Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto finds a manager on the same page with Scott Servais

Jerry Dipoto hit the ground running when he was hired as general manager of the Mariners. His new manager Scott Servais will do the same. While he has no previous managerial experience, Servais does have plenty of experience working with Dipoto, and in this day and age in baseball that may be just as important.

There will be no sitting down to learn each other’s baseball, something Dipoto said was necessary before making a decision on Lloyd McClendon’s future with the club. Dipoto and Servais speak the same language. There should be no surprises for the general manager – or the manager, for that matter – which is a good thing.

The manager and the general manager need to be more than on the same page. They need to know why they are seeing what they are seeing on that page and what is on the next page before it is turned. A few years ago when it appeared Jack Zduriencik and Eric Wedge were butting heads, I thought the answer was as simple as each needed to let the other do their jobs. The GM should stay upstairs and build the team and the manager should utilize those players as he sees fit to get the most out of them. It isn’t as simple as that anymore. The game isn’t that simple anymore.

Today the general manager is much more than the wheeler-and-dealer of the organization. The GM is the architect and head contractor, and the manager has to be the foreman. The GM has the plan, the manager executes it. While the GM is the boss, the dialogue needs to go two ways because ultimately no one will know the team better than the manager.

Servais was Dipoto’s first hire as GM of the Angels and the two have worked closely together since. The communication, trust and shared philosophy are already there and clearly this was a priority for Dipoto, more so than managerial experience.

I find it interesting that none of the reported final candidates for the job had big league managerial experience beyond Tim Bogar’s month as interim manager of the Rangers in 2014. For Dipoto, previous managerial experience was never a prerequisite for the job.

“Baseball experience counts for a lot no matter where they came through,” he said in early October. “I think having a major league background somewhat, whether it’s through coaching, managing, playing, etc., is important. I think that lends to credibility in a clubhouse, but other than that it’s going to be about leadership, about team building, about the ability to inspire an environment.”

Servais has no previous managerial experience at any level. He does, however, have extensive experience in player development, and from all reports has been very hands on in his roles with the Angels and Rangers. While he may not have ever run a game from a dugout, he has spent countless hours coaching players and making them better. Why not further develop players at the big league level? Isn’t that something we have been screaming for from the Mariners in recent years?

The ins and outs of what goes on from first pitch to final out can be learned quickly. My feeling has always been that if you are going to have a rookie manager then you need a very strong bench coach, which Servais will reportedly have that in Bogar. I would expect the two to work together well as a team much like Dipoto and Servais will.

There is plenty to be read on Servais and his time with the Rangers and Angels, but we won’t really start to get to know him until we meet him and have our first conversations with him next week. We have had a month to get to know Dipoto a little better and I find what we have learned so far very interesting. He is building his team. Not the team that will hit, throw and catch the ball but rather the foundation and walls of the house. He has brought in his guys, but also kept key organizational members as part of his team too. The transition has been quick off the field, and with the familiarity with Servais and Bogar should be even quicker on the field.