General manager Jack Zduriencik pushed his decision on hiring a new manager for the Seattle Mariners forward at least another 24 hours, and for the simplest of reasons – he didn’t want any surprises.

“There have been people in the past who have run into snafus after the fact,” Zduriencik said. “I talked to my staff today, I’m making more calls to people who have asked me to call them back to talk about these guys.

“I’m not sure I’ll tell whoever it is that he’s the manager in the next 24 hours, but it will be soon. At this stage, what I want is all my I’s dotted and all my T’s crossed to be sure there isn’t a surprise that I should have known about.”

Like whar?

Well, Toronto hired manager Tim Johnson in part because of his service in Vietnam – which he talked about to inspire players – only to learn too late that Johnson had never been there.

And in Arizona, the Diamondbacks hired Wally Backman as their next manager in November of 2004, then fired him four days later after reading about Backman’s legal and financial problems in the New York Times.

Oops.

So Zduriencik will be a bit more patient, do his due diligence, and have a manager for you by Wednesday or Thursday.

For parts of three seasons, Ben Davis was a catcher for the Seattle Mariners, building a reputation as a player who looked great in uniform but rarely did much.

He'd come to Seattle from San Diego, part of a trade that Lou Piniella and Kevin Towers drew up on a cocktail napkin one night.

The Padres, Mariners, White Sox, Yankees and Orioles all had Davis at one point, but he hasn't played in the majors since '04.

The Cincinnati Reds have now signed Davis - as a pitcher.

At 31, he's going to try something different, and the Reds are willing to assign Davis to Class AA this spring.

And here's the kicker: His pitching coach there will be ex-Mariner Chris Bosio.

It's hard to hold out much hope for Davis as a pitcher, but this much is certain.

Until he's released again, he'll look spectacular in uniform.

General manager Jack Zduriencik continued making his mark on the Seattle Mariners front office, promoting one man, hiring another and reassigning a third.

Zduriencik promoted Pedro Grifol, the team coordinator of minor league instruction, to the director of minor league operations.

To replace Grifol’s spot, Zduriencik hired Tim Tolman, 52, who spent the last two seasons as the Washington Nationals third base coach.

Greg Hunter, the Mariners director of minor league development the past two years – and in his 12th season with the team – has been reassigned within the organization, if he chooses to accept.

In the weeks since taking over, Zduriencik has now fired the vice president of scouting, Bob Fontaine, reassigned Benny Looper, the vice president of player personnel and reassigned Hunter.

Looper left the team and was immediately hired as the assistant general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Seattle Mariners search for a new manager has been the focus of attention of fans and media over the last 10 days, but general manager Jack Zduriencik and his scouting staff have been busy elsewhere, too.

While not as sexy as pursuing C.C. Sabathia or a major trade, Zduriencik’s staff has been going over the list of 561 minor-league free agents – most of them Triple-A players – that includes 22 of their own.

The goal is straightforward: improve the Mariners minor league system and, if possible, pick up players who might have a role on the big-league team at some point.

Given the teams needs at first base and the outfield at every level, there's good reason to scan the possibilities.

Every team has a list of minor league free agents, and the Mariners staff has huddled to compare notes from last season.

If you want to look at the full list – all 561 players – here’s a link to the most complete list at Baseball America.

And if you’re wondering, as the Mariners are, who they might lose through minor league free agency, here’s the list of the Seattle playes now eligible:
RHP: Travis Chick, Jon Huber, Roman Martinez , Scott Shoemaker, Jorge Sosa.

LHP: Jason Kershner, Ryan Ketchner, Nelson Payano.

C: Fleming Baez, Fernando, Encarnacion,Gabe Johnson, Luis Oliveros, Jose Yepez.

1B: Geraldo Valentin.

2B: Kevin Howard.

3B: Lou Lucca.

SS: Mark Kiger.

OF: Victor Diaz, Shawn Garrett, Noah Hall, Jon Nelson, Craig Wilson.