Interesting Quote from Leake in Today's Divish Article

[IStillLoveTheMs]

"Leake listed 'guidance in the right direction' as a key to stopping this run of bad baseball, alluding that everyone involved with the team –players and management — need to fix it."

Not sure how you guys interpret this. Leake has no excuse with his 5.00 ERA.

But if it's a shot at Servais. I don't hate it.

[Juliooooo]

"Leake listed 'guidance in the right direction' as a key to stopping this run of bad baseball, alluding that everyone involved with the team –players and management — need to fix it."

Not sure how you guys interpret this. Leake has no excuse with his 5.00 ERA.

But if it's a shot at Servais. I don't hate it.

The defense has let him down a few times or his ERA would be better.

[Moe Gibbs]

Was Leake swinging a dead chicken around his head when he came up with that worthless nugget of pseudo-wisdom...?
Every single player we have is performing to whatever level he is capable of and neither Tony Larussa nor Tommy Lasorda could raise this teams batting average a single point with their best Pep Talk.

[IStillLoveTheMs]

Was Leake swinging a dead chicken around his head when he came up with that worthless nugget of pseudo-wisdom...?
Every single player we have is performing to whatever level he is capable of and neither Tony Larussa nor Tommy Lasorda could raise this teams batting average a single point with their best Pep Talk.

I don't want Servais fired because I care about this particular team winning. I want him fired because he is the poster child for everything wrong with God forsaken excuse of a franchise.

I want Servais fired because he's a loser. He's not a leader. He has no motivational qualities. He promotes mediocrity. He's a wimp. He doesn't hold himself or his players accountable for bad decision making that leads to losing. He views baseball as a game that simply plays itself out - a mantra that has led to 4 straight seasons of around .500 baseball and no playoff births. His belief that the players don't need motivation or the occasional kick in the pants is so wrong. When he talks about a veteran underperforming and say's "oh, he's a veteran, he'll figure it out," it makes me sick. What's the purpose of being a manager of a baseball team if that's the case?

When he says, "that's baseball" it makes me want to throw up. Great managers make baseball what they want it to be. They influence the game in a way that changes the way its played, making the opponent think and in turn, make mistakes. I wan't a manager who takes losing personally. Not some idiot who simply shrugs his shoulders after a 5-21 stretch and lauds every opponent for beating our socks off as if they were "just better than us" today.

[Moe Gibbs]

Last year Servais' ballclub was outscored yet almost won 90 games.
Since he has arrived on the scene, what is his combined W/L record and what is the pythag...?
I've seen more young Mariners players thrive under his style of management than I've seen in quite some time.
So instead of winning just 89 games with a shaky, shell shocked rookie closer, a starting staff with no Aces and a "middle of the pack" lineup...what would your pick for Manager have gotten out of them...?

[IStillLoveTheMs]

Last year Servais' ballclub was outscored yet almost won 90 games.
Since he has arrived on the scene, what is his combined W/L record and what is the pythag...?
I've seen more young Mariners players thrive under his style of management than I've seen in quite some time.
So instead of winning just 89 games with a shaky, shell shocked rookie closer, a starting staff with no Aces and a "middle of the pack" lineup...what would your pick for Manager have gotten out of them...?

If the pythag says anything its that the M's lucked into wins rather winning because of quality play or talent. Nobody took the M's 89 wins seriously.

Servais's decision making has almost certainly lost us a vast number of games in every season he's been a coach. His bullpen management is the worst in baseball... Last year his ass was saved by Edwin Diaz not losing in a game he pitched. If Diaz has even a mediocre 2018 the M's lose 10 more games. Diaz was his saving grace and the only reason we won as many 1-run games as we did.

Because Diaz was the best closer in baseball means Servais is a good manager? So many of Diaz's saves were made that much harder by Servais's management of the 7th and 8th innings. Namely trotting out Scrabble, Vincent and Nicasio in spots they should have never been in after proving so 10 times over.

Take a look at the 2018 roster and tell me who Servais got to perform better than expected?

Dee Gordon, Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager, Mike Zunino, Jean Segura, Ryon Healy, Ben Gamel, Herredia, Andrew Romine, Denard Span, Cameron Maybin, Gordan Beckham, Felix, Erasmo Ramirez, Nick Vincent, Juan Nicasio, Scrabble all played either below... or WELL below their career averages. < --- had these guys shown up don't u think we'd have won more? Now yes, some of that falls on the players. But to have THAT many guys underperform... who is holding them accountable?

There were what, 4 or 5 players who played better than what we were used to? Mitch Haniger, Wade Leblanc, James Pazos, Chasen Bradford?

I have a hard time believing the Joe Maddons of the world would be OK with 17+ players showing up to the ballpark and shitting the bed and having to rely on Diaz to save all of them.

You want a manager? Look what Bob Melvin is doing AGAIN. The A's talent pool is no better than the M's, probably worse. Their pitching staff is horrible. Yet there they are again... 10-game winning streak, 29-25 and in the 2nd wild card spot with the 26th payroll in baseball. That's a manager who gets the most out of his players. He shows up every damn day and competes his tail off for his ballplayers and they respond.

[Moe Gibbs]

Once again..Servais took a club that was INFERIOR [outscored] to his opponents and won 89 games.
You attribute that to luck.....
The teams that lost 89 times to Servais' Club took it VERY SERIOUSLY DUDE
You have called this ex MLB catcher A LOSER and A WIMP.
What I'd like to know right now..WHAT IS YOUR CLAIM TO FAME, SLICK...?
Just what is YOUR claim to fame...?
Let's hear it.

[Dr Naysay]

Were we an inferior team? We had the 4th highest team payroll in the AL, the 3rd highest amount of AL All Stars by the break and were cruising. Errors were made all over, SS not challenging two clear game winning runs late in games when his catchers were begging him too, JD letting Fiers just pass us by and help hand Oakland 6 wins late in the season and a few others but it's a tad murkey who is responsible for those. SS has to take his share of the medicine and I remain to be convinced another manager would not have managed situations better.

[IStillLoveTheMs]

Once again..Servais took a club that was INFERIOR [outscored] to his opponents and won 89 games.
You attribute that to luck.....
The teams that lost 89 times to Servais' Club took it VERY SERIOUSLY DUDE
You have called this ex MLB catcher A LOSER and A WIMP.
What I'd like to know right now..WHAT IS YOUR CLAIM TO FAME, SLICK...?
Just what is YOUR claim to fame...?
Let's hear it.

Yeah totally... A catcher with a career .681 OPS playing in the heart of the steroid era who put up 3.1 WAR and appeared in one playoff series in 11 seasons where his team got swept is a total winner . In 15 years of professional baseball (11 as a player, 4 as a manager) the guy will have seen the playoffs exactly once going 0-4. That's a winner to you?

Why would any team employ a manager who has never experienced playing for consistent winners? He has no idea what fielding a winning ballclub feels or looks like.

The whole "Oh, are you a professional athlete?" shtick is so tired. As a player and a manager at the major league level, Servais has been largely a failure. He has almost always always been below average - just like the teams he's been on and the teams he's managed. Don't need to have a "claim to fame" to see that.

And yes, he's a total wimp. Bob Melvin gets tossed in the A's loss to the M's arguing a missed strike 3 call from Lou Trivino that led a Vogelbach homerun and cost the A's a win. The A's go on to win 10 of their next 11.

Servais pees himself every time there's a chance to defend his squad and the M's players see it. The whole East Coast trip against the Indians, Red Sox and Yankees was riddled with strike zone issues that benefited the Mariner's opponents and all you ever saw was Servais standing there with a squinty, scared face looking like he was trying to hold in a crap with his arms folded. He's a wimp and this city deserves better.

You wanna know a perfect example of Servais being smoked by a superior manager? Look no further than the 12-inning loss to the Cubs in 2016. The M's had a 6-0 lead going into the 5th inning. Servais's total bullpen meltdown leads to the Cubs tying it 6-6 in the 9th. Cischek was getting crushed and Servais refused to pull him after he threw 7+ sliders 2 feet outside leading to multiple 2-0 counts... the Cubs scored 3 in the bottom half to tie it. The game goes to the 12th inning and with 2 strikes, 1 out and a runner on 3rd... Joe Maddon has John Lester pinch-hit bunt for a game winning sacrifice that the M's had NO IDEA was coming.

It was the most blatant out coaching performance I've ever seen. It was embarrassing is what it was.

Even funnier, Servais was the starting catcher for the Cubs the year Kerry Wood had his 20K game... the kicker? He didn't even catch that game. The backup catcher did. This is just one of the many examples of a man who has found himself overshadowed by superior talent at every step. Sandy Martinez, the catcher who caught that game, had an OPS 150 points higher than Servais that year.

[bpj]

The only thing Servais has ever had going for him is Diaz. 2018 is absolutely the product of Diaz and very little else honestly.

Dipoto and Servais were steaming piles of cowdung before this past offseason when Dipoto completely changed course. To a good course. Which is good.

But Servais has stayed the course having shown no talent for being a manager.

There's really no use defending Servais from any standpoint in my opinion.