internal meetings, daily conversations and personnel decisions.” Zduriencik subsequently issued a public statement in response to the accusations in Baker's column. The statement read in part: "I can also say that our current statistical analysis group is doing excellent work. Our dedicated staff and the tools they are using are a key component in our decision making process, and are light years ahead of where we have been. I am engaged with their work on a daily basis and very excited in the improvements made... 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." 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. 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". The Mariners fired Zduriencik on August 28, 2015. During his tenure in Seattle, the Mariners posted a 505-595 record, which was the fifth-worst record in baseball. Education Zduriencik earned a bachelor's degree in education at California University of Pennsylvania, followed by a master's degree in physical education at Austin Peay State University. Personal Self nicknamed "Trader Jack", Jack is married to Debbie Zduriencik. They have one daughter, Kimberly. He is also an alumnus of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity. Zduriencik currently works as the pre-