Dipoto: Mariners players pointed out things ‘abandoned’ in 2026

Seattle Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto believes the team’s open manager position will be highly coveted by candidates. And in explaining why, he revealed some feedback the team received from players in regards to a disappointing season that ended with Dan Wilson and the M’s announcing he will not return as the skipper next season.

Seattle Mariners ‘will go outside to hire our manager’

“The performance on the field this year has made us question a lot of the things that we are doing at the major league level,” Dipoto said. “And I will say multiple of our major league players who came through our system have referenced what they learned in player development that got abandoned in the big leagues this year. … We have a host of players who’ve come through our system, and they saw a difference. We need to get back to what we believe is a Mariners baseball process.”

A year after winning the AL West and reaching the American League Championship Series, the Mariners fell well short of their high expectations in 2026, finishing third in the division and missing the playoffs with a 76-86 record. It was Seattle’s first losing record in a full season since 2019.

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The Mariners underperformed across the board in 2026, but retain a core that includes All-Stars Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, George Kirby, Josh Naylor and Andrés Muñoz. Of those seven players, only Raleigh will be 30 years old at the start of next season.

“I will say this selfishly, we just had a 76-win season, which is usually associated with a team that’s not particularly exciting to be with. There’s not a single candidate in baseball that wouldn’t be excited to take over this job,” Dipoto said. “This ballpark, this city. The talent on that roster – not one of those guys I’ve mentioned will be older than 30 years old to start next year. A robust farm system and a deep pitching staff.

“All the elements are there. But you can’t be the worst defensive team in baseball. You can’t make the mistakes that we made constantly throughout the year. You need to be better prepared and in line with a process that leads to winning, and we will find someone through this process who comes in and is in alignment with what we see as the direction the team needs to head, and then guides us in a way that we get better.”

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