Don Wakamatsu saw the Seattle Mariners from across the diamond 19 times in 2008 as the bench coach of the Oakland Athletics. Reports are now surfacing that he'll get them for all 162 games next season as their new manager. The team will make the announcement Wednesday in a press conference. Wakamatsu beat out six others for the job, none of whom were named Jim Riggleman. Riggleman had quite a run after taking over for John McLaren midway through the season, going 36-54. Of course, McLaren fared much worse, going 25-47 before he was shown the door.
Wakamatsu is a fine hire for this team, who is going to be starting from scratch this season. He's going to be a young manager at age 46 -- when the season starts -- but he's also seasoned, having spent five years as a bench coach in the AL West (four of those years were with the Texas Rangers). He'll be able to grow into an experienced manager while his team grows up with him.
Overall, the hire is a nice fit for both parties. The new general manager, Jeff Zduriencik, can now focus on building the foundation for a long rebuilding process.
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WOW....went to Hayward High School with Don!!!!