Jack Zduriencik is Mariner's Man of the Year

Jack Zduriencik, the last person interviewed for the job, was named the new general manager of the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday morning.

But Zduriencik, whose name was first linked to the Mariners by the Seattle P-I, will have to wait a couple of days for his coronation.

Because the World Series starts Wednesday and major announcements are strongly discouraged by Major League Baseball during the Fall Classic, the Mariners will not be allowed to have a news conference to introduce the new man until Friday, when Tampa Bay and Philadelphia have the first of two off days during the World Series.

Zduriencik comes to Seattle from the Milwaukee Brewers, where he was vice president and special assistant to the general manager for player personnel. He was picked from a field that included four people -- Los Angeles Dodgers assistant general manager Kim Ng, Toronto Blue Jays assistant GM Tony LaCava and Jerry Dipoto, the Arizona Diamondbacks director of player personnel.

At 57, Zduriencik (pronounced Zu-REN-sik) is by far the oldest of the candidates, began his career in baseball a quarter of a century ago as a minor league catcher.

He is highly regarded in baseball circles and earlier at the winter meetings last year, became the first non-general manager to be named Major League Baseball's Executive of the Year by Baseball America.

I still thought LaCava was the best candidate because of his connections in baseball and his credentials were nearly as impressive as Mr. Z's, but frankly, Lincoln and Armstrong assembled four very strong finalists and simply could not make a poor pick. Doug Melvin, current GM of the Brewers said this back in 2007 "I've said before that that probably the best decision I made after coming here was keeping Jack Zduriencik."

"No doubt about it, he deserves almost all the credit for the young players we have," Melvin says. "The players he has drafted are making an impact at the big league level."

 I'll be backing him and hope he turns the M's into a successful organization. And frankly I expect bigger things than what he did with the Brewers because of the power he has now and the resources as well. The only thing is will Lincoln and Armstrong interefere too much for Z to succeed?