The thing is, from where you sit today, who would you rather be – Don Wakamatsu or Paul Wulff?? I don’t mean who’s life would you rather have, or where you would rather live and work in your chosen profession. But in terms of flat-out job security, who do you think wakes up this morning and feels better about his situation?
I’m sure Wak never thought he’d be sitting where he is today, not after last year’s surprising success in his rookie season. Now, he’s the skipper of one of the most disappointing M’s teams in franchise history. A team widely picked to at least contend for the AL west, the M’s have been done since Memorial Day. Is it Wak’s fault? That’s one thing that is highly controversial/overrated in MLB, and that is the impact that a manager actually has on his team. For the most part, 162 games is all about players performing up to their abilities. The manager has to fill out the lineup, make correct decisions on use of his bullpen, decide when to hit-and-run, things of that nature. But this isn’t the NFL, where coaches are paid between $3 and $5 million per year over the course of 16 games. Or even the NCAA, where the Mack Brown’s and Urban Meyer’s of the world earn that same kind of money, for even less games than the NFL. MLB managers make what, $700K or so per year? It’s not even a fair comparison.
It really started to look bad with the abrupt retirement of Junior this spring. If you recall, Junior wasn’t hitting a lick, and really didn’t deserve to be in the lineup anymore. He simply fell down to what all other clean MLB players succomb to in their careers – THEY GET OLD – and it’s awfully hard to catch up to a mid-90 MPH fastball when you are on the other side of 40. But the word around the M’s was that Wak and Griffey weren’t really on the same page this year. Once Junior was benched, it got worse and worse, culminating with the infamous “sleepgate” story, where it was reported Junior was napping in the clubhouse during a game. Next thing you know Junior hangs it up, and announces his retirement from his cell phone….in Montana. Buh-bye.
But what now makes it even worse is that there are reports that Junior and Wak simply stopped talking, and didn’t even speak for Junior’s final two weeks as a Mariner! Now, I know this is big-time sports. Things like this can sometimes happen when you have stubborn alpha males who refuse to budge an inch. But to not speak to one of your players? That, my friends, is simply AWFUL management of personnel. Yes, there are personalities and ego’s at play here. Yes, it’s been widely reported over the years that Junior is an enigma if you will, a tough nut to crack who is prone to extreme moodiness. But as a manager of a 25-man roster, it is your job to at least try and keep the peace in the clubhouse. It is your JOB to communicate, or at least act like you give a rip about one of your employees. But to give the silent treatment to one of the greatest players of the modern era, a guy you pointed to last year as one of the key reasons the clubhouse was so great and Ichiro was so happy and engaged with what was going on? Unforgivable.
But that was just the start. As you know, it gets a heck of a lot worse from there. The team has just completely fallen off the tracks, and losing breeds a miserable clubhouse. But there was the now-infamous Figgins “fiasco”, where you actually had a player and manager go after each other in the dugout during a game. Think about that for a second – a player and a manager go at it during a game? That’s crazy. Most of you won’t remember, and I wasn’t old enough to understand it, but there was a similar dust-up a long time ago between Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin. Reggie loafed after a fly ball, and right in the middle of the game Martin pulled him. On national TV, Reggie and Billy went at it in a heated manner, but that’s where it ended as no blows or wrestling matches ensued.
So, back to the M’s incident with Figgy and Wak. There must have been major suspensions and all that stuff, right?? Uh, no. Not only did Figgins and Wak go after each other and cause a melee, but Figgins was back in the lineup the next night. And, Figgins has never even attempted to apologize for any role he had in the craziness. And, if you want to go further with it, GM Jack Z? He didn’t give his manager a single vote of confidence. Not a “we stand by our manager” or “Figgins was wrong to confront the manager like that during a game”. Nothing but a “we had a five minute meeting and cleared the air.” That’s it? A national story replayed time and again on MLB Network, and all you can do is take five minutes to talk about it?
It shows one thing, if you ask me. The M’s as an organization do not seem to have Wak’s back. It has been pointed out by Geoff Baker at the Seattle Times several times in the last few weeks, but what organization would let their skipper “twist in the wind” like this without making some sort of move or statement to back him up? Baker has been speculating that the end could be near, maybe even today. Pretty strong stuff from a beat writer. Anyway, it started with the silent treatment of Junior, and it’s culminated with the Figgins incident, and oh yeah, some AWFUL baseball in the process. But unless they come out and say otherwise, there seems to be little doubt that he’s a “dead man Waking”……. 🙂
Why the Wak talk?? Well, it’s a perfect “segue” into none other than our own ballcoach, Paul Wulff, that’s why! Read on….
Grippi posted a really good look at coach Wulff’s status on the so-called hot seat. But not just from a media perspective, where he cobbled a list or reasons as to whether or not Wulff is in trouble. Instead, he went to the people involved for some really good quotes. Yes, there’s plenty from the players, and that’s great. Not surprisingly, they have Wulff’s back on all this. And, yes, we want to hear what the players think, and it’s cool to get them on the record…..but what do you expect them to say? That Wulff better win or else he’s OUTTA HERE!?? Nah, of course they are going to say on the record that they have his back.
But what I wanted to see was what Bill Moos and/or President Floyd had to say. You know, Wulff’s bosses in this whole thing? The ones that will actually make any decision on the future of the program, depending on how things go the next several months? And if you are looking for a vote of confidence, you won’t get much better than what Moos had to say:
• Bill Moos: “As I’ve looked closely at our football program, I’ve been quite impressed with many aspects of it, most notably the recruiting aspect. We now have some quality Pac-10 caliber players. They’re a little sparse in the upperclassmen but this new group is quite impressive.” … “I know how hard Paul and the staff have worked to create those recruiting relationships and bring a better caliber of athlete in. I’m hoping that can translate into more victories this year … but it has really impressed me, it shows our future could be bright.” … “I’ve been really been impressed, too, with the work ethic and the attitude of this team, and the leadership that is starting to emerge.”
There are other Moos quotes sprinkled in, and they are all pretty positive. And Wulff had a few things to say himself:
“You hear how great someone is, and that’s usually not the case, and you hear how bad somebody is, and that’s also not the case. So you need to be intelligent in how information is presented out there and realize it all is really not healthy. We’ve spent too much time building and doing the right thing for this program, which we are doing, to let something on the outside affect our performance.” … “All that matters to me is that I’ve got support from my athletic director and administration, and they understand how to build a program, like Bill does. There is no (athletic director) better in the country that understands how you build quality football programs. He’s seen it done, he knows when quality is being built. Who could you ask for better knowledge of that from an administrative standpoint than Bill Moos?”
Wulff also clarified some comments he made during the Pac-10 media day, about the number of players he has brought into the program vs. what was already here when he arrived:
Wulff pointed out last week there were 95 players in the WSU program when he arrived three years ago. Sixteen are left, seven listed as starters headed into fall camp.
“We’ve brought in 89 kids,” Wulff said. “That’s roughly 30 kids who have been here two years, entering their third, 30 who have been here one year and 30 just starting.
“You keep replenishing the numbers, now you have a good, solid program that has maturity to it. We’re still a few years out from that.”
While there weren’t any quotes from President Floyd, still, it’s pretty clear what’s going on. Like the players, the administration led by the AD has Wulff’s back. Heck, Moos was on the interview committee when Wulff was hired, so he knows what he has here.
And if you were wondering about buyouts and such? The article points out that if Wulff is let go, he’s guaranteed at least $600k if it is before December 2012. But I think we can all say that whether you believe or not, if they show enough promise for 2010, Wulff is going to be here for the duration….and maybe he’ll even get a contract extension.
All I know (or at least all I believe anyway)? The worst is behind us under Paul Wulff. It’s been ugly, awful, downright scary to watch at times. But it’s in the rearview mirror. I know there’s been a lot of talk about all the improvement going on behind the scenes, things that fans like us can’t actually see, at least not yet. But I think 2010 is going to be the year we finally see tangible evidence that things are headed in the right direction.
Other stuff today:
- Grippi found a story over the weekend that has Jamie Blatnick, a projected starting defensive end for Oklahoma State, getting arrested Saturday for hitting a former player in the face with a beer bottle. OUCH. For a Cowboy defense already looking to replace eight starters from last year, as Grippi says, it could be a big blow for the ‘Pokes.
- What in the world is going on with the sniping between Boise State and Idaho?? As Andy Staples at SI.com says, shame on you Boise State. For acting like David and the rest of the NCAA world is Goliath, you sure look pretty foolish today, acting like those that you loathe. All I can say? GO VANDALS!
- Breaking news: Rick Neuheisel hates WSU, Pullman. Ok, not really (but probably?). But good ‘ol Rick points out that Paul Wulff and WSU is the only Pac-10 program that has no shot at winning the conference this year. Yeah, he’s probably right, but anyone think something like this might make it’s way to the WSU lockerroom the week of the UCLA game??
All for now. Enjoy your Monday, and GO COUGS!
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