McLaren is shown the door!

[BronxBomberz]

The Seattle Mariners have fired manager John McLaren, replacing him with bench coach Jim Riggleman.

Mariners' AL ranks

The Mariners, who own baseball's worst record at 25-47, rank near the bottom in the AL in several key categories.
This season BA .252 13th
Runs 278 13th
HR 56 10th
ERA 4.69 13th

That follows the firing of Mariners GM Bill Bavasi on Monday.

In 156 games over two seasons with McLaren as manager, the Mariners were 68-88. Entering Thursday, Seattle, which many observers thought had the talent to compete for the American League West, was last in the division with a 25-47 record -- 17½ games back in a four-team division.

A frustrated McLaren unleashed a profanity-laced tirade on his team's poor play on June 4, but that didn't get the Mariners back on track. They're 4-12 in June and have lost nine of their last 10 games at home.

"John worked extremely hard, but our team continued to underperform compared to our expectations," Mariners vice president and GM Lee Pelekoudas said in a statement on the team Web site. "With 90 games left on our schedule, we owe it to ourselves and our fans to do everything we can to win as many games as possible.

What went wrong in Seattle? Today on SportsCenter (6 p.m. ET) ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney will try to explain why the Mariners are foundering in the AL West when their season began with such promise.
"At the same time, as we move towards the trade deadline and decisions have to be made on the futures of the players on our ballclub, I wanted to see if a different voice could make a difference in their performance."

Riggleman managed the Chicago Cubs for five seasons from 1995 to 1998, leading them to a second-place finish and a wild-card playoff berth in 1998. In eight years as a manager with the Cubs and San Diego Padres, he has a career record of 486-598.

ESPN - Mariners fire McLaren; bench coach Riggleman takes over - MLB

[Porter]

They just now NEED TO MAKE SOME PLAYERS ACCOUNTABLE, this season wasnt McLaren's fault. The roster didn't fit his managerial style. Sexson MUST GO.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

dude, idk if you've noticed, but professional sports gets orgasms from firing managers or coaches rather than holding players accountable. it makes me sick. but it's the way of the pro sports world, and it looks to be getting bigger than ever.

[BronxBomberz]

dude, idk if you've noticed, but professional sports gets orgasms from firing managers or coaches rather than holding players accountable. it makes me sick. but it's the way of the pro sports world, and it looks to be getting bigger than ever.

I have noticed this too man.

[love_that_reefer]

Sexson is next to go and then I am guessing Beltre will go along with his contract. Beltre will bring in some good players.

[Porter]

Beltre is still not going to bring too much. Yes I noticed that this trend is happening a lot and it bothers me to no end.

[Kingdom]

Mariners really struck out on the whole giving out big contracts to free agents angle. Jeff Weaver, last year, comes to mind. Wooooosh.

[Bon Bon]

I also hate when all the blame goes on the coaches and manager. It is the players that aren't producing. The managers can put certain players in different situations, but it is ultimately the players who have to produce and in the Mariners case they have had ALOT of under-achievers.