WYMAN AND BOB

Morosi: Mariners’ Servais as ‘capable and effective’ a manager as there is in MLB

Jul 22, 2022, 10:46 AM

Mariners Scott Servais...

Scott Servais and Eugenio Suarez celebrate after game two of a doubleheader against the Washington Nationals on July 13, 2022. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

(Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Last year, Mariners manager Scott Servais led his roster to a 90-win season and finished second in American League Manager of the Year voting.

Mariners Table Setter: 3 things that could help M’s catch Astros

This year, he’s showing once again how great of a manager he is, according to one MLB insider.

Jon Morosi of MLB Network joined Wyman and Bob on Seattle Sports 710 AM on Thursday to discuss the job that Servais has done leading the Mariners to a 14-game win streak after a very poor month of May that had many throwing in the towel for his team.

“I think he’s done a great job. And obviously we talked about last year him being a Manager of the Year candidate, I still think he’s in that vein right now,” Morosi said.

As the Mariners return from the All-Star Break and begin the second half of the season, they find themselves 51-42 and holding the second of three AL Wild Card spots. A big reason why, Morosi contends, is that the seventh-year manager is pressing a lot of the right buttons, which isn’t easy to do.

“You look around the major leagues, and you know you’ve got things going in the right direction when if you asked all Mariners fans, ‘OK, if you could replace your manager with anybody else in the league, would you do it? Who would it be?’ — and maybe they would have an issue with a bullpen decision here and there, but that’s true of every manager — and there’s not really anybody that I would think of in that respect that I would say that Scott Servais is not as capable,” Morosi said. “He is as capable and effective a manager as anybody else in the game. I really believe that. I don’t think there’s a manager that the Mariners would trade him for today, and that’s a pretty strong statement to make.”

Morosi thinks Servais has an excellent understanding of his roster, and that he clearly knows how to win with a different-looking roster.

“Last year, he won with a little bit of a different team with all the negative run differential, the fun differential that we talked about. And this year, he overcame a pretty dreadful start, I mean, it was mediocre at best,” he said. “And the Angels looked unbeatable and for two months, we were talking like, ‘Oh my gosh, the Angels are for real.’ And then it all collapsed for them … Now the Mariners have a path to the playoffs.”

Where Servais really stands out, Morosi said, is when it comes to handling his pitching staff.

“It’s not an accident — and certainly there’s some luck involved — but you don’t bring in two (young) pitchers and have them pitch as well as (George) Kirby and (Logan) Gilbert have, and integrating a young major arm in (Andrés) Muñoz to the bullpen, and manage their innings, manage their health and basically have the same core five starting pitchers effectively all season long, without knowing what you’re doing in terms of how you manage people’s workloads,” he said. “I mean, that’s skill.”

Servais, a longtime MLB catcher before becoming a director of player development and later an assistant general manager, has an excellent “baseball acumen” that’s always stood out to Morosi.

“I think he’s just a really good baseball guy. He understands development because that was his job in Texas and with the Angels to an extent. He gets it,” he said. “I think right now the Mariners are in very, very good stead and in very, very good hands.”

Dipoto: Mariners ‘open to anything’ that ‘adds impact’ at deadline with pitching the focus

Team: mariners
200

Wyman & Bob

Date Starting Pitcher
Friday, September 22 @ 5:05 pm

Mariners Roof Report

Brought to you by
Sunny
High 75° | Low 53°
No game today.

Wyman and Bob

...

Seattle Sports Video

Video: Seahawks S Jerrick Reed on NFL life and where exactly he got the ski mask in Detroit last week

What does Seattle Seahawks S Jerrick Reed think this defense can accomplish this season? What has the adjust to life in the NFL been like? Where exactly did he get the ski mask in Detroit last week? He joined Bob Stelton and Dave Wyman to discuss that and much more. What makes this Seahawks defense […]

4 hours ago

...

Seattle Sports Video

Video: The two extremes of the Seattle Seahawks defense

After the first two weeks of the NFL season, has the Seattle Seahawks defense been a tale of two extremes? What has been the biggest difference between week one and two? Dave Wyman and Bob Stelton discuss that and just what it means for this defense the rest of the season. What stats jump out […]

2 days ago

Seattle Seahawks Uchenna Nwosu...

Seattle Sports Video

Video: Football 101 – How Seattle Seahawks’ big takeaway came together

Dave Wyman of Seattle Sports' Wyman and Bob breaks down one of the biggest plays from the Seattle Seahawks' Week 2 overtime win over the Detroit Lions.

2 days ago

Seattle Mariners Julio Rodríguez Pete Alonso...

Brent Stecker

Which big bats could Mariners get in offseason? Watch for trades

MLB Network insider Jon Morosi breaks down why the Seattle Mariners will be in a good spot to go after big bats on the trade market this winter.

2 days ago

...

Seattle Sports Video

Video: Who do Seattle Mariners need to step up to make playoffs? Bob’s Breakdown

Bob Stelton of Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob breaks down the state of the Seattle Mariners, who are just outside of the playoff picture after being swept by the Dodgers and have just 13 games left — including 10 against their key competition in the AL West rest. This week, Bob answers: -What’s happened to […]

3 days ago

...

Seattle Sports Video

Video: Is Seattle Seahawks WR Tyler Lockett still underrated in the NFL?

Is Seattle Seahawks WR Tyler Lockett still one of the most underrated players in the NFL? Why doesn’t he get his flowers like other wide receivers in the league? Dave Wyman and Bob Stelton discuss the star WR and why he isn’t in the conversation for best WR in the league. Is his soft spoken […]

3 days ago

Morosi: Mariners’ Servais as ‘capable and effective’ a manager as there is in MLB