Calkins with a shot at the FO

[D-train]

With little success, doubt Mariners regime will improve this team is justified

Matt Calkins By Matt Calkins
Seattle Times columnist
One-hundred four games in, five and a half games out of the wild card, and I can’t help but think — one time in eight years?

There’s a trade deadline approaching in which a few decisions could either sink the team, spark a surge or keep it mired in mediocrity, and I’m reminded: just a single playoff appearance under this regime?

This is not a specific attack on Mariners manager Scott Servais, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto or chairman John Stanton — all of which have (essentially) been in their roles since the start of the 2016 season. But it is an observation that, despite a host of extensions and a pair of 90-win seasons, this franchise has been a disappointment over that span.

That feels particularly relevant now with the Mariners (53-51) about to enter the final two months of a season that once seemed predestined for bliss. It feels even more pertinent knowing the organization’s purgatorial position in the standings makes the choice on whether to buy, sell or stand pat by the Aug. 1 trade deadline especially daunting.

You’d like to think back-to-back 90-win seasons and a 21-year playoff drought coming to an end 10 months ago would give you confidence that the organization will deliver in this critical moment. But given what fans have witnessed over the past 7 2/3 seasons — has the brass earned the benefit of the doubt?

No.

A sports columnist in this town is guaranteed emails or voicemails calling for Servais’ ousting, Dipoto’s departure or Stanton’s sale of the team. They’ll tell you Scott can’t make a decision when it matters, Jerry can’t acquire the proper players and that John is a profit-first penny pincher.

I’m not (quite) arrogant enough to point to the root cause of the problem or tell which of the three deserves the bulk of the blame. And though the past eight years have been better than the previous eight, they have still been far from elite.

No doubt the Mariners have established themselves as an organization that can spot and develop pitchers as well as most teams in MLB. They entered Saturday’s game with the eighth-best ERA in baseball and the sixth best among relievers. Last year, they also were eighth and sixth, respectively, in those departments. Does that mean they unload a starter such as right-hander Logan Gilbert in order to acquire much-needed position players going forward? Maybe. Because there is little indication they are going to suddenly improve next season.

To the Mariners’ credit, they have spent money on pitchers such as three-time All-Star Luis Castillo and 2021 Cy Young winner Robbie Ray, who has been out most the season with an injury. But whether it’s because Dipoto has been hamstrung by cash or unable to lure a big bat, they have not been able to supplement those arms with any real offense.

Dipoto has admitted as much.

“Some of the struggle that we have had is simply on me,” said Dipoto on his weekly radio show on Seattle Sports 710 AM, mentioning that the team’s younger players would inevitably endure some “bumps in the road.” “I didn’t do a good enough job of building a group around that core to support the bumps and the bruises. And that’s played out. Now we are four clean months into the season, and that’s been a real hole for us.”

To be sure — nobody in Dipoto’s position is going to say “we had three or four whales lined up if only our tightwad chairman would have opened up his checkbook.” Pinpointing the problem is difficult. But at least credit Dipoto for his transparency in A) recognizing the team’s shortcomings, and B) (as he also said on his radio show) admitting they won’t be hunting for “big fish” over the next few days given their record.

Still, what happens at the deadline, how that affects the rest of the season and sets up the Mariners for the future is crucial. The idea that this team would miss the playoffs after going 61-33 over its final 94 games last season, advancing to the ALDS and making the Astros squirm in three straight contests seemed borderline impossible in March.

Instead, with FanGraphs.com having given them a 17.3% chance of making the postseason entering Saturdays’ game, it seems more disappointment awaits. That’s become all too familiar a feeling.

No doubt everyone in the Mariners’ front office has been putting in work all these years. How well they’ve been doing their jobs is another question.