Mariners Fire Bob Fontaine

[Basketball Jesus]

Wow. Talk about the JZ Era already starting off on a bad foot. Yesterday, the Mariners fired longtime scouting director Bob Fontaine:

http://ussmariner.com/2008/10/28/fontai ... -the-door/

This is a bummer. Larry Stone reports that Zduriencik fired Mariners scouting director Bob Fontaine yesterday. Looks like a case of having too many cooks in the kitchen and it sounds heavy handed…

“One source said that Fontaine was called into a meeting with Zduriencik on Monday and informed that he was being dismissed. According to the source, “He didn’t even have a chance to fight for his job.””

Fontaine reportedly informed his Mariners scouting staff of his dismissal in a voice mail.

Yeah, I know this is pretty typical for new regimes to bring in their own guys and blah blah blah but if there’s been one silver lining during the Bavasi era, it’s that the team, under Bob Fontaine, has done a great job finding and developing talent, whether it is in the later rounds of the draft, in Latin America, Asia, or the rest of the world.

Good luck Bob, and thanks for all the hard work you’ve put in to give the Mariners players like Carlos Triunfel, Wlad Balentien, Greg Halman, Chris Tillman, Juan Ramirez, Michael Pineda, etc.

[PhilipNelsonFan]

WHAT THE F**K!!!

[Sweezo]

Apparently Looper's on his way out the door, too.

Nothing wrong with bringing in your own guys, but Fontaine was one of the bright spots of the Bavasi administration. In fact, I think you can trace every good move during those years that gives this team a future to Bob Fontaine, and not Bavasi. Kinda wish he'd been given a chance to stick around.

[Bulltalk]

On a completely different GM note, one has to give Pat Gillick his rightful due now. He GMed the Blue Jays to a bunch of playoff appearances and two World Series titles; GMed the Orioles to two playoff appearances in three years; GMed the M's to two playoff appearances in four years, as well as a 116 win season; and now GMed the Phillies to two playoff apearances in three years, and a World Series title.

BJ was right that our farm system wasn't well stocked with draft picks during the Gillick era, and sometimes he did play it somewhat frustratingly tight when we were in need of another key player on the M's at a significant moment; but that is a pretty impressive career as a GM all in all.

[PhilipNelsonFan]

Ah, gotta love how overly reactionary my first post was. That was total heat-of-the-moment, pissed-at-losing-an-organizational-bright-spot special.

Zduriencik did retain Engle, though, so the international scouting department is likely to retain intact. Always a good sign for a team that so obviously struggles to get good players stateside.