Mariners ‘running out of levers’ to stop their slide

Aug 20, 2024, 11:02 AM | Updated: 11:17 am

Randy Arozarena of the Seattle Mariners after striking out against the Dodgers on Aug. 19, 2024. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)

BY BRENT STECKER

Seattle Sports

The Seattle Mariners have gone from leading the AL West by 10 games in mid-June to a five-game deficit just two months later. And they’re running out of time and options to get themselves back into a playoff spot.

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Since the M’s took a 44-31 record into play on June 19, they have gone 18-31, allowing the Houston Astros (68-56 entering Tuesday) to surge ahead of Seattle (now 64-62) in the division.

The Mariners have tried to change their fortunes, especially when it comes to their scuffling offense. They parted ways with first-year offensive coordinator Brant Brown on May 31. Rookies like Ryan Bliss, Tyler Locklear and Leo Rivas have been up and down with the team throughout the season. And Seattle was one of the more active teams before the MLB trade deadline in July, acquiring Randy Arozarena, Justin Turner, Yimi García and JT Chargois.

Are there any more options left for the Mariners to try to turn things around? Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk asked ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan on Tuesday what potential changes could be considered before the 2024 season ends.

“Front office? No, that’s not going to do anything. Manager? You have to be considering it at this point, yes, but there’s enough going on there that I do not know about where I’m not sure how big of a boost it would be,” Passan replied. “I think it ultimately comes down to the Mariners front office asking, ‘Will getting rid of (Mariners manager) Scott Servais or somebody else in that clubhouse make a clear and demonstrable change?’ And unless the answer is an obvious yes, I just don’t know that it’s worth it.”

Is a change needed now?

After their conversation with Passan, hosts Mike Salk and Brock Huard shared their own thoughts on the Mariners’ situation with Seattle having lost all but one of the seven games they’ve played on their current nine-game road trip.

“I tend to agree with (Passan),” Salk said. “I don’t know why (an in-season change at manager) would necessarily be worth it. I’m not sure what you would get out of making that kind of a change. I don’t see how some of the problems are really Scott’s fault. And so I don’t think that’s a move that I would specifically want them to make, but I can understand how it might end up happening if you’re not able to turn this thing around. You go 1-8 on the road trip, sometimes decisions get made that have nothing to do with logic. They just get made because ‘something has to change.'”

Huard responded, “I mean, what other lever do you have?”

“You’re kind of running out of levers,” Salk said. “I think that’s a really nice way of saying it. What other lever do you have?”

Salk cautioned against pulling a lever simply because it’s the only one seemingly available at a specific time.

“I can understand just kind of looking at it like, well, I don’t know what else to do, so I guess I’ll do this instead of trying to deal with it in a little bit more thorough fashion in the offseason when I can really look through everything. But if you’re really planning to do it in the offseason anyway, why bother doing it now? Why not give the guy who’s made it back from the brink a bunch of times one last opportunity to try to save it? And if he doesn’t, OK, fine.”

Even if the Mariners do get back on track, the Astros have won 10 of their last 11, making it hard to believe Seattle can now get in the way of Houston winning a seventh AL West title in the past eight seasons.

“It really feels like if you don’t win every series from here on out, I don’t see how you can possibly catch these Astros that are getting healthy, that are locked in, that are playing great baseball,” Huard said. “They’re playing some of the best baseball as you’ve played some of the worst baseball, unfortunately, over the last couple months of this season.”

ESPN’s Jeff Passan joins Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk at 8:30 a.m. each Tuesday during the baseball season. Listen to this week’s conversation in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.