Change is Coming

Bo Crouch 8-25-24

The Seattle Mariners are on pace to miss the playoffs yet again despite having some of the best pitching in the league. this week as the bats continued to struggle in giving run support, they continue to have the league's worst batting average and leading the league in strike outs. Usually when a team has a lot of strikeouts it's because they are a power hitting teams that is relying on the long ball but in this iteration of the Mariners, they just aren't seeing the ball particularly well.

Thursday some change has arrived when the Mariners moved on for their manager in Scott Servais and their hitting coach Jarret DeHart while placing former Mariners Catcher Dan Wilson as the new skipper and took the time to say he isn't not filling this role in an interim capacity but is the Manager moving forward. They also moved quickly filling the role for hitting coach with another former Mariner in Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez. As one of the best hitters to play the game he should be able to help get Seattle's hitters back on track.

It may be too little too late to save this season as only one team is likely to come out of the West this year and that will be the Division winner. There is still a path to win but over these last 32 games they will need to outpace the Astros and sweep the final series against them to have a shot.

What has happened to the Mariners this season isn't something new and these changes may not usher in a new era when you have the same GM bringing in talent and the same ownership group that doesn't spend the money to being in the missing pieces the team needs. For instance, there were good bats available before the trade deadline that they could have made a play for like a Cody Bellinger. This is something that looked like might be on the tale when they shipped Ty France out the door who was their second-best hitter this season. Instead, they bring in Randy Arozarena from Tampa Bay which is a solid player however he boasts an almost identical stat line to France which then begs to question why make the move at all.

A new era is starting with Wilson and Martinez and as a long time Mariners fan I hope they can bring the magic some of the teams had when they were on the roster. That being said, there's reservations I have about if the front office will give them the tools to be successful and those questions will be answered in real time as we look on to see if they can finish the 2024 season strong as well as retool this team for 2025.