Jack Zduriencik

Asked to respond to accusations by former manager Eric Wedge and Blengino, Zduriencik said: “I am aware of some of the comments of former members of our baseball operations group, and I find them unjust, misleading and one-sided. I don’t believe the airing of ‘dirty laundry’ should take place in the public arena, so I am not going to talk about internal meetings, daily conversations and personnel decisions.”

"We have never deviated from our rebuilding plan. We have stayed the course, and we now have a talented group of young players. We are hard at work looking into every option to add to this core group, as we said we would, and we are looking forward to 2014 and beyond."

On August 26, 2014, the Mariners extended Zduriencik's contract to a multi-year deal, based on the positive performance of the team in the 2014 season. Club President Kevin Mather expressed confidence that the Mariners were "In position to be a contender for many years to come" and thought Zduriencik was making a "valiant effort".

On December 7, 2013, Seattle Times columnist Geoff Baker wrote a scathing article about Zduriencik, quoting past employees to show that he is difficult to work with. He was accused of lying about knowledge of Josh Lueke's criminal past before a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. He is also accused of lying on his original job application that he has an advanced knowledge of and fondness for contemporary baseball Sabermetrics of the Billy Beane mold, knowing that it would be beneficial in getting him hired. An employee whom Zduriencik fired, Tony Blengino, made the claim that he, not Zduriencik, falsified Jack's resume, according to Baker's article in the Seattle Times: "Blengino, who was working for the Milwaukee Brewers with Zduriencik at the time, said he authored virtually the entire job application package Zduriencik gave the Mariners in 2008, depicting a dual-threat candidate melding traditional scouting with advanced statistical analysis."

After an 85-77 finish in 2009, Zduriencik's teams slumped to 61-101 in 2010, 67-95 in 2011, 75-87 in 2012, and 71-91 in 2013.

Zduriencik's assertion that advanced metrics have always been part of his office's player evaluation process seems to have been borne out by his 2009 hire of Jeff Kingston to be his Assistant General Manager. Kingston's grounding in advanced metrics was noted in a 2009 article in the Dickinson Magazine published by his alma mater: "Much of Kingston’s research involves Sabermetrics, a scientific statistical analysis of players and teams designed to project future performance." In addition, the Mariners' Baseball Operations Analyst, Wesley Battle, and Quantitative Analyst, Jesse Smith, brought a sabermetric perspective to their work with the club's front office. In 2014, the Mariners enjoyed an 87-win season, an improvement of 16 wins over the previous year's total, and missed the playoffs by a single game.

Zduriencik was so successful in Milwaukee that many observers felt that he deserved a large part of the credit for the Brewers' eventual return to playoff contention in 2008. Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin praised Zduriencik's efforts when he was quoted as saying:

In October 2008, following a dismal season and the firing of GM Bill Bavasi, the Seattle Mariners announced the hiring of Zduriencik as the franchise's new General Manager. Many critics hailed this as the correct move for an organization that had become the first team to ever lose 100 games while shouldering a player payroll of more than $100 million.

At an October 2008 press conference following his hiring, Zduriencik got right to the point in introducing his philosophy going forward in Seattle:

In recognition of his success with the Brewers, Baseball America made Zduriencik the first non-GM to receive their Major League Executive of the Year Award in 2007.

Zduriencik returned to professional baseball in 1983. Successive roles involving scouting and player development comprised most of the next two-plus decades of his experience, as he spent time in the positions of:

Following his playing career, Zduriencik spent several years as a coach for both baseball and football. His coaching tour included stops at Austin Peay State University (1975–77), Clairton High School (PA, 1977–80), and Tarpon Springs High School (FL, 1980–82).

Zduriencik began his career in professional baseball as a second baseman in the Chicago White Sox farm system. From 1973 to 1974, he spent time playing for both the Gulf Coast White Sox and the Appleton Foxes.

John A. “Jack” Zduriencik (/z ɜːr ˈ ɛ n s ɪ k / ; born January 11, 1951) is the former General Manager of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners.