Dipoto doesn’t expect action on struggling Mariners’ day off

The phrase “rock bottom” has been coming up a lot this week in regards to the Seattle Mariners, who sit at a disappointing 38-41 following a demoralizing series loss on their home field to a 32-48 Washington Nationals team.

Wednesday: Floundering M’s offense shut down again, Nats win 4-1

The Mariners are off Thursday as they prepare for a three-game set against the American League-leading Tampa Bay Rays (55-38), which will be their last series at T-Mobile Park before the stadium hosts the MLB All-Star Week beginning Friday, July 7. If the M’s are thinking about any drastic measures, this day off looks like the time when it may happen.

Don’t hold your breath on a big change being made in an organization sense, though, based on what Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said during his weekly Thursday morning visit with Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

Asked by co-host Mike Salk if action should be expected before the series against the Rays, Dipoto replied: “No. You know, our action is to get together here in about an hour and start working through our national draft meetings.”

The MLB Draft is set for July 9-10, with the first round taking place across the street from T-Mobile Park at Lumen Field, and the Mariners will be busy with three picks on Day 1 alone. Dipoto stressed that despite how frustrating this season has been for Seattle at the MLB level, the M’s don’t want to make a drastic decision just because emotions are a high level.

“We do have a lot to manage beyond just the major league club and we’re in the midst of that with the draft coming up on us, and (it’s) an important one for us with three picks in the first round and to continue building depth in our organization,” Dipoto said. “And then I think sometimes an off day, it’s good just to let it be an off day. I think everybody needs a chance to just tap the brakes. When you do things at the highest end of your emotion, they tend not to be very smart things. So talking about amateur players and how we might improve the depth of our organization seems a pretty good respite.”

Where do the Seattle Mariners stand now?

What’s the air around the Mariners coming off the disappointment of losing a set to the Nationals?

“You know, it’s another Thursday. Another general morning of frustration,” Dipoto said. “I don’t know a better way to put it and that goes for our entire organization, and it starts with me and it runs through every player on the field. They’re feeling it, we all are, and we’d like to get out from underneath it.”

Asked if Thursday is a chance for the Mariners to talk about changes, Dipoto said it was no different than other days.

“We didn’t need an off day to do that. We do it regularly,” he said. “That is sometimes daily, like I’ve said before, oftentimes biweekly with our offensive check-ins. We make regular use of the calendar in our favor to sit down and meet and talk about strategies, rosters, ways we might be able to get this game going or this team going, and not hit on it.”

Seattle failed to come up with the big hit in a 7-4 extra-innings loss Tuesday night, including a situation when the M’s had the bases loaded with no outs in the 10th inning and needed to just push a single run across home plate to end the game. The Mariners then looked flat offensively in a 4-1 loss Wednesday afternoon to Washington.

“I think one is a hangover from the other, frankly. On Tuesday night, we gave away a win. It was right there for us – there’s no sugarcoating it,” Dipoto said. “We have given that game away before this season, never quite so frustratingly as we did on Tuesday, but that was about as bad as it gets in terms of lack of execution. (Then) you roll in (the next day) and as the schedule makers would have it, you’ve got a day game, and for a lot of guys they’re still feeling the tension, the disappointment, the frustration from the night before and I think it showed up in the batter’s box.”

“… I wish I had a better answer than we’re not doing the things that winning teams do. That doesn’t just go for the lack of hitting. It’s situational execution. It’s coming up with a simple ground ball or a fly ball when you need it. It’s what the Nationals did on Tuesday – they found a way to generate a run and win a game, and then we have failed to do that over and over.”

Listen to the full Jerry Dipoto Show at this link or in the video and podcast near the top of this post.

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