Some news on the coaching front to tell you regarding the Mariners. We know already that Carl Willis will be named pitching coach any day now, since he and new manager Eric Wedge have a longstanding relationship. Larry Stone wrote about it two weeks ago, so there's no suspense here. When the team has the rest of the staff in place, Willis will be announced.

Here are some other names to consider. Sources say the team has already spoken to former Chicago Cubs first baseman Leon Durham for the hitting coach job. Durham was the hitting coach for Class AAA Toledo in Detroit's system last year.

Former Phillies hitting coach Milt Thompson has also been looked at for the job.

Seattle began last year with Alan Cockrell as hitting coach, then replaced him with Alonzo Powell from the AAA staff.

Another coach the Mariners are eying is Jeff Datz, the bench coach in Baltimore last season and likely to be bumped from that post -- interestingly enough -- by Don Wakamatsu for next year. Datz was a bench coach in Cleveland for Wedge, but, prior to that was his third base coach as well.

Third base has been a bit of a coaching conundrum for Seattle the past two season. Bruce Hines manned the hot corner coaching-wise in 2009, but was not invited back on staff. Mike Brumley opened this past season coaching third, but then was replaced partway through by Lee Tinsley.

You get the feeling the M's would like to upgrade their coaching at third, which could mean they'd target Datz for that spot rather than bench coach. I still say former AAA and interim M's manager Daren Brown makes the most sense as a bench coach, given his relationships with a significant number of young players who will suit up for the team in 2011. We'll see.

On to the players, we see that Ichiro today was honored with the Fielding Bible Award for the third time in his career. Ichiro got the nod in right field.

Photo Credit: Jerry Wachter/SI

Read more...

Our long suffering national nightmare finally ends today. The Mariners will finish either with 100 or 101 losses, but it hardly matters. Considering they had a Cy Young pitcher all season in Felix Hernandez and a Cy-caliber guy in Cliff Lee to go with him for a half season, this was more like a 105-or-110-loss team. And when you consider that the AL West looks like the worst division in baseball, this squad could easily be the worst in franchise history.

I'm serious. The 2008 team would mop the floor with these guys.

A lot of work remains for this squad. It's not enough to throw a bunch of young guys in there and say "That's our future! Just wait three more years!'' Because no one really knows how the prospects game will pan out. You can keep acquiring depth and sometimes, that's all you've got. Two years ago, Jim Riggleman sat there on the final day and spoke of how his team was playing better baseball. Talked up the young guys like Jeff Clement, Wladimir Balentien, Brandon Morrow and future guys like Carlos Triunfel and Phillippe Aumont.

Bu it takes more than youth to build a winner. It takes commitment from ownsership to fll in the blanks. It takes a clear sense of direction from a front office.

Let me ask you this, if the true goal of this team was to continue a rebuilding process, why was Brandon Morrow traded last winter?

Hey, I understood the rationale. Bring in Brandon League to strengthen the bullpen short-term and take a run at the division. That's all fine and good, as long as rebuilding is not your ultimate goal.

Because if rebuiding truly was the plan, giving Morrow at least one shot at starting full-time from April onward would seem in order. League is a good reliever, but he's done after 2011 and this does not look like a team poised to contend before 2013 at best. Johermyn Chavez might emerge into something once he hits Class AA for the first time next season. We'll see. But he's still a ways off. So, the logic of it all does confuse me.

Unless, of course, this team's goal was to contend and it simply flopped. Unless this whole Cliff Lee flip for prospects truly was a Plan B. If so, it seems to have worked out in terms of upgrading prospects. But now, you've used up a year in which you had Felix Hernandez under contract. A year in which you had Franklin Gutierrez under contract.

And if the goal really was to contend this year, then why not bolster payroll and try to fix the offense better than this front office did? Not boosting payroll, if this team really was out to contend and meant something when it told fans to "Believe Big" was truly a confusing and almost negligent act. Sure, that extra payroll could have been spent on a bust. Or, the M's might have acquired Aubrey Huff. Or Johnny Damon. Or multiple pieces that could have changed the dynamic of a season. You never know if you don't play.

Maybe the goal was to have it both ways: to contend and rebuild. If so, that plan failed on an historic scale.

The M's will have the winter to decide what their plan is from here. Where the rebuilding is to take them next. For now, the formaility that was another 100-loss calamity in 2010 will today, mercifully for all involved, be put to rest.

So, any of you have a defining moment for this season? For me, it was the Eric Byrnes non squeeze-bunt with Ichiro breaking for home in extra innings back on May 2. When Cliff Lee pitched his heart out and got a no-decision in a shutout loss, I knew in my heart it wasn't going to happen this year.

Within days, Milton Bradley walked out on his team in the middle of a game, then later spent two weeks on the restricted list getting psychological counseling. Soon after, hitting coach Alan Cockrell was fired. The next day, Sleep Gate hit. It all happened within an eight-day span. For most teams, that's a season's worth of headaches. For the 2010 Mariners, just another week.

What's your defining moment?

The season comes full circle tonight as Cliff Lee, one of the only guys worth watching on this team the first few months of 2010, comes back to face what's left of those M's.

Not much. The M's have fired their Felix Hernandez bullet. Now, they've got a bunch of days of prayer ahead. Nice way to throw Justin Smoak back in there. Let him face the guy he was traded for. No pressure there.

Of the guys in the starting nine when Lee opened the season with Seattle in late April, only Ichiro, Franklin Gutierrez, Chone Figgins and Jose Lopez are in tonight's lineup.

So, how many Mariners have come and gone from the team Lee began with here in Seattle? Let's take a look:

Mark Lowe, Kanekoa Teixeira, Rob Johnson, Mike Sweeney, Ken Griffey Jr., Ian Snell, Eric Byrnes, Eliezer Alfonzo, Mike Carp, Jesus Colome. Throw in staffers Don Wakamatsu, Ty Van Burkleo, Rick Adair, Steve Hecht, Alan Cockrell and Carmen Fusco.

And then, Milton Bradley, Jack Wilson and Shawn Kelley are on the DL with season-ending injuries. Sean White? Put out an APB, we aren't sure.

Just over a year ago, I snapped a series of batting practice photos of Ken Griffey Jr. hamming it up with Don Wakamatsu's 12-year-old son, Luke. Later, after publishing them on the blog, I received a request from the Mariners PR staff -- Wakamatsu wanted to know if he could have copies of the photos.

At the time, I promised them yes. Wakamatsu later thanked me. He clearly had great respect for Griffey, as a player and a man, and wanted the keepsakes for down the road. Thing is, as the season unfolded, I never got around to emailing them. Now, I know for sure that it would be the wrong thing to do.

How could a relationship between two men go so wrong, so fast?

I tried to spell some of that out for you this morning in the paper.

Mariners president Chuck Armstrong is quoted in the story as saying that I'm "connecting the wrong dots" in trying to link the firing to Griffey. That Griffey did not have a call in what happened yesterday -- that it was all Jack Zduriencik.

And maybe Armstrong is right about that on a technical front. Maybe Griffey doesn't really care who is running this ship and would have come back for a retirement ceremony next spring regardless. Now, we'll never know. But what we do know is, Wakamatsu lost a significant portion of the clubhouse after the May 10 Sleep Gate story written by colleague Larry LaRue in The News Tribune. In our story today, I quote a player who was there saying that Griffey quickly came to suspect that it was Wakamatsu who leaked the story to LaRue. Not only that, Griffey is said to have shared his opinions with others in the clubhouse.

Some of you would prefer that we not use anonymous sources for such stories. Well, hey, so do I. I also wish the tooth fairy would have left me $10 million as a kid. But let's deal in reality. Who is going to put their name to this kind of stuff? You wouldn't know a thing about what's really going on with this team, or any other, if all we went with were on-the-record quotes. Zduriencik gave you a nice "Don is our manager" quote for the record last week. What did that tell you? How educated about the team were you for it? Here's a quote for you: "It's sunny outside". But does that tell you whether it's going to rain tomorrow? Nope.

All I can say is, I've used anonymous clubhouse sources to bring you accurate stories before. In 2008, I told you of the festering clubhouse problems between Ichiro and a group of his teammates -- all of whom have since been cleared out by the new regime. Think it was a coincidence Griffey and Mike Sweeney were brought in last year to police the clubhouse?

This year, we used anonymous sources to tell you that Milton Bradley had left the clubhouse early during a game and why.

And now, I am using this one. You'll have to trust me based on my track record. A belief system, if you will. My paper knows who the source is and there is a copy of the conversation with the player on file that a handful of people will have access to for legal reasons. But that's it.

So, if we're going to talk about how Wakamatsu was unable to lead his players, it's just about impossible to avoid the conversation about the 5,000-pound elephant in the room, going by the name of Griffey. Wakamatsu was tolerant -- to a fault -- of the mistakes made by his players. That much we know. But Wakamatsu was the same way last season. And when he called out Felix Hernandez in May of 2009 for a lack of preparation and focus, he had the "juice" of Zduriencik and the entire organization -- and Griffey and Sweeney in the clubhouse -- to back him up.

Not so this year.

Wakamatsu was forced to deal with a number of strategical decisions by Zduriencik that just never panned out. Right out of the chute, he was preoccupied on a daily basis with the trials and tribulations of Milton Bradley, a player Griffey was also spending an inordinate amount of daily energy trying to get on-track.

Eventually, that problem was dealt with by getting Bradley professional help a month into the season. By then, several veterans imported by Zduriencik for key roles had floundered miserably in the season's opening month. Bradley, Chone Figgins, Casey Kotchman, Eric Byrnes. The only guy who showed promise of actually hitting was Sweeney, who was glued to the bench in April as Wakamatsu continued to play Zduriencik's hand-picked imports.

Not sure how much of an impact Wakamatsu was supposed to have in making those players hit better. I know he cut Figgins a ton of slack because of the difficulties in switching positions and spots in the batting order. Jose Lopez was also cut a lot of slack because of the position switch and his second-half track record from last year.

A belief system, if you will.

But by the season's second month, with the Mariners unable to score more than two or three runs per game and starting to teeter out of division contention, it was time to make some changes.

Instead of bringing in reinforcements, the front office decided to fire hitting coach Alan Cockrell. The message was loud and clear from above: these may be the guys we chose, but you're stuck with them and could lose your job if they don't get better.

Faced with that gauntlet thrown, Wakamatsu began the unsavory task of trying to make the team better. And the most obvious place to look was at Griffey, a 40-year-old hitter on his final legs and with a potential replacement at DH in Sweeney.

Read more...

The 42-70 Seattle Mariners took action on Monday, firing their manager Don Wakamatsu, along with their bench coach, pitching coach, and performance coach.

Having a 42-70 record at this point in August would be disappointing for any team, but for a team that was billed as a possible World Series contender before the season, it's just too much to take, which is why the Seattle Mariners have gone and fired everybody:

To follow up, source: Wak has been let go along with pitching coach Rick Adair, bench coach Ty van Burkleo and performance coach Steve Hecht

Don Wakamatsu guided the Mariners to an 85-77 record as a rookie in 2009, and came into 2010 with as much job security as any manager in the league, but the team's lousy performance put him on thin ice, and he made few friends by benching Ken Griffey Jr. and getting into a bit of a dugout altercation with Chone Figgins. When pressed about Wakamatsu's job security just last week, general manager Jack Zduriencik avoided any direct answers, and recently gave Wakamatsu the dreaded vote of confidence.

Rick Adair, Ty van Burkleo, and Steve Hecht are lower-profile dismissals, but the Mariners also fired their hitting coach Alan Cockrell earlier in the season, so at this point it looks like a total house-cleaning.

AAA Tacoma Rainiers manager Daren Brown will take over the big league team for the time being. Be sure to read a lot more on the story over at Lookout Landing.

MORTON GOULD: Concerto for Orchestra; Interplay;  American Symphonettes 2 & 3; Chorale and Fugue in Jazz – Findlay Cockrell, piano / Albany Symphony Orchestra / David Alan Miller –  Albany TROY1174 [Distr. by Albany] 75:11 ****: Morton Gould (1913-1996) had a long and productive career as composer and conductor and his works and recordings remain very popular today.  Born in Queen's, New York, Gould wrote much  music unmistakeably Americana as evidenced by the collecti...

What a surprise. The Mariners' offensive problems apparently weren't the fault of former hitting coach Alan Cockrell.

Filed under: Mariners, MLB Video, Executive Take

It seems like when things don't get off to a good start for a major league team, the hitting or pitching coach is the first person to go. That was the case in Seattle, where big expectations were followed by lackluster results and hitting coach Alan Cockrell was shown the door by general manager Jack Zduriencik (right).

The ramifications of that change will play out in the coming months, but what is the conversation like when a GM has to fire a coach or manager?

Our Steve Phillips has been there, and he takes us through the process with FanHouse TV's Dan Graziano in a special edition of "The Hot Corner".

Click here to watch:

SEATTLE (AP) Hitting coach Alan Cockrell was fired by the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, becoming the fall guy for an under-performing offense that is the worst in the American League.
Cockrell was scouting in the Mariners video room at Safeco Field when he was called into manager Don Wakamatsu's office and told of the change by Wakamatsu and general manager Jack Zduriencik. Alonzo Powell, a three-time Central League batting champion (1994-96) while playing for the Chunichi Dragons, was promoted from Triple-A Tacoma, where he's been hitting coach for three seasons, to take Cockrell's spot.

SEATTLE (AP) Hitting coach Alan Cockrell was fired by the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, becoming the fall guy for an under-performing offense that is the worst in the American League.
Cockrell was scouting in the Mariners video room at Safeco Field when he was called into manager Don Wakamatsu's office and told of the change by Wakamatsu and general manager Jack Zduriencik. Alonzo Powell, a three-time Central League batting champion (1994-96) while playing for the Chunichi Dragons, was promoted from Triple-A Tacoma, where he's been hitting coach for three seasons, to take Cockrell's spot.

Sorry I couldn't update the blog immediately, I tried to post updates from downstairs on Twitter. But Alan Cockrell has been fired as hitting coach of the Mariners. He has been replaced by Tacoma Rainiers hitting coach Alonzo Powell. Cockrell was in the clubhouse briefly this morning saying a few goodbyes. “I think you get to the [...]

"It was nice knowing all winter long that I was working on something and it was going to carry over,'' Wilson said. "It was just that I worked on the same things. A swing that I always felt comfortable with. Numerous times, I'd get into spring training and before I even had an at-bat in a game, I had the coaches telling me I'd have to do something different.''

Mariners infielder Josh Wilson, six days ago, extolling the virtues of hitting coach Alan Cockrell and how he allowed him to be the .300 hitter he'd become in spring training and Class AAA.

Some of you may have read Steve Kelley's column this morning, in which Josh Wilson, after supplying his team with, literally, a week's worth of offensive production, dedicated the moment to fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell. Since players do tend to get overly sentimental at times like this, I thought I'd include the above quote from Wilson, which was given five days before Cockrell was fired. Asked to come up with a reason why he was suddenly hitting after years of being typecast as an all-glove utility player, Wilson quickly gave all the credit to Cockrell for believing in him from the time the two were in the Colorado Rockies organization together.

Well, good thing Cockrell gave Wilson some confidence before the coach was canned yesterday morning. Otherwise, the Mariners might be losers of nine in a row insted of just eight of nine and 13 of 16 or whatever.

My first reaction to yesterday's move was one of incredulity, at first, then, gradually, as time wore on, one of disappointment more than anything.

Over the last year-plus, I've come to respect the regime of GM Jack Zduriencik for offering a fresh approach to how the on-field product was being looked at. The first series of winter acquistions by the club in December, picking up Cliff Lee, Milton Bradley, Chone Figgins and, in a trade that was highly underrated at the time, a reliever in Brandon League that has come at a key time for a bullpen in need of some additional firepower.

At the time, I felt the moves were brilliant and left the club flush with enough cash to seriously upgrade this offense without taking the budget too far north of where it began at during the 2009 "rebuilding" year. Since that December surge, however, we've since learned that the budget brakes were slammed down to the floor. We'll explore that topic another day, but, obviously, it put limits on who the team could go after.

But we're talking about Cockrell's firing today.

Midway through last week's losing stretch, manager Don Wakamatsu held a closed-door meeting with players to remind them they are accountable to the fans they play in front of each and every night. When you think about it, the players probably did need such a reminder. After all, few had really been held accountable to that point for an offense producing at franchise-record lows going on a month.

Eric Byrnes practically had to go 0-for-April, then produce one of the worst suicide squeeze attempts in the history of baseball at any level from Little League on up. Then, before anyone could ask him about it, he had to ride his bike out of the clubhouse in full view of Zduriencik, completely spitting all over this organization's hard-fought attempts over the past season-plus to have players answer for their play and further embarrassing a team already quite red-faced over its performance. Short of running over the Mariner Moose with that bike, Byrnes did all he could to show the team he was done as a ballplayer and really did have to go.

And so, he was finally cut.

But other than ridding the team of one of its backup left fielders -- the other one was stashed in Tacoma, but we'll get into that mess later -- where was the accountability to fans, teammates, or whoever?

So far, the hitting coach is the only regular guy really being held accountable.

Read more...

I am going to put this next story in the “We had to blame someone, so let’s blame someone who has nothing to do with why we are struggling" category.

The Seattle Mariners fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell yesterday. Alonzo Powell was promoted from Triple-A Tacoma to replace Cockrell. Here is the reason for the firing according to GM Jack Zduriencik.

“Sometimes just the same message from a different messenger sometimes carries some weight, but it’s certainly apparent we’re not doing what we should be doing offensively,” Zduriencik said. “Certainly guys can look within and they should. Every single player here should evaluate themselves and ask, ‘What am I doing? Where are my contributions at?’ I know the effort is there. There’s no question about that. It’s just a matter of the production.

“So maybe there’s a little key here the new guy can unlock.”

I am sorry Jack, but there is no key to unlock here. You have neglected your offense for the past two season and now this is the bed you have made.

Here is how these situations usually work in sports:

- Team enters the season with unrealistic expectations.

- Team thinking they better than they really are gets off to an extremely slow start. In this case, the Mariners are in last place in the AL West with a 12-19 record

- Management wants to “send a message” so they fire an “underneath” coach, who has very little to do with why the team is struggling.

- If team continues to struggle, management will then fire the head coach or manager during the season and replace him with a lame-duck interim manager.

- At the end of the year, the team fires the entire staff and replaces them with a new staff.

I really see this scenario playing out for the Mariners this year. This lineup is just terrible and I really don’t see how it could get any better unless they make a major trade.

I was watching the Mariners – Angels game on Friday when Jered Weaver was pitching a no-hitter and I laughed when I saw due up for the Mariners were Casey Kotchman- Franklin Gutierrez – Ken Griffey Jr.

What’s so funny about this you ask? These are the Mariners 3-4-5 hitters. Kotchman wouldn’t be a No. 3 hitter on the Mariners’ Triple A team.

Regardless of who the hitting coach is for the Mariners, I don’t see them turning this offense around. There are no impact bats in the middle of the lineup and there are too many guys who are automatic outs.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Reaction to the Mariners firing hitting coach Alan Cockrell and other chatter from around the major leagues.

KOMO News

Tradition must be respected, so M's fire a coach Seattle Post Intelligencer The Mariners clobbered the Angels 8-1 in part by deploying two doubles, a triple and -- call your cardiologist and tell him to fire up the paddles ... Mariners find their fall guy, fire hitting coach Alan CockrellUSA Today M's fire hitting coach Cockrell, promote PowellSeattle Times all 146 news articles »

Signing in a little late on this as I was getting ready to head to the game when it was announced, but as you certainly know by now, hitting coach Alan Cockrell was relieved of his duties this morning and replaced with Alonzo Powell, late of the Tacoma Rainiers.  As Ryan Divish pointed out earlier, [...]

Hitting coach Alan Cockrell was fired by the Seattle Mariners, becoming the fall guy for an under-performing offense.

The Mariners announced Sunday that hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been dismissed. He will be replaced by Alonzo Powell, who held the same...

Josh Wilson turned this 8-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels into a small, personal tribute to the coach he calls, "Ace." He honored fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell by having his best day in the big leagues, going 3 for 3 and coming within one last swing of hitting for the cycle.

Seattle Post Intelligencer (blog)

Mariners fire hitting coach Cockrell, 8-game end losing streak Seattle Post Global SEATTLE – The day started at Safeco Field with a lot of long, dour faces at Safeco Field, the result of the firing of hitting coach Alan ... Mariners find their fall guy, fire hitting coach Alan CockrellUSA Today Marines Fire Hitting Coach Cockrell, Promote PowellAHN | All Headline News M's fire hitting coach, players aren't thrilledOff the Record (blog) HardBallTalk (blog) -Angels blog (blog) all 130 news articles »

Alan Cockrell becomes a scapegoat for Seattle free fall in AL West

Josh Wilson and Michael Saunders hit back-to-back home runs in Seattle's four-run fourth inning, and the bottom of the Mariners lineup helped Seattle break out of its offensive doldrums with a 8-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday. Seattle's lackluster offense that cost hitting coach Alan Cockrell his job Sunday morning, came alive [...]

Hours after firing hitting coach Alan Cockrell, the Mariners offense awoke in time to help Seattle snap an eight-game losing streak at Safeco Field.

Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offense in the American League.



Seattle Mariners - Alan Cockrell - American League - sport - Baseball

Sportsnet.ca

Mariners find their fall guy, fire hitting coach Alan Cockrell USA Today With the Mariners fading fast in the AL West, and an offense scraping the bottom of the American League in most major categories, blame was bouncing like a ... Marines Fire Hitting Coach Cockrell, Promote PowellAHN | All Headline News Mariners fire hitting coachAngels blog (blog) Mariners fire hitting coach Alan CockrellHardBallTalk (blog) Lifestyles Publications all 120 news articles »

SEATTLE – Hitting coach Alan Cockrell was fired by the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, becoming the fall guy for an under-performing offence that is the worst in the American League. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Seattle Mariners News

SEATTLE (AP) -- Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offense in Full story

The Seattle Mariners have fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell and replaced him with the club's Triple-A hitting instructor Alonzo Powell..
from ABC 7 News

12:55 p.m.: It's been a busy morning here at Safeco Field, as the Mariners dismissed hitting coach Alan Cockrell, replacing him with Alonzo Powell, who held the same position for Triple-A Tacoma.

The Mariners wrap up this nine-game homestand on an eight-game losing streak.

It's a beautiful day here at the ballpark just a few minutes away from the first pitch.

SEATTLE (AP) -- Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offense in Full story

Hitting coach Alan Cockrell was fired by the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, becoming the fall guy for an underperforming offense that is the worst in the American League.

SEATTLE (AP) -- Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offense in the American League.

SEATTLE Like it was his fault. With the Mariners’ offense ranking 29th in the majors in most categories, the Mariners fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell today. Triple-A hitting coach Alonzo Powell was promoted to fill the vacancy. Going into today, the Mariners are last in the American League in batting average (.225), runs scored (94), on-base percentage (.302) [...]

Mariners fire hitting coach is a post from: Angels blog

The Mariners announced Sunday that hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been dismissed. He will be replaced by Alonzo Powell, who held the same position for Triple-A Tacoma.

Cockrell, 46, was in his second season with the Mariners, his fifth year as a major league hitting coach.

"It's tough," general manager Jack Zduriencik said. "These are difficult days when you like someone and you're very fond of a person like Alan, who's worked his tail off. You get to a point where you have to make a judgment call and that was made today.

Designated hitter Mike Sweeney said the blame falls squarely on a Mariners lineup that has just two players hitting better than .300 and eight players hitting less than .220.

"It's brutal," Sweeney said. "Looking around this clubhouse there's a ton of players that deserve to get fired before he did and I'm one of them. I know our offense hasn't had a heartbeat, but it's not due to Alan Cockrell. It's us, the players.

"We're the ones that deserve all the criticism, not him. I will be the first one to stand up and take a bullet for that guy, because he got here early. He worked his butt off. He put in more hours than anybody in this whole clubhouse. It's tough to see a guy like that go."

Manager Don Wakamatsu said the lineup can't continue to hit less than .220 and a change needed to be made.

"You've got to start somewhere and, unfortunately, Alan was the guy that has to pay the toll for that. I think everybody on the staff is looking themselves in the mirror and seeing what we can do along with that to try and rectify this situation."

Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offense in the American League. The Mariners made the move Sunday morning before closing out a miserable homestand against the Los Angeles Angels. Seattle has dropped the first eight games and scored just 12 runs over that stretch.

7 Vote(s)

Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offense in the American League
from ABC 7 News

Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offense in the American League. The Mariners made the move Sunday morning before closing out a miserable homestand against the Los Angeles Angels. Seattle has dropped the first eight games and scored just 12 runs over that stretch.

SEATTLE -- Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offense in the American League.

Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offence in the American League.

Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offense in the American League.

Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been fired by the Seattle Mariners as the team continues to slump with the worst offense in the American League. The Mariners made the move Sunday morning before closing out a miserable homestand against the Los Angeles Angels. Seattle has dropped the first eight games and scored just 12 runs [...]

The Mariners fired their hitting coach: Mariners announce they’ve fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell. Alonzo Powell named as replacement. I haven’t seen a newspaper story yet.

Looking for answers for the worst offensive team in the American League, the Seattle Mariners fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell on Sunday morning.

Benjamin Kabak: #6org RT @TylerKepner : Mariners announce they've fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell. Alonzo Powell named as replacement.

(By @bkabak - Writer - Sports, River Avenue Blues)

Michael Lombardi (Nat'l Football Post) The NFL is working with teams, players and media partners to raise money and promote awareness of recovery efforts in Haiti.

With the sad news coming from Haiti, the NFL and its players have responded to do their part, announcing the league and the NFL Players Association have pledged $2.5 million to aid in relief and recovery efforts for earthquake victims. The NFL and NFLPA will contribute $1 million each through their Disaster Relief Fund to the American Red Cross and Partners In Health ($500,000 each). In addition, the NFL and its network partners are running pregame and in-game messages during this weekend’s games valued at $1.5 million to promote donations. NFL owners and players are also making their own personal donations. The NFL is working with teams, players and media partners to raise money and promote awareness of recovery efforts.

Mike Reiss looks at some key dates on the NFL calendar and looks at how they might impact the Patriots:

Jan. 30 -- Senior Bowl (Mobile, Alabama)
Jan. 31 -- Pro Bowl (South Florida)
Feb. 7 -- Super Bowl XLIV (South Florida)
Feb. 8 -- Waiver system begins for 2010
Feb. 11 -- First day clubs can designate franchise or transition players
Feb. 24-March 2 -- Combine timing and testing (Indianapolis)
Feb. 25 -- Deadline for clubs to designate franchise or transition players
March 4 -- Expiration of all player contracts due to expire in 2010
March 5 -- Free agency and trading period begins
March 15 -- First day clubs may conduct offseason workouts

PATRIOTS ANALYSIS:  As the Patriots begin their offseason planning, one of their major personnel issues is with nose tackle Vince Wilfork. Unless the sides strike a deal before February, which at this point seems unlikely, the next step will be if the team decides to use the franchise tag on him. That answer will come between Feb. 11 and 25. Coach Bill Belichick and members of his staff are taking some time off. When they return, they will likely be balancing three main areas: 1) Continuing to assess their own players while deciding who should be priorities to return; 2) Focusing on the draft and keeping up to date on that ever-changing process; 3) Future planning with Wilfork specific to the franchise tag.

TEAM TALK

• Andy Hart and Erik Scalavino debate how the Patriots will fill the vacant defensive coordinator position.  Will they hire from within or hire an experienced big name from outside the organization?
• John Cockrell Friday Out-Takes: Reverse mailbag with some amusing open letters to Aaron Rodgers, Bill Po-Lyin', and more.
  

LOCAL LINKS

• Ian Rapoport looks back at the highs and lows from the Patriots' 2009 season.
• Shalise Manza Young offers a look at the highs and lows in a Pats season that ended poorly.
• Jeff Howe hands out some hardware for Patriots' performances in 2009.
• Shalise Manza Young asserts the Patriots' dynasty died when Brady hurt his knee.
• Ted Johnson plays professor for the Patriots and hands out grades for the season.
• Mike Reiss offers his 2009 positional review of offensive tackles Matt Light, Sebastian Vollmer, Nick Kaczur, Mark LeVoir
• Christopher Price notes the Saints are the last, best hope for Patriots fans.  Exactly!
• Ron Borges says the rest of the NFL may consider this The Passing Age, but the Jets play football as if it’s The Stone Age - pounding the Chargers into submission and off their game with pressure.
• Mike Reiss notes one thing football fans can appreciate about this year's New York Jets is this: They are who they are, they stay true to their identity, and stick to their plan.
• Mike Reiss analyzes Belichick and his decisions to defer.
• WEEI is feeling the Draft: Inside Linebackers and Defensive Ends.
• Christopher Price reports Randy Moss will not be playing in this year's Pro Bowl due to an undisclosed injury.  Chad Ochocinco will replace him on the roster.
• Mike Reiss revisits the David Thomas trade and offers his thoughts.
• WEEI provides the transcript of Adam Schefter's appearance on the Dennis & Callahan show Friday.
• WEEI provides the transcript of Peter King's appearance on the Dale & Holley show Friday.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Tim Graham (ESPN) Quick Take: Jets at Colts.
• Peter King (SI) MMQB: What divisional weekend lacked in drama, it made up in poignancy.
• Vic Carucci (NFL.com) This time, Colts and Jets play for Super Bowl berth.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) The snub scale: Bills job doesn't rate.