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On Sports: Mariner GM Bill Bavasi misplaces blame

By dwight jaynes

The Portland Tribune, May 27, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (11 Reader comments)

OTTO GRUELE JR. / GETTY IMAGES

Seattle Mariners General Manager Bill Bavasi shares a 2007 Gold Glove moment with Ichiro Suzuki and Seattle CEO Howard Lincoln and President Chuck Armstrong.

All the people in a tizzy up north about their baseball team got some advice during the weekend. The general manager of the Seattle Mariners, Bill Bavasi, got on a conference call with reporters Saturday and delivered a message:

Don't blame me. Don't blame Manager John McLaren. Blame the players.

“We don’t have on this club so far that player, or players, that has enough in his guts to take care of himself and have enough left over to take care of someone else,” Bavasi said. “We need that player that will grab somebody by the throat and say, ‘Hey, that’s not what we do here.’ ”

“The best teams, they take care of this stuff in the clubhouse. They make demands of each other, and I’m not sure we have that going on.”

Bavasi is probably of that school that often believes the other team "wanted it more than we did." Which is, on the whole, something stronger than balderdash and a way of avoiding, in most cases, admitting that the other team has more talent or plays the game smarter than you do.

Yes, what the Mariners need is a reincarnation of Andre the Giant wandering the clubhouse, grabbing players by the throat demanding, "Get on base! Hit a home run! Or, at least WANT it more than the other team!"

Sorry, Bill, what the Mariners really need is better players — which has been your job. And what they also need is a manager who understands a few of the basic concepts of how the game is played.

This team, Bill, has been featuring a designated hitter, Jose Vidro, who has just three home runs. His on-base percentage is .284 — which is a serious problem because the manager keeps batting him in the No. 2 or 3 slot in the order. Where he's following one of the most overrated players in baseball, the renowned Ichiro Suzuki.

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