Mariners hire new GM

Jack Zduriencik doesn’t have a Harvard degree and he’s not one of the young executives who’ve been fashionable hires recently at the top of baseball’s front offices.

Instead, he’s rooted in the old-school system of gauging a player’s potential with his eyes and his instincts rather than depending heavily on computer spreadsheets and statistical analysis.

To the Seattle Mariners, he was the person best suited to turn around a team that lost 101 games and experienced personality clashes in the clubhouse this year.

The Mariners announced Wednesday that Zduriencik (pronounced zur-EN-sik), a 57-year-old former high school coach and current scouting director with the Milwaukee Brewers, is their new general manager.

He won the job over nine others who interviewed, including three finalists – Jerry DiPoto of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Tony LaCava of the Toronto Blue Jays and Kim Ng of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“In the end I think the Mariners picked the right guy,” said longtime scout Butch Baccala, a national cross-checker with the Cincinnati Reds who has known Zduriencik for 15 years. “I got to watch the Mariners a lot this year, and I think Jack will make a difference.”

The Mariners received permission from baseball commissioner Bud Selig to announce the hiring on the first day of the World Series, but all parties involved won’t be allowed to talk with reporters until Zduriencik is introduced at a news conference on Friday at Safeco Field.

“We believe Jack is the best person to provide a new approach and to lead our baseball operations,” Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said in a team news release. “He has a proven track record of recognizing talent, both on the field and in the front office.”

In the same news release, Zduriencik expressed confidence that he can turn around the Mariners.

“I believe that working together, we can make the Mariners a model franchise,” he said. “I am looking forward to getting to work immediately, and developing a plan to reach our goal.”

Zduriencik has worked 25 years in pro baseball with the Brewers, New York Mets, Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.

There seems no uncertainty about Zduriencik’s ability to recognize talent. He was instrumental in drafting such Brewers stars as Prince Fielder, J.J. Hardy, Rickie Weeks and Ryan Braun, and last year he became the first non-GM to be named Baseball America’s executive of the year.

The question is whether he can handle the administrative side of the GM job and make the right calls at the major league level.