[Syd Thrift]

The thing I like about Zduriencik is most of all what he represents. He is a simply awesome scout, the only non-GM to ever be named Executive of the Year. He's older, but scouting is what he does. The M's don't make this move unless they are completely sold on rebuilding the team via draft. Granted, this is the same ballclub that gave Bill Bavasi free reign for the last few years, but still: if they wanted to put the team "back" together by splashy trades and free agent moves they would have hired Ng or one of the other people.

So he's older but at the same time he doesn't have a lot of experience as a GM. This is the part of things that worries me the most but I'm heartened by what others have been saying, that the GM position nowadays requires a whole bunch of delegation anyway. I'm hoping that Zduriencik can concentrate on bird-dogging and bring in some statistical analysts to enhance this wonderful ability of his (seriously, look at Milwaukee's drafts over the last 7-8 years). The extent of his ability to do this will probably define his GMship in Seattle.

The M's farm isn't completely bare but it'll still take 3-5 years at least to build it into the level one can associate with Zduriencik's Brewers. I really, really hope and really, really, really don't think that he'll be gone by 2011.