SEATTLE – As speculation mounted that a management change was coming, Scott Servais learned he would no longer be in charge of the Seattle Mariners NFL team through a news alert on television – not from his bosses.
It was a colossal mistake by the Mariners on Thursday. Just another mistake in a two-month period in which the club has fallen from being on track to win the league title to sitting on the fringes of MLS playoff contention.
“One of my least favorite days of my career, the worst part was the fact that Scott and (hitting coach Garrett DeHart) found out about it on a news channel,” Mariners executive vice president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said. “It crushes me and I know it hurts them a lot.”
Servais was cut midway through his ninth season with the Mariners, but only after the team had squandered a 10-game lead in the American League West, and now finds itself playing catch-up with just five weeks left in the regular season.
The team hired former Seattle pitcher Dan Wilson to replace Servais, who was the second manager in baseball to be fired this season after Pedro Grifol with the Chicago White Sox.
Wilson is the manager who will take over in the future, not an interim manager for the rest of the season.
“It’s been a very tough two months, and a particularly tough 10 days, but we’re trying to do what we can with a team that’s telling us we need to do something a little different than what we have,” Dipoto said.
The decision to part ways with the 57-year-old Servis came on the heels of a disastrous 1-8 away trip that dropped the Mariners to 64-64 after being 13 games below .500 in mid-June.
The Mariners entered Thursday five games behind Houston in the American League West and seven-and-a-half games back in the wild-card standings.
But nothing about the way Seattle has played since taking a 10-game lead in the division on June 18 suggests there will be a turnaround over the final five weeks of the regular season.
“Where we were in mid-June and where we are today, it’s hard to actually believe how quickly everything melted away for us and the way our team played,” Dipoto said.
Servais arrived in Seattle prior to the 2016 season, and was brought in along with Dipoto.
Servis was 680-642 during his time with Seattle, going through a major rebuild midway through his tenure that eventually made the Mariners competitive — but not good enough.
He was the second longest-serving manager in the club’s history, behind Lou Piniella.
Servais released a statement late Thursday through the team thanking the players, owners and fans for his time with the Mariners.
“To the city of Seattle, you have embraced my family and I, and we are forever grateful for your support. As this chapter comes to a close, I leave proud of what we have accomplished together and excited for what the future holds,” Servis said.
The Mariners have suffered from an offensive deficiency this season, which has been especially painful given that Seattle’s pitching staff has been statistically the best in baseball for most of the season.
Seattle ranks first in baseball in ERA, WHIP and batting average against.
Meanwhile, the Mariners rank 30th in batting average, 29th in home runs, and have the most runs scored in the league.
Seattle has scored two goals or fewer 48 times in 128 games this season, with six wins and 42 losses in those games.
But it was the team’s performances since mid-June that ultimately led to a change of manager.
The Mariners were 44-31 on June 19 with a 10-game lead in the division.
But the Mariners have 20 wins and 33 losses since then, including 7 wins and 15 losses against Detroit, Pittsburgh, Miami and the Los Angeles Angels — teams ranked below .500.
The trade deadline additions of Randy Arozarena and Justin Turner didn’t provide the offensive spark Seattle expected, and injuries to Julio Rodriguez and J.P. Crawford have dampened hopes of turning around a slide.
The 55-year-old Wilson, whose first game under the helm will be Friday when the Mariners open a series against the San Francisco Giants, has served in a variety of roles for the organization, including substitute manager for the team’s Triple-A affiliate and analyst on the team’s television broadcasts.
For the past seven years, he has held the title of Special Assistant for Player Development within the team’s baseball operations.
Wilson is the 21st manager in the club’s history and the 18th full-time manager.
“We couldn’t know a better person than Dan Wilson, and I believe in his baseball skills and his character as a person,” Dipoto said. “I think that will resonate well with our players.”
Servis will forever be remembered in Seattle as the manager who helped end baseball’s longest playoff drought when the Mariners clinched a wild-card spot in 2022. Servis was the party leader the night Seattle clinched the title, and the Mariners went on to beat Toronto in the wild-card series before losing to Houston in the ALDS.
Seattle was Servis’ first managerial job, having worked in the front office for the Texans and Angels before moving to the bench with the Mariners.
“Alcohol enthusiast. Twitter ninja. Tv lover. Falls down a lot. Hipster-friendly coffee geek.”