What the...?

What the...?

Mike Hargrove resigned as manager of the Seattle Mariners on Sunday & his departure came at an unlikely time for everyone within the Mariners organization & also raised plenty of eyebrows as well.

Why leave when your team has played some of its best baseball ever? And if that's not enough, the Mariners are 12 games over .500 with plenty more games to be played in the months ahead!! To resign so abruptly when Seattle could be making some noise in their division...it just doesn't fly with me & doesn't make any sense.

Perhaps it's been 35 years of stress, 35 years which Hargrove has been vigorously toiling away through the best & worst of times with managing stints in both Baltimore & Cleveland; perhaps he was fearing the worst from Mariners GM after two straight last-place finishes in the AL Western division & couldn't face being in the hot seat again. Hargrove may have stated that "...This has been my decision...I have no reason to lie," but whether his resignation was for personal reasons or not, the move came at an unlikely time. Not only is Seattle paying their dues & playing some awesome baseball (4 games behind the Angels!!) but they could be making a statement in the AL along the likes of Detroit last year. This could either be a bad call or a good one depending on how we look at the situation; at any rate, Hargrove felt that it was time to move on.

But why?

It's beyond me; as Hargrove gets a spanking-new red pickup truck to drive down the Pacific coast, his old ballclub & so many more folks are left to pick up the pieces which he left behind back in Seattle, unanswered questions & all. But then again, he & he alone could provide a full explanation for why he flaked from his team so soon & when they had so much to prove in the AL West.