McLaren is dismissed by the Mariners

John McLaren is the latest member of the Seattle Mariners to be cut loose. He probably won’t be the last.

On the day McLaren was fired as manager, Seattle executives said they agree with franchise cornerstone Ichiro Suzuki that players should also be jettisoned from the team with the worst record in the majors.

After beginning the year with playoff expectations, the Mariners are now in the midst of what appears to be a lost season. They fired general manager Bill Bavasi this week and followed by dismissing McLaren on Thursday.

Bench coach Jim Riggleman was promoted to run the team, starting tonight in Atlanta. He became Seattle’s fifth manager in six seasons.

“We hadn’t shown any improvement for the last couple of months. In fact, we were probably regressing,” interim GM Lee Pelekoudas said. “To give the players a chance to improve . . . we thought a different voice was needed.”

The Mariners are 25-47, 17 1/2 games behind the first-place Angels in the AL West and “in quicksand,” said President Chuck Armstrong. The team seems likely to miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season and could become the first team with a $100-million player payroll to lose 100 games.

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Tim Beckham, the No. 1 pick in this month’s draft, agreed to a contract with Tampa Bay that included a $6.15-million signing bonus. The high school shortstop from Griffin, Ga., will begin his pro career with the Rays’ Rookie League affiliate in Princeton, W.Va.

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Chicago Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano will skip his next scheduled start because of shoulder trouble and will undergo an MRI exam today. Zambrano left Wednesday night’s game at Tampa Bay because of discomfort in his right shoulder.