Mariners relieve manager Scott Servais of duties, hire Dan Wilson

Aug 22, 2024, 3:24 PM | Updated: 7:08 pm

Seattle Mariners Scott Servais manager...

Manager Scott Servais of the Seattle Mariners during a June 28, 2024 game against the Twins. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

(Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

BY BRENT STECKER

Editor, Seattle Sports

Scott Servais’ tenure as manager of the Seattle Mariners is over just before the end of his ninth season with the team.

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

The Mariners announced Thursday afternoon that Servais has been relieved of his duties effective immediately, with former M’s catcher Dan Wilson hired as the team’s new permanent manager.

The news was first reported Thursday morning by Ken Rosenthal and Marc Carig of The Athletic.

In addition to the change at manager, the Mariners have let hitting coach Jarret DeHart go. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto added in a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon that Wilson would announce further coaching staff changes Friday before his first game as skipper.

What change at manager could mean for rest of Mariners’ season

Servais’ dismissal comes amid a collapse in the second half of the season that has seen the M’s go from 10 games up in the AL West in mid-June to five games out of a playoff spot just two months later.

“We believe that we need a new voice in the clubhouse,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said in the press release. “Dan knows our team and has been a key member of our organization working with players at every level over the past 11 years. He is well respected within and outside of our clubhouse and we are confident he will do a great job in leading our group over the final six weeks of the season and moving forward.

“I do want to thank Scott for all his efforts here in Seattle over the past nine seasons. He has poured his passion into the team and our community and I know I speak for the entire Mariners organization in thanking him for his hard work.”

The File: A closer look at new Mariners manager Dan Wilson

The Mariners are set to begin a six-game homestand Friday, returning to T-Mobile Park after dropping eight of nine games on a frustrating road trip through Detroit, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles where Seattle’s offensive issues were on display. The Mariners sit at 64-64 entering Friday, a precipitous fall from when they reached a season-best 13 games over .500 (44-31) on June 18. It is the first time they have fallen to the .500 mark since they were 12-12 on April 24.

Just before the Mariners’ recent trip, Seattle swept the New York Mets at home and sat in a virtual tie with the Houston Astros for first place in the division. Not even two weeks later, the M’s are in danger of falling completely out of the race after scoring more than three runs in just two of their last nine games.

The #Mariners are reportedly set to relieve Scott Servais of managerial duties, per @Ken_Rosenthal. @michaelbumpus5 and @StacyRost react now on @SeattleSports – stream or watch live:

📻: https://t.co/ZZ3R7HG4eJ
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— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) August 22, 2024

Scott Servais’ Seattle Mariners tenure

Servais, 57, was named the 20th manager in Mariners history prior to the 2016 season. A former catcher who spent 11 seasons in the big leagues with the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants, Servais came to the Mariners as a first-time manager at any level after working in baseball front offices for a decade. He was senior director of player development for the Texas Rangers from 2004-10 and Los Angeles Angels assistant general manager under Jerry Dipoto from 2011-15.

Servais was chosen to be Mariners manager by Dipoto less than a month after Seattle hired Dipoto for its GM position in the fall of 2015. Servais and Dipoto have both earned multiple contract extensions during their time together with the M’s, with Dipoto also receiving a promotion to president of baseball operations in 2021.

Ryan Divish, who covers the Mariners for The Seattle Times, told Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Aug. 19 that Servais and Dipoto’s contracts are both up at the end of the season, though they include options for next season.

Servais’ tenure is the second-most successful of any manager in a Mariners uniform. Only Lou Piniella (1993-2002) has more wins, a better winning percentage and more games managed in team history than Servais. Additionally, Servais is the only manager besides Piniella to lead the Mariners to a postseason appearance.

Servais was the first person to manage the Mariners for more than three seasons since Piniella, with eight different skippers (including those with an interim tag) taking turns at the job between Piniella’s final season in 2002 and Servais’ first in 2015.

Seattle posted a winning record in five of Servais’ eight full seasons. That includes back-to-back 90-72 seasons in 2021 and 2022, an 89-73 record in 2018, and an 88-74 record in 2023.

The Mariners reached the postseason under Servais in 2022 as a wild card, where they swept the Blue Jays in Toronto in a best-of-three American League Wild Card Series. Seattle was then swept itself by the Astros in three games in an AL Division Series matchup, which was capped by a 1-0 loss in 18 innings in the first playoff game to take place in Seattle in 21 years.

The Mariners have not been able to build upon their breakthrough 2022 season in the years since despite owning a starting rotation that may have the best 1-5 in baseball. Seattle’s offense has struggled since the beginning of the decade, particularly with strikeouts. That’s been especially true this season, with Mariners hitters leading MLB in strikeouts, ranking last in batting average, and sitting near the bottom in most other key offensive categories.

The Mariners have Thursday off and are set to open a homestand at 7:10 p.m. Friday against the San Francisco Giants at T-Mobile Park.