Jack Zduriencik Named New GM

by ~ October 22nd, 2008 at 12:16 pm

Brewers Scouting Director Jack Zduriencik has been named the new Mariners GM according to Geoff Baker. This is a surprising pick but Jack Z is still very much qualified for the job. Baseball Prospectus named him #2 on their next best GM list and had this to say about him:

The first non-GM to ever win Baseball America’s Executive of the Year Award, Zduriencik doesn’t have to pronounce his name for owners anymore; they know who he is and what his track record has been. His drafts for the Brewers are not just legendary to scouts, they’re now producing results on the field for the Brewers. The knock on Zduriencik is that he doesn’t have much experience dealing with the media or in managing an organization. I don’t think this is an issue at all. First, he has managed one of the best scouting systems in the league, as well as growing several employees into scouting directors—Tom Allison in Arizona, and Bobby Heck in Houston. He’s also made a concerted effort to be more accessible to the media. Zduriencik would be a perfect candidate for an organization needing to rebuild from the bottom up and working without the budget to go after big-name free agents. Several people have indicated that Zduriencik’s hiring would help in another way: “That team would get flooded with resumés. People love working for Jack,” said one NL exec.

Welcome to the Mariners Jack and lets hope you can turn this team around.

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  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    I didn’t really see that coming, but perhaps I should’ve. Zduriencik is the closest thing to what we thought Lincoln/Armstrong would be looking for before any candidates surfaced. Also, the fact that he showed up late in the game should have been a clue that he was a frontrunner.

  • Slurve

    It’s his nice scouting background that hooked them in. I’m not too disappointed but still kinda am…

  • http://marinermelee.blogspot.com/ Mariner Melee

    Well one thing is for sure, GMZ, Engle, and Fontaine make up the most beautiful scouting trio I have ever seen.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Dustin Shires

    From today, and forward, I shall be optimistic about the GM and his moves.

    Yet, in the back of my mind I’ll be like, “Damn, it should be LaCava…”

  • KingFelixtheCat

    Im going to be very optimistic about this new GM. Anybody is better then the previous one hahaha. If he is coming from the Brewers then he should do a great job because they had just recently gone through a rebuilding process that was a success. I hope he comes in and isn’t afraid to make moves and work through the draft and get some hardworking good players in Seattle rather than highly paid players that don’t get the job a la this years team.