The Mariners announced that they’ve agreed to a multiyear contract extension with manager Scott Servais. The length of the deal isn’t yet known.
“Scott has created a culture here in Seattle that allows players to be successful,” general manager Jerry Dipoto said of Servais. “They are encouraged to be themselves, which has resulted in a loose environment, while still maintaining the focus on team above self. His leadership has also been evident through the ongoing growth and impact of one of the best coaching staffs in Major League Baseball. He has been the right leader at the right time for the right team and I look forward to many more years together.”
The extension for Servais comes two weeks after the Mariners locked up Dipoto, who, like Seattle’s manager, had been in the final year of his contract. The Dipoto-Servais duo has been together since 2015, and the Mariners have posted a solid 222-199 record with them at the helm.
While the Mariners have also extended their major league-worst playoff drought to 16 years under their current leadership, the team may finally break that ignominious streak this season. The M’s will begin the second half of the campaign on Friday with a 58-39 record, which gives them a three-game edge over the American League West rival Athletics for the AL’s last wild-card spot.
Given how difficult it is to quantify the performance of a manager, it’s debatable whether Servais – an ex-major league catcher – has had a significant impact on the Mariners. Thanks in some part to Servais, though, the Mariners have exceeded preseason expectations in 2018 and have done so without one of their best players, second baseman Robinson Cano, who’s simultaneously recovering from a fractured right hand and serving an 80-game suspension. Cano has appeared in just 39 games this year, making Seattle’s success all the more impressive.
With Cano slated to return in mid-August, Servais & Co. will work in the meantime to stay in playoff position. The club entered the All-Star break in an awful skid, as it followed an eight-game winning streak by losing eight of 11. But regardless of whether Seattle recovers and finally returns to the postseason this year, it appears Servais will be atop its dugout for the foreseeable future.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Should’ve waited after they make the playoffs to extend Dipoto and Servais.
Even if we don’t make the playoffs this year, I feel a change in leadership wouldn’t do us any good, unless you don’t like the moves dipoto has been making (especially considering he walked into this job having to pay Cano + Felix $53m/year.)
Why wait
This time next year, when they are 15 under .500, he will be let go.
but what about the “culture” he’s has created while still maintaining focus on the team above self
Unfortunately, culture doesn’t win pennants or World Series. Servais is a great guy, to be sure, but he is not the best strategic manager, and that could hurt the M’s down the stretch.
No, but it’s a thing you can influence as a leader and manager. If they feel he’s getting the most out of the people he has, and DiPoto is the best person to get the right people in, it makes perfect sense.
AJ Hinch disagrees.
The Mariners aren’t a terrible team but they also aren’t as good as their record. Their Pythagorean W-L is 48-49 and they’ve been outscored by 2 runs. Maybe someone else knows but off the top of my head I can’t think of a team that’s been nearly 20 games over .500 despite being outscored.
The 2016 rangers had 95 wins and were the best team in the AL but only had +5 differencial. Has to be the luckiest team in MLB history.
There’s definitely a lot of luck but all of our one-run wins had to be credited to Edwin Diaz. The guy has been our mvp this year
Easy. But not to mention that we’re top 5 (or we might be down to 6 or 7, not sure) in high leverage OPS. And undefeated in extra innings, too.
Fangraphs made a graph of a team’s’ clutch scores comparing 1st and 2nd half over the last 15 or so years, and it showed a correlation R^2 of 0.00
What about home runs? Have no power.
No one on Mariners has 15 home runs; feat matched only by O’s. (After trade Machado)
Credit for playing half your games at Safeco.
? Cruz has 22, Seager has 16, Healy has 18, and Haniger has 18…
Well none of them have exactly 15 home runs. But still, that was a dumb comment.
I’m sorry, I read it somewhere.
Maybe I misunderstood. dumb comment, thought true, and make great discussion.
I’ll try to find it. I didn’t pull that out of my a—. No disrespect intended!
My source: (I read it wrong)
“Two teams, the White Sox and Giants, don’t have a single player with 15 HR. Neither do the O’s, on the heels of the Machado trade.”
I’m sorry… I don’t know why I read SEA…
espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24139362/new-york-yankees-…
I don’t think your dumb, just the comment you made was dumb. Smart people can say dumb things, some people don’t understand that.
All good, was just a little confused there.
In 2007, the Diamondbacks went 90-72…. and had a run differntial of -12.
I mean, they came into the season with arguably a bottom 5 rotation in the AL. Cano has missed significant time to suspension. Also makes the Segura trade look really bad for D-Backs. Segura and Haniger for Marte and Walker. And people praised the D-Backs front office for making this trade. Lmao, joke of a front office.
The trade looks bad in hindsight. It was pretty solid for both from the beginning.
Not a fan of this move at all. Like skrockij09 said above, the M’s should have waited until after the season was over to extend Servais and Dipoto. They haven’t won anything yet, folks. Forgetting the fact that the team has overachieved in a big way, Servais is not a great strategic manager. Yes, he shifts effectively, but his handling of the pitching staff and bullpen has been atrocious since he arrived. And this is a former catcher! He hasn’t learned from experience. I see this as a move the M’s could regret in about 2 years.
M’s fans can only hope that Mr. Dipoto has a move or two up his sleeve (e.g., Danny Duffy, Santiago Casilla) to bolster the team for the stretch run.
Danny Duffy:4.98 FIP, 4.2 BB/9
Santiago Casilla:4.04 FIP, 5.7 BB/9, 6.3 K/9. Seriously?
Check out Duffy’s home/road splits for the last month +. For the most part, he’s been outstanding outside of KC against decent teams and in horrible ball parks (7.2 IP, 1 ER in Texas, 6 shutout innings in Houston, 6 IP, 1 ER in Milwaukee.) So getting him out of KC may help his overall numbers. He’s also averaging over 6 IP in his last 10 starts (2.69 ERA, 1.225 WHIP, 8.2 K/9, 3.96 BB/9), something the M’s could desperately use. His average fastball velocity has also ticked up about 1 mph over last year, and he’s using it more at the expense of his slider. He could also eventually be a rotation replacement for Felix if he and the team can’t come to a contract agreement after next season. And since Seattle can take on his massive salary, the M’s can get him cheap as far as the player return. Ervin Santana’s fastball velocity has dipped during his rehab assignment, so he’s not as viable a candidate anymore. And if anyone mentions Matt Harvey’s name…
Casilla is a reliever that only costs $$$, no players, so he has a leg up on other potential acquisition targets. They simply don’t have the player currency to pursue a Zach Britton or Jeurys Familia or Kirby Yates or Kyle Barraclough. The walk rate for Casilla is troublesome, yes, but the M’s have to be creative to patch up the pen. If the M’s have the resources to get Joakim Soria (wasting away in Chicago), then they should get him… but they probably don’t. And if anyone mentions Fernando Rodney’s name…
Dipoto extended his puppet, shocker. They both won’t last that long.
Empty the farm, race for the playoffs and leave another franchise in the dust…rinse…repeat.
Good. King Felix and Robinson will be back too. All set to compete with the A’s for that 2nd wild card berth…
He’s far from being the king nowadays. He looks more like a #5 SP at best.
Mariners fan are ungrateful! I’ve been a long time M’s fan and even though we are 19 games over .500, everyone is negative about the move. I agree the way Servais handles the bullpen is bad, but he for the most part has had the mariners in contention in his 2.5 years at the helm thus far. In his first year, he won 86 games and were in contention until the 3rd of last day of the season, last year they won 78 despite all the injuries they sustained to the pitching staff and right now we are on pace for 97 wins and quite possibly ending the longest playoff drought in North America! Are we lucky this year, yea sure, but this is the also the most talented and athletic team the Mariner’s have had in a LONG time and that is thanks to Dipoto wheeling and dealing! Case in point, be supportive of your Mariners!
I am not ungrateful I for 1 like the move. Most of these guys are fans of other teams. The ones bashing Dipoto are Angel fans. They are mad they suck because they picked up 2 bad salaries and are still paying one.
The guys bashing Servias are probably some Ms fans but also guys that like to bash other teams moves in the same div. Count me shocked Servais has made some mistakes with the BP how many new managers haven’t? Look at what’s going on in Washington at least we aren’t that bad.
Servais has this team playing at it’s full potential right now even see with all the new guys coming up and going down. Then is the well worn path to the DL. It is not as bad as last year but it seems to be the same guys.
Think all you want about Servais but he is probably close to the best manager we have had since Lou. That is coming from a guy looking for a manager like Lou or as good as Lou. Not saying he is as good but give him time.