The Mariners have received a minimum of 85 video games in every of the final 4 seasons, however the membership’s wild card berth and subsequent ALDS look in 2022 marks Seattle’s solely journey to the playoffs in that stretch. This yr’s squad received 85 video games on the heels of the game’s finest pitching workers, however the Mariners’ lineup struggled badly for a lot of the season, main to a different yr with none October baseball.
Amidst rising fan unrest over this lack of success, crew chairman/CEO John Stanton preached endurance, as Stanton mentioned in an interview with MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer. “I’m as dissatisfied as any fan we now have that this crew hasn’t been within the playoffs in two years,” Stanton mentioned. “I consider we’re making progress. I can definitely perceive why followers are pissed off once they hear me say that, however I consider that we’re on observe to have a crew that persistently wins over an extended time frame. I intend this crew to win, have a profitable file each season, be within the playoffs most seasons, and we’ll win a World Collection.”
With reference to this quest for Seattle’s first baseball championship, Stanton confirmed a Seattle Instances report from final month which said that Jerry Dipoto will proceed as the highest decision-maker within the entrance workplace. Stanton didn’t present specifics on Dipoto’s contract standing, or any hints about what number of extra years stay on the extension Dipoto signed in September 2021. As Kramer notes, it could seem as if Dipoto remains to be working underneath that earlier contract and hasn’t signed a brand new deal, provided that the Mariners made public bulletins when Dipoto inked his earlier two extensions with the crew.
“I consider in Jerry, and Jerry goes to proceed to guide our baseball group into the longer term because the president of baseball operations — and I consider passionately that he’s the precise man to do this,” Stanton mentioned.
One other Seattle Instances report (once more from Ryan Divish and Adam Jude) earlier this week said the Mariners would have a better payroll subsequent season, even when such a rise wasn’t anticipated to be sufficient for the M’s to accommodate a serious free agent signing. In accordance with RosterResource, the Mariners completed 2024 with a payroll of roughly $144.8MM, and have a bit of underneath $95MM on the books for 2025, although that latter determine doesn’t account for the projected salaries owed to Seattle’s giant arbitration class of 12 gamers. This won’t depart the M’s too far beneath the $144.8MM determine primarily based on inside salaries alone, not to mention the required upgrades that will likely be wanted to the roster, significantly on the hitting aspect.
Whereas Stanton mentioned the payroll would certainly be on the rise, he unsurprisingly declined to state precisely how a lot further Dipoto’s entrance workplace would have accessible to spend this winter. “I believe our draft, develop and commerce philosophy definitely doesn’t preclude free brokers,” Stanton mentioned, although Dipoto has solely signed two free brokers (Robbie Ray and Mitch Garver) to multi-year contracts throughout his 9 seasons as Seattle’s high baseball exec.
“I believe Jerry’s finished a rare job of buying and selling….He’s been prolific in doing that, and really efficient in doing that,” Stanton mentioned. “And I believe that that is a crucial a part of that philosophy. And for those who’re efficient in buying and selling, it appears to me that meaning you don’t need to do free company offers in the identical numbers.”
The Mariners’ takeover of ROOT Sports activities regional sports activities community was seen because the chief purpose for the membership’s relative lack of spending final winter, and whereas Stanton mentioned this was a “false impression,” he later added that the Mariners’ broadcast scenario is “not going to be practically the priority that it was this previous yr.”
Stanton mentioned the M’s haven’t but selected their broadcasting plans for 2025, as whereas the Mariners aren’t one of many groups tied up in contracts with the Diamond Sports activities Group and Bally Sports activities Networks, DSG’s ongoing chapter course of remains to be a chief consider how the Mariners will select to proceed with their very own programming going ahead. When it comes to deciding to proceed with ROOT Sports activities or to maybe flip to MLB itself to broadcast Mariners video games, the results of the DSG case “will enable us to know what different groups are doing, and that may give us some sense as to what it’s that MLB must promote, principally,” Stanton mentioned. “If there are lots of groups concerned, then they’ve acquired a capability to ship to distributors, such because the cable corporations, a broader set of markets, and due to this fact one thing extra beneficial to these distributors.”
Within the broader sense, Stanton famous that Seattle is “roughly the Fifteenth-largest market in baseball. We’re just about smack dab within the center by way of the scale of the market, and that implies that we’re about common in our potential to generate income and to do these issues. I believe, to me, the phrase that we use quite a bit — and our goal — is to have a sustainable franchise over an extended time frame.”
Stanton additionally spoke publicly for the primary time concerning the Mariners’ firing of supervisor Scott Servais in August, which the chairman described as “a gut-wrenching, troublesome determination” on Dipoto’s half. Servais’ dismissal and the next hiring of Dan Wilson as the brand new supervisor got here after “a really lengthy sequence of conversations. I requested Jerry questions as to why he wished to make the change, with respect to Scott, why he wished to deliver Dan in, and I used to be definitely happy by his considering on it.”
Servais additionally infamously discovered of his firing from a information replace earlier than he heard from Dipoto or Stanton, which Stanton expressed “deep remorse” over, “and that may be a supply of frustration for everybody on this constructing.” Stanton implied that he didn’t know the place the leak got here from, however “I’m extremely assured it didn’t come from inside this constructing or from our possession group, as a result of I do know there was a really small circle of people that comprehend it, and I’ve a excessive degree of confidence that these folks didn’t say something.”
