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MLB Franchise Notes: Mariners' Howard Calls This Season "Most Frustrating" Of His Tenure

Mariners Chair & CEO Howard Lincoln said the team's 71-win season this year was the "most frustrating" he has experienced. Lincoln: "For whatever reason -- injuries, or this or that, the vagaries of the game -- it’s been a very, very frustrating season. We all had really high expectations, which I think were justified. So this season has got to go down as the most frustrating because everyone in the organization desperately wants to turn this thing around, desperately wants to win." In Seattle, Jerry Brewer notes Lincoln "vows the organization will spend the money" this offseason that Exec VP & GM of Baseball Operations Jack Zduriencik "needs to make this ballclub complete" (SEATTLE TIMES, 10/2).

ATTENDANCE THE ISSUE FOR TRIBE: CBSSPORTS.com's Danny Knobler noted the Indians' "strong and surprising season helped them lift" their TV ratings by almost 40%, and their radio ratings by a similar amount. Team President Mark Shapiro said, "Interest is not an issue." But Knobler noted attendance "still is." The Indians' full-season attendance of 1,572,926 was "actually down a tick from last season," and the team "led all of baseball attendance" in '00. However, the average crowd "had fallen" by 50% just three years later, and the Indians' attendance ranked 12th in the then 14-team AL. It "really hasn't recovered" ever since (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/1).

ON DEE-MAND: In San Diego, Nick Canepa writes new Padres President & CEO Mike Dee should be able to "help turn" the team into a more fan-friendly winner. Canepa: "Dee is a good guy. Laughs a lot. His motor never shuts off." Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino, who worked with Dee from '95-'09, said, "Mike is a multi-talented guy. He has the heart of a fan and that’s important. He has good instincts. And he’s familiar with the land in San Diego. He’ll make sure everybody in the organization is playing their position. And he’s indefatiguable, on a planet where they don’t sleep much." Canepa: "Just what the Padres need right now" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/2).

NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS? Angels Owner Arte Moreno made no announcements yesterday regarding personnel changes, and in L.A., Mike DiGiovanna writes this inaction furthered the belief that both GM Jerry Dipoto and manager Mike Scioscia will return in '14, "despite another highly disappointing season in which the Angels missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year." Both men are under contract: Scioscia for five more years and Dipoto for one. Dipoto, "despite his seemingly tenuous grip on his job, has taken a business-as-usual approach" (L.A. TIMES, 10/2).

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