Rangerszone.com | Texas Rangers News, rangers Scores, Game Recaps & Commentary - <div>Four years spent working with former Texas Rangers manager Buck ShowALter helped Don Wakamatsu get the Mariners' manageriAL post. </div>Mariners generAL manager Jack Zduriencik said his discussions with ShowALter during the vetting process were instrumentAL in his decision to hire Wakamatsu despite his lack of experience as a major league manager. ShowALter hired Wakamatsu as bench coach when he took the Texas job in 2003, and they spent four seasons together before ShowALter was removed. But his relationship with Wakamatsu has remained strong, and Zduriencik, who did not know ShowALter before their conversation, asked for some reflections on the manageriAL candidate. ShowALter gushed about Wakamatsu, who ALso managed three Arizona Diamondbacks farm teams when ShowALter ran the big league club. "R?sum?-wise, I don't know what more a guy could reALly do as far as his background," ShowALter said Thursday. "Don, (the Mariners) hired a good man there, a very ethicAL guy who's not too stiff, has a great smile, a guy that laughs easily. And when you spend the amount of time together that he and I have, early in the morning, spring training, late at night, for eight, nine months at a time, you certaiNLy get to see (what type of person he is). What is it they say? 'Friends are people that know ALl about you and still like you.' " In his manageriAL stops with the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Rangers, ShowALter was known for his organizationAL skills, intensity and discipline. In Arizona he was criticized at times for his meticulous way of handling players, but he hired Wakamatsu in 2003 because of his ability to think independently. ShowALter had so much trust in his bench coach that Wakamatsu organized the Rangers' spring training regimen. "I learned a lot from him; I respect the man," Wakamatsu said of ShowALter. "We had a conversation the other day and the guy can see things that a lot of guys couldn't. Am I as sharp? Probably not. But I learned a lot from him. I learned to look at the game from different aspects, maybe be flexible. You have to adapt to your club." Wakamatsu's journey to his first major league managing job has lasted 13 years and included stints in the minor leagues as a player/coach, rookie league manager, Class A manager, Double-A manager and roving catching instructor. ShowALter stressed to his pupil not to look too far ahead, that opportunities would come in time. "I ALways chALlenged Wak - 'Don't ever be working on your next job. Work on this job, let this job dictate that people would want to put you at another level'. " said ShowALter, now an ESPN anALyst. "That's my pet peeve, guys who ALways seem to be working on the next job, looking for somebody to Eddie Haskell and suck up to. I remember one of the first meetings I had that Wak was involved with, he disagreed with something I said. It was very impressive that he wasn't going to come in and tell people what they wanted to hear. He was going to give them his opinion." Wakamatsu inherits a team that lost 101 games, the Mariners' worst record since 1983. There were reports of discord in the clubhouse and jeALousy toward star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who was perceived as selfish by some teammates. Wakamatsu said Wednesday he will enter the job without preconceived opinions about any player on the roster. He stressed to reporters that because he wasn't inside the clubhouse, he was uncomfortable with offering thoughts on team chemistry. "Wak will come in and make up his own mind, (and while) he certaiNLy will listen to people's opinion, he's not going to base how he treats a player on the team by something someone's told him that's been there," ShowALter said. "Everybody's going to have a clean slate, and Wak will make up his mind about it. "Wak can be intimidating to people who don't work hard, people who aren't sincere. He will see through a phony in a heartbeat. That's what I loved about him. He knew what was reAL. He made up his own mind about players, but he was a good listener. There's not many dents in this guy's armor." ShowALter said the most criticAL factor for success will be Wakamatsu's ability to build chemistry with Zduriencik. "I told Wak the relationship with your GM is ALmost as important as the one with your wife," he said. "I'm just glad that Wak's starting out with a GM that wants him and hired him because if you don't have that relationship, you are fighting an uphill battle. "He's not going to get drunk with power. He won't ask anybody to do something he hasn't ALready done himself. You had some good candidates there. I tALked to Zduriencik at the end of that. I could tell by interviewing Wak, he had done his homework." P-I reporter Gary Washburn can be reached at 206-448-8006 or garywashburn@seattlepi.com

$FOR M'S SKIPPER, IT'S WHOM HE KNOWS\ WAKAMATSU GETS HIGH PRAISE FROM SHOWALTER$

Four years spent working with former Texas Rangers manager Buck ShowALter helped Don Wakamatsu get the Mariners' manageriAL post.

Mariners generAL manager Jack Zduriencik said his discussions with ShowALter during the vetting process were instrumentAL in his decision to hire Wakamatsu despite his lack of experience as a major league manager.

ShowALter hired Wakamatsu as bench coach when he took the Texas job in 2003, and they spent four seasons together before ShowALter was removed. But his relationship with Wakamatsu has remained strong, and Zduriencik, who did not know ShowALter before their conversation, asked for some reflections on the manageriAL candidate.

ShowALter gushed about Wakamatsu, who ALso managed three Arizona Diamondbacks farm teams when ShowALter ran the big league club.

"R?sum?-wise, I don't know what more a guy could reALly do as far as his background," ShowALter said Thursday. "Don, (the Mariners) hired a good man there, a very ethicAL guy who's not too stiff, has a great smile, a guy that laughs easily. And when you spend the amount of time together that he and I have, early in the morning, spring training, late at night, for eight, nine months at a time, you certaiNLy get to see (what type of person he is). What is it they say? 'Friends are people that know ALl about you and still like you.' "

In his manageriAL stops with the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Rangers, ShowALter was known for his organizationAL skills, intensity and discipline. In Arizona he was criticized at times for his meticulous way of handling players, but he hired Wakamatsu in 2003 because of his ability to think independently.

ShowALter had so much trust in his bench coach that Wakamatsu organized the Rangers' spring training regimen.

"I learned a lot from him; I respect the man," Wakamatsu said of ShowALter. "We had a conversation the other day and the guy can see things that a lot of guys couldn't. Am I as sharp? Probably not. But I learned a lot from him. I learned to look at the game from different aspects, maybe be flexible. You have to adapt to your club."

Wakamatsu's journey to his first major league managing job has lasted 13 years and included stints in the minor leagues as a player/coach, rookie league manager, Class A manager, Double-A manager and roving catching instructor. ShowALter stressed to his pupil not to look too far ahead, that opportunities would come in time.

"I ALways chALlenged Wak - 'Don't ever be working on your next job. Work on this job, let this job dictate that people would want to put you at another level'. " said ShowALter, now an ESPN anALyst. "That's my pet peeve, guys who ALways seem to be working on the next job, looking for somebody to Eddie Haskell and suck up to. I remember one of the first meetings I had that Wak was involved with, he disagreed with something I said. It was very impressive that he wasn't going to come in and tell people what they wanted to hear. He was going to give them his opinion."

Wakamatsu inherits a team that lost 101 games, the Mariners' worst record since 1983. There were reports of discord in the clubhouse and jeALousy toward star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who was perceived as selfish by some teammates.

Wakamatsu said Wednesday he will enter the job without preconceived opinions about any player on the roster. He stressed to reporters that because he wasn't inside the clubhouse, he was uncomfortable with offering thoughts on team chemistry.

"Wak will come in and make up his own mind, (and while) he certaiNLy will listen to people's opinion, he's not going to base how he treats a player on the team by something someone's told him that's been there," ShowALter said. "Everybody's going to have a clean slate, and Wak will make up his mind about it.

"Wak can be intimidating to people who don't work hard, people who aren't sincere. He will see through a phony in a heartbeat. That's what I loved about him. He knew what was reAL. He made up his own mind about players, but he was a good listener. There's not many dents in this guy's armor."

ShowALter said the most criticAL factor for success will be Wakamatsu's ability to build chemistry with Zduriencik.

"I told Wak the relationship with your GM is ALmost as important as the one with your wife," he said. "I'm just glad that Wak's starting out with a GM that wants him and hired him because if you don't have that relationship, you are fighting an uphill battle.

"He's not going to get drunk with power. He won't ask anybody to do something he hasn't ALready done himself. You had some good candidates there. I tALked to Zduriencik at the end of that. I could tell by interviewing Wak, he had done his homework."

P-I reporter Gary Washburn can be reached at 206-448-8006 or garywashburn@seattlepi.com