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The baseball world is still reeling from the surprise firing of Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais. The Mariners fired their long-time skipper on Thursday and replaced him with former player Dan Wilson.
While the dismissal no doubt stung, the way Servais learned he was losing his job was also brutal. Servais found out he was going to be fired via a breaking news alert on social media, according to the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude on X. Servais saw the alert hours before a scheduled meeting with Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto.
Although the firing was unexpected as Seattle still has a shot at making the postseason, the team has underperformed over the last couple months. As recently as June 18 the Mariners had a 10-game lead over the Houston Astros in the AL West. However, poor offensive play led to the team’s inconsistent performance and they steadily lost their dominant position in the division.
The Mariners did upgrade at the trade deadline, hoping to improve the offense by bringing in Randy Arozarena in a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays and Justin Turner in a deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately, the team continued its slide.
Scott Servais found out about firing through social media
Seattle has gone just 12-18 since the All-Star break entering play on Thursday. The team is now five games behind the first-place Astros in the AL West and 7.5 games back in the American League Wild Card race with three teams ahead of them for the final postseason berth.
Servais served as the Mariners’ manager for nine seasons. He had a respectable 680-642 record as Seattle’s skipper and led the team to the playoffs in 2022, snapping a 21-year postseason drought for the organization. However, the Mariners only made the playoffs one time in nine years under Servais and he was at the helm for the team’s epic collapse this season.
Dan Wilson will take over as Seattle’s manager. He has no previous managing experience but he has worked as the team’s Minor League Catching Coordinator and he played for the Mariners for 12 years from 1994-2005.
“We believe that we need a new voice in the clubhouse. 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,” Dipoto said via USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
