They started the night with their fifth manager in three years plus one month. Daren Brown, the manager of Triple-A Tacoma for the last three-plus seasons, took over on an interim basis hours before a game against Oakland.This is a pretty big bummer. When Wakamatsu was hired in 2008, he became the first Asian American manager in the history of Major League Baseball, and guided Seattle to an 85-77 record in his first season.
Seattle also fired bench coach Ty Van Burkleo and pitching coach Rick Adair. The team also released performance coach Steve Hecht.
"The truth of the matter is, I lost confidence in Don, Ty and Rick," Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said during a pregame press conference in which he tried to explain why Wakamatsu was out after one good season and about half a terrible one.
"New leadership is needed and it is needed now," Zduriencik said.
The GM said he would likely begin talking to candidates for the permanent manager job while this season runs out.
The Mariners went into this season with some high hopes, but things fell apart pretty quickly. When your team is losing this bad, it's no surprise when the club finds a fall guy. More here: Struggling Mariners fire manager Don Wakamatsu. And here: Mariners fire manager Don Wakamatsu.