HeraldNet: Wakamatsu hiring brings joy in Nashville



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Mariners Blog

November 18, 2008

Wakamatsu hiring brings joy in Nashville

Posted at 6:46 pm by By Kirby Arnold

As word spread today that Don Wakamatsu will become the Mariners' next manager, you could sense the satisfaction more than halfway across the country in Nashville.

That's the offseason home of pitcher R.A. Dickey, who was thrilled to hear that the Mariners were on the verge of hiring one of his favorite coaches. Dickey pitched for the Texas Rangers for about 2 1/2 years while Wakamatsu worked there as bench coach.

Here's a little of what Dickey said about Wakamatsu tonight via phone:

"The first thing that comes to mind is that he’s always very prepared and he's very diligent in his preparation. He’s a tireless worker for one and he's hands-on, which is a real valuable thing.

"He's real down to earth. There's not a lot of pretense about him and there aren't any of these high walls (between him and the players) He has real open lines of communication and he tells the truth. Those are all things that I really appreciated aobut him when we were together."

Can Wakamatsu make the transition from likable coach to the man in charge who must make tough, sometimes unpopular decisions?

"I definitely think he's equipped to do it. I don’t know if the team’s performance will match up to people’s expectations right away. We were a pretty poor team and there are a lot of things that have to be fixed. But he's a little bit younger and he’s got a great energy about him. He is a real player's manager. He wants to know the pulse of what’s going on in the clubhouse. He doesn't want to take somebody else’s word for it."

The Mariners were one of the sloppiest teams in baseball in terms of doing the little things right. Will Wakamatsu demand an attention to detail?

"Part of what makes him meticulous is that he doesn’t have a lot of toleration for being fundamentally poor."

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