Mariners reportedly to fire manager Scott Servais

Mariners turn up big dial marked “firings” look back at fanbase for approval like contestant on “Price is Right”

Following a dismal 1-8 road trip where they fell back to .500 on the season, the Mariners are reportedly set to fire manager Scott Servais, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Having already fired their newly-hired hitting coordinator, shipped out multiple players including one of their longest-tenured players in Ty France, and burned endless bundles of sage, none of which has resulted in the team turning around their putrid offensive performance, they now take the unfortunate but expected step of firing the manager.

According to Rosenthal’s report, Dan Wilson will be named the Mariners interim manager. Wilson is beloved not just by the fanbase but also by several players he shepherded through the minors as a visiting coordinator, especially Cal Raleigh, with whom he has a close working relationship. It’s still curious, however, that the Mariners would tap Wilson, who has no managerial experience, over third base coach Manny Acta or first base coach Kris Negrón, both of whom have managed at the upper levels of baseball.

According to Adam Jude, there will be another familiar face joining the staff as well. Edgar Martínez, often a fixture at Mariners practices, will apparently reprise his official role with the club. No word yet on if this means hitting coordinator Jarret DeHart will remain with the club or not.

Servais was in the middle of his ninth season serving as the Mariners’ manager, over which he has posted a .514 winning percentage and also overseen the club’s lone postseason appearance in 21 years. While the drought-breaking season lives largest in fans’ memories, it’s important to remember that Servais also oversaw the club during the tumultuous 2020 season, guiding the Mariners through both the pandemic and the racial justice protests during a time when the team was made up of a significant number of Black players. Off the field, he and his wife Jill also supported multiple charities around the Northwest, especially Team Okanagan Animal Rescue.

Servais, at 680-642, is the second-winningest Mariners manager behind franchise legend Lou Piniella, who went 840-711 over his ten-year tenure. Both times the Mariners fired a manager mid-season previously, each of those managers posted a losing record for the remainder of their term (Daren Brown in 2010 at 19-31, and Jim Riggleman in 2008 at 36-54). If you’re interested in the overall history of how teams do after they fire the manager, you might want to check out this article I wrote in June of 2022—the last time there was significant smoke around the idea of firing Scott Servais. Here’s the significant bit, if you don’t want to click through:

Managerial firings are just another example of displacement. Historically, only about a quarter of mid-season managerial changes have resulted in a team turning things around to perform well (above .500), and an even smaller percentage—about 6%—have turned things around enough to reach the playoffs. Mid-season manager firings had actually been relatively rare over the past half-decade until this year, due to an overall shift to data analysis becoming a more prevalent part of front offices, which meant managers might set the lineup and call for pitching changes but under heavy guidance from the GM and analytics staff. And yet calls for firing the manager are still among the first you hear when the team is underperforming, followed closely by calls for firing the GM. Curiously, no one ever seems to call for the head of the analytics department or player development.

Currently, only Rosenthal is directly reporting this, with beat reporters referencing Rosenthal’s report, but an announcement is expected from the Mariners later today. This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available, and more stories are to come as the new direction of the club emerges—if there is a new direction to be found.