Look, I'm among the few who still read and enjoys the guy's work, but Geoff Baker got played like a tourist by another heaping dose of Chuck Armstrong's bullshit.
Armstrong's voice shakes as he describes last September, a 101-loss season winding down, the Mariners in dire need of player, coaching and front-office makeovers, and fan ire directed mostly at him. Having just nixed a proposed trade of Jarrod Washburn to the Minnesota Twins, the longtime team president was getting lambasted in the mainstream press and in online forums. The full-on frontal assault shook him like past criticism never had.
The thing is that fans have been angry with Chuck Armstrong for well over a decade. But you see, most of Chuck Armstrong's fanbase recently discovered something called the internet, and as the media finally caught on to this strange internet's usage as a communication tool (like traditional TV/radio), more and more of this fan discontent became clear and finally, after years of closed-off silence, hit Armstrong unfiltered right in the face.
"No matter what we did, it seemed like it was wrong," he said. "And at the time, it seemed, they didn't trust us to do anything."
I have no idea why. Meddling to offer a mindless 3 year extension to aging Kenji Johjima. Killing a trade that would have sent off expensive, middling Jarrod Washburn (another curious Bavasi signing). Raising ticket prices after losing seasons. Hiring Bill Bavasi as GM and watching impotently for the better part of four seasons while he bloated the payroll, downgraded the roster and drained the farm system of hope.
Yeah, Chuck, I have no idea why the fanbase would think you couldn't do anything right. Beats me.
One year later, the Mariners, having rebounded to a winning season, are doing plenty right, largely because of hires overseen by Armstrong.
Yes, like Bill Bavasi. And Bob Melvin. And Mike Hargrove.
Written off by many last year, Armstrong was the driving force behind the hiring of general manager Jack Zduriencik and had key input in the selection of manager Don Wakamatsu and his coaching staff.
Because every decision that Jack Zduriencik made has been under the expert puppet mastery of Chuck Armstrong. Because GMZ has not made a single personnel decision on his own that wasn't first directed by the driving force of Chuck Armstrong. Right. Jack Zduriencik was a mindless moron during his assistant GM days in Milwaukee, a moron incapable of tying his own shoes without Brewers GM Doug Melvin providing him step by step instructions, and that's why the Mariners hired him. Right, Chuck.
Not to mention his role in repatriating Ken Griffey Jr. to Seattle. Armstrong used finesse behind the scenes to sign the Mariner, which fit his plan to restore a sense of professionalism in the clubhouse.
Here's a demonstration of the finesse that led Ken Griffey Jr to sign with Seattle for the 2009 season.
Media: Um... Griffey-
Fans: ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES PLEASE COME BACK PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
Chuck: ZOMG $$$$$
Fans: ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES PLEASE COME BACK PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
Media: ZOMG AD DOLLAR$ AND RATING$
Fans: ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES PLEASE COME BACK PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
GMZ: Oh hey cheap veteran to fill a roster need and put butts in seats. Hey, Griffey
Griffey: Yo
GMZ: Anybody else call you?
Griffey: Nope, just Atlanta
Fans: ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES PLEASE COME BACK PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
GMZ: I'll give you a couple mil to DH this year, and throw in a couple more if you put butts in seats
Griffey: You think the fans want me back?
Fans: ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES PLEASE COME BACK PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
Media: ZOMG AD DOLLAR$ AND RATING$
Griffey:
Chuck: ZOMG $$$$$
Fans: ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES ZOMG YES PLEASE COME BACK PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
Griffey:
Griffey: Okay, sold
Fans: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Fans: [buys a shit-ton of tickets]
Chuck: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Advertisers: [blowing up KIRO and FSN's phones]
Media: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sweeney: Hey, need a platoon partner?
I'm sure the finesse of Chuck Armstrong was the difference between Griffey signing here and not.
"I think the biggest accomplishment of the team this season was the whole turnaround in pride and discipline," Armstrong said.
Let's compare some numbers.
Selected Mariners' AVG/OBP/SLG/Fielding Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR):
1st base:
Richie Sexson (2008): 218/315/381/-7.6
Russell Branyan (2009): 251/347/520/+1.6
Center Field:
Jeremy Reed (2008): 269/314/360/-0.1
Willie Bloomquist (2008): 279/377/285/-2.2
Franklin Gutierrez (2009): 282/339/424/+27.1*
* #1 in baseball among all CF
Designated Hitter:
Jose Vidro (2008): 234/274/338
Ken Griffey Jr (2009): 213/323/405
Mike Sweeney (2009): 281/335/442
Left Field Defensive UZR:
Raul Ibañez (2008): -13.5
Michael Saunders (2009): +5.3
Bill Hall (2009): +2.3
Endy Chavez (2009): +5.9
SEA team UZR:
2008: -20.9 (#20 in MLB)
2009: +84.5 (#1 in MLB)
SEA Runs allowed per game:
2008: 5.01
2009: 4.30
But it wasn't swapping out the bad players for good players that made the team better. It was Chuck Armstrong's impact on pride and player discipline. Right.
Anyway, after Geoff Baker diverged into an essay on Armstrong's past and some standard platitudes, we get to this nugget.
Armstrong said the team won't know its 2010 payroll until mid-October. The team had budgeted for 2 million fans, and while it should exceed that by about 200,000, Armstrong says prices of tickets being bought are lower.
"People used to come to the ballpark and say 'Give me the best available ticket,' " he said. "Now they say 'Give me the cheapest available ticket.' "
The price of 2009 tickets did not go up, but they sure as hell didn't do down. All the Mariners ultimately did to offer "cheaper tickets" was... to offer variations of the same half price and 4-pack specials they offered during each of the last several seasons.
But you know Chuck will use the natural trend of the economy, especially given he won't drop the absurd $35-50 prices on box seats, and the team's improved record, to justify spiking prices for 2010 while cutting payroll yet again. Because if there's one quality to Chuck's finesse and driving force, it's his ability to shit on the fans' faces and call it a sundae.
Armstrong's lobbying helped play a vital role in Griffey's decision to return.
"He might be the biggest reason we still have baseball in Seattle," Griffey said of Armstrong. "He cares about the city, the fans and the team more than anybody I know. He's a great man, and a lot of people don't know how great he is."
Actually, it was Slate Gorton's endless legislative string pulling in Washington State... MLB's awarding of an expansion team to Tampa Bay, the one city that was the biggest target of the Mariners' threatened move... begging and pleading by local interests to Nintendo of Japan to finance the forcible purchase of the organization back in 1992... and about $500 million in forced-through bonds to finance the construction of Safeco Field... that kept the baseball team in Seattle.
And fan sentiment from 1995 saving the Mariners? Please. Actually, it was a 28 member task force that recommended using King County public funding for what eventually became Safeco Field. In fact, Chuck Armstrong and this very Mariners ownership held King County hostage and threatened to move the team in 1996 after King County refused to use public money to finance its construction, before King County caved into the threats.
As for Griffey? He was here way back in 1990 when Jeff Smuylan was lobbying to move the team to Tampa Bay, and was in Seattle during those 1996 threats from ownership. He sure as hell didn't do anything to stop those threats, and in fact was squawking for the team to trade him just a few years later.
So Chuck can talk all he wants about Griffey and 1995 saving Seattle. But really, he and Nintendo used mobster/blackmail style threats to get the new stadium built. If baseball in Seattle needed saving from anyone, it was from the threats of him and his fellow owners. He and the ownership were ready to high tail even after the miracle 1995 season.
Griffey's late February return eased the public heat on Armstrong. But Armstrong barely had time to savor it when blindsided by a serious family health issue.
Armstrong wants to keep the ongoing situation private.
While I wish no ill on the Armstrong family, that's a red herring to the fact that Chuck Armstrong has done more to damage baseball in Seattle than he has done or ever will do to help it, and a key reason that 2009 went so well is that he stayed out of the way.
Geoff Baker, to his credit, has only been in Seattle a couple years, and probably doesn't know enough of this team's history to understand that he was being bullshitted by one of Seattle's most famous bullshit artists.
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