Drayer: Looking at Scott Servais’ legacy, why Mariners let him go

Aug 22, 2024, 6:49 PM | Updated: 9:34 pm

Seattle Mariners Scott Servais manager...

Manager Scott Servais of the Seattle Mariners stands for the national anthem on April 17, 2024. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

BY SHANNON DRAYER

Mariners Insider, Seattle Sports

Years ago, a Seattle Mariners pitching coach quizzed a group of media asking if the old adage in baseball, pitching and defense wins games, was true.

Clearly a trick question, but the bait was taken. Of course it does.

“No,” the pitching coach said.

You can put up all the zeros you want, but as long as there is a zero in the runs box, you cannot win a game. Offense wins games.

Mariners fans have been subjected to a heavy dose of this reality while watching stellar, perhaps once-in-an-era starting pitching in 2024. It has not been enough. Throw in a bullpen that has performed well below the levels of the previous two seasons, and barring a miracle, you have the makings of the Mariners’ undoing in 2024.

On Thursday, following the completion of a 1-8 road trip that saw the Mariners fall from being tied atop the division with the Houston Astros to falling five games behind them, it became the undoing of the manager with the end of Scott Servais’ tenure with the Mariners. In addition to dismissing Servais, who will be replaced by manager Dan Wilson, hitting coach Jarret DeHart has been let go.

News story: Mariners part ways with Servais, make Wilson manager

If there was shock that the fall the Mariners experienced on the road trip could occur so quickly, there shouldn’t have been. The problem that has plagued this team almost from Day 1 had been simmering from June 18, when a slow but steady fall began from 10 up in the division to equal in just 24 days, and it reared its ugly head on the road trip in unrelenting full force. While a faltering bullpen certainly contributed to the record, the main culprit was the offense, with the Mariners outscored 49-15 in the eight combined losses in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

The offense, in a word, has been horrific, with every everyday player but Cal Raleigh posting numbers well below their career averages. As a result, the Mariners’ offensive numbers across the board are significantly down from last year, most notably their league-high strikeouts number that remains on a historic pace. While he didn’t construct the roster, set the offensive philosophy or coach the hitters, Servais was the first to fall.

Without question, everything should be on the table when it comes to potential organizational change with the Mariners coming up short in years five and six following the rebuild that started after the 2018 season. With just 34 games remaining this year, however, firing a very established manager is somewhat unexpected. In this situation, with a team not completely buried, that decision is usually held until the offseason when thorough evaluations take place. As it turns out, those evaluations had already been underway. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto wasn’t specific in just what he saw that led to the decision during a 20-minute conference call with the media Thursday afternoon, but it became apparent Dipoto had focused in on a time period.

“I think he did a tremendous job in stabilizing our major league clubhouse and building a culture of work and focus,” Dipoto said of Servais. “This has not been a terrific run for us over the last two months and it was very difficult decision to make. But I thought it was one that our team was in need of and we need a different voice.”

Nine seasons as “the face”

In his nine years with the Mariners, Servais has been the face of the team, as all managers are. They are the ones that address the media daily multiple times. It is the manager that represents and speaks for the team, and this no doubt puts the biggest target on their backs. It’s a tough tightrope to walk – one of the most important duties of the job because the public, the front office and the players hear each word he speaks.

In the case of the players, Servais has been steadfast in protecting them, perhaps sometimes to his own detriment. He has been the picture of patience through prolonged struggles and stressed belief in his players right up until his very last day.

Wilson, who will meet with the media Friday, will inherit a team with a clubhouse culture carefully curated by Servais over the years. It is a culture players new and old to the team were enthusiastic about in spring training, pointing to it in successes during the season and continuing to display belief through the adversity of the just completed road trip. The work ethic has never been questioned with the players or staff, to the point where a weekly day off from on-field hitting had to be quietly scheduled to keep the hitters from trying to do too much.

In the case of Servais and the staff, the bigger the trouble, the harder they went to work. “What can we do for these players?” was the approach taken when there were struggles on the field.

There will be familiarity with Wilson, who has held various positions within the organization, and knows the players and organizational philosophies. Wilson has had short stints filling in as manager for Mariners minor league affiliates, and had the unique experience of coaching a group that included Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby at the Mariners’ alternate site in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

The Servais legacy

Servais’ legacy will be one of growth, both personally coming into his job having never managed at any level, and for the organization. He took a job managing a veteran club that was just coming up short, then seeing it through the tear down following the 2018 season.

There were challenges and growing pains that were endured, with a 2019 roster that included both vets that were taken on in salary dumps and players new to the big leagues, and even bigger challenges in managing a team during the pandemic. The latter performance goes largely overlooked. He shepherded a young, diverse and growing team through the health challenges, questions, daily testing, social distancing (requiring multiple clubhouses), playing multiple series through heavy wildfire smoke, and social justice issues – including a team vote to postpone a game in San Diego. Perhaps taking into consideration the uncertainty in the world was every bit as important as what came in 2022: ending the drought.

He has been a manager who listened to his players and encouraged them to be themselves, grew a tight-knit, collaborative coaching staff, and created a welcoming clubhouse environment. It was these skills that helped smooth rough waters following comments from Dipoto at an end-of-year press conference last October that left fans and players questioning the direction of the organization. Servais made multiple visits last offseason to players across the country and even as far as the Dominican Republic to hear concerns and lay out the plan. The trips proved effective as the comments became a non-story in the spring training clubhouse after Day 1.

In addition to what he did with the team, Servais has been active in the community, being the only Mariners manager to make the Seattle area his permanent home. He and his wife Jill have been instrumental in dog rescue across the state, particularly in Central Washington where rescue facilities are all but nonexistent. Servais leaves the organization with a record of 680-642 and a .515 winning percentage, which ranks second in Mariners history to only Lou Piniella.

Servais released a statement Thursday night through the Mariners, making it clear how much his time as Seattle’s manager has meant to him.

“To the city of Seattle, you embraced my family and me and we are forever grateful for your support,” reads the end of the statement. “As this chapter closes, I leave with pride in what we’ve accomplished together and excitement for what the future holds.”