From the Seattle Times’ Larry Stone.
In a stunning development, Mariners manager Mike Hargrove is resigning, the Seattle Times has learned.
The Mariners have called a major press conference at Safeco Field for 11:30 this afternoon.
No details were immediately available on the reason for Hargrove’s resignation, which comes during the Mariners’ best stretch of baseball since he was hired prior to the 2005 season. The Mariners have won seven games in a row and stand 11 games over .500 at 44-33.
They have moved into contention in both the AL West race, where they trail the Angels by four games, and in the wild-card race, where they are one game behind Detroit.
Bench coach John McLaren would be the likely choice to replace Hargrove as manager.
Indeed, the timing is pretty weird. Yesterday’s 8-3 defeat of Toronto and Roy Halladay marked their longest winning streak in more than 3 years. Or as the Times’ Geoff Baker put it, “when’s the last time a guy steps down with his team 11 games above .500?”
(UPDATE : The Post-Intelligencer’s John Hickey on Hargrove’s official announcement)
“when’s the last time a guy steps down with his team 11 games above .500?â€
Horrific grammar from a journalist aside, I’ll answer the question thusly: the last time that a guy wanted to spend more time with his goddamned family, that’s when.
But how does Joe Girardi’s family feel about Seattle? And how will it feel in two days? And two days after that?
So is the other shoe going to drop or what?