to be patient, some say too patient. But given this team's
record, change is in order. As we replace Bill Bavasi as executive vice
president and general manager, on an interim basis, with Lee Pelekoudas. We
have determined that new leadership is needed in the GM position. With new
leadership will come a new plan and a new approach."

Exactly what that approach will be remains unclear. But it became clear that
the current one isn't working.

"I've been thinking about this for a while, that should be obvious to all of
you," Lincoln said during the press conference. "This is something I wanted
to be as patient as I possibly could. I wanted to give Bill every
opportunity, and the team every opportunity, to succeed. But it became very
clear that a change had to be made, and I finalized that decision in my mind
this weekend."

The decision was made before the Mariners were swept by the visiting
Nationals in a three-game series at Safeco Field -- the first time since
Interleague was introduced in 1997 that Seattle was swept at home by a
National League club.

Bavasi was told of the decision early Monday morning, and it didn't come as a
big surprise.

"On a scale, very low," he said. "When you have this job, you have to look at
it from an owner's point of view, even though you don't have a nickel
invested in it. This last weekend was a disaster."

Lincoln and club president Chuck Armstrong were the first to talk to the
media during Monday's press conference and both praised Bavasi for his
efforts to get the team back to its glory days of 1995 through 2004, when
September pennant races were common and the team was the most popular
professional franchise in the region.

"Bill Bavasi has been a pleasure, a joy, to work with," Armstrong said. "His
integrity and his passion for the game have been well regarded and respected
here. But we are where we are and it is time to move on."

There were more downs than ups during the Bavasi reign, which began about the
time some of the Mariners' most popular players were retiring and the farm
system was not particularly strong.

"I think it's important to remember that when Bill took over as the general
manager at the start of the 2004 season, the team was really in transition,"
Lincoln said. "We had three losing seasons, but in each year we were getting
better, doing better, and last year, we had a winning record."

With a significant increase in player payroll, the Mariners signed free agent
right-handed starter Carlos Silva and traded for left-hander Erik Bedard from
the Orioles, banking on the rotation to lead the way to the top of the AL
West.

"All of us, and I think most of you in this room, recognized that we made
some very important offseason moves," Lincoln said. "Our expectations were
that things would get better, but, in fact, it has gone in the wrong
direction this season and it's very, very disappointing, very frustrating and
exasperating."

Bavasi became the Mariners GM on Nov. 7, 2003. Prior to that, he was the
Director of Player Development of the Dodgers. And from 1994-1999 he was the
GM of the California/Anaheim Angels.

He made some questionable free-agent signings, including right-handed pitcher
Jeff Weaver and infielder-outfielder Scott Spiezio. A few trades backfired,
as well, most noticeably shortstop Carlos Guillen to the Tigers for Ramon
Santiago and left-handed pitcher Horacio Ramirez from the Braves for
hard-throwing reliever Rafael Soriano.

But losing right fielder Jose Guillen to free agency at the end of last
season probably affected this team more than anyone imagined.

Bavasi said as much during his 30-minute media session at Safeco Field.

"It's really ironic that the person we're missing the most is Jose Guillen,"
he said. "That is the piece that was here last year is not here this year. He
could do some strange things, and he did, but at the top of his agenda was to
win, and if anybody got in the way of playing the game right, he had no
patience with that. That was his boiling point."

Bavasi said the current clubhouse if filled with "nice guys who think they
are trying hard," but someone must step up and be willing to "grab a teammate
by the collar."

He called the current team "dysfunctional" and has no clue as to why almost
the entire team is underperforming so badly.

"I don't have a reason for that," he said. "I think this club on the field
can perform a hell of a lot better than it is performing now. It has not lost
its talent or gotten old all of a sudden. It has learned to be dysfunctional
and they have to unlearn that. They are not playing the game the way they can.

"They should be able to perform better and they can't look to the manager or
coaches to lead them out of this. They have to rescue themselves."

Pelekoudas, in his 29th season with the Mariners, was named vice president,
associate general manager on Nov. 1, 2005. He started with the Mariners as
director of team travel in 1980, and moved into the area of baseball
administration in October 1987. Lee was promoted to senior director of
baseball administration in April 1995 and to vice president of baseball
administration in September 1997.

Pelekoudas has been responsible for the coordination of player contract
negotiations, tracking Major League player movement, managing the club's
player transactions within the MLB administrative rules and the Major League
payroll. He also has been extensively involved in discussions and decisions
on the makeup of the Major League roster.


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