Mariners owner discusses Servais' dismissal, payroll, future of club

SEATTLE -- John Stanton’s office at T-Mobile Park is full of historical images, nearly all of which pay homage to the history of baseball in Seattle. But what really stands out on this afternoon -- one day after the Mariners were officially eliminated from postseason contention in 2024 -- is the 8-by-10 portrait on his desk.

It’s a picture of the Mariners’ chairman and managing partner being embraced by former manager Scott Servais.

“I really like Scott, and that's present tense, not past tense,” Stanton said. “I think Scott is a terrific human being, and I think he did some great things for this franchise, and he will always be thought of as a very, very important part of Mariner history.”

As part of a wide-ranging interview with MLB.com to reflect on the Mariners’ 2024 season, these were Stanton’s first public comments since Servais was relieved of his duties on Aug. 22, a dismissal that will objectively go down as the year’s most defining moment.

• After great start, Mariners' 2024 comes to disappointing end

Stanton also elaborated on why president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto will return, his vantage point on the hiring of new manager Dan Wilson, what payroll will look like in 2025, the future of ROOT Sports and his messaging to a frustrated fan base after the Mariners missed the postseason for the second straight year.

‘A deep regret’ on Servais’ departure
Servais spent nine years in Seattle and was the second-longest-tenured and second-winningest manager in franchise history -- and, despite an increasingly corporate presence in the sport, Stanton had a closer relationship with him than most owners do with their manager.

Which made the messy execution of Servais’ dismissal that much more painful. Servais learned of the decision via a news alert on his phone and before a face-to-face interaction with members of the Mariners’ front office -- chief among them Dipoto, who’d been Servais’ friend for nearly three decades.

“I have a deep regret that it leaked to the media and that Scott found out from some media source,” Stanton said. “And that is a source of frustration for everyone in this building.”

Stanton was asked how, then, such sensitive information could be leaked?

“I am highly confident it didn't come from within this building or from our ownership group, because I know there was a very small circle of people who are aware of it, and I have a high level of confidence that those people did not say anything,” Stanton said.

He was then asked if he knew where the leak originated.

“To be blunt, I can't do anything about it, even if I knew exactly the answer to your question,” Stanton said. “It happened. It was terribly unfortunate. We've expressed, both Jerry and I, have expressed our disappointment that it occurred.”

Servais was sad about every facet of his departure -- that he didn’t get to see the season through, that he was a central figure among a team that ultimately failed to meet expectations and that he didn’t get the chance to address the players in a group setting one more time.

Stanton was asked about his view on the factors that led to the decision, which came just 65 days after the Mariners held a 10-game lead atop the American League West but had since compiled MLB’s second-worst record (21-33) after the White Sox.

“For whatever reason, and Jerry should answer that question, the offensive performance, particularly, has been disappointing,” Stanton said, pointing to a group that, at the time, had MLB’s worst strikeout rate (27.7%), third-lowest OPS (.666) and fewer runs per game than all but three teams (3.9), which was essentially suppressing an all-world starting rotation.

“We believed -- I believe -- that Jerry made the right decision in relieving Scott of his responsibilities, even though I know it was a gut-wrenching, difficult decision.”

Dipoto, the architect of the roster responsible for those offensive shortcomings, remained in his role. Stanton also confirmed Dipoto will hold that position in 2025, which represented the first official word from the club on Dipoto’s status beyond ‘24.

‘I believe in Jerry’
Stanton’s office is on the other side of the wall from Dipoto’s, putting them in close quarters and constant contact. Stanton regularly logs time at the ballpark during the offseason, too, in direct proximity to Dipoto’s most pivotal time of each year, when he constructs the upcoming roster.

In that context, Stanton has as close a vantage point to how Dipoto operates as anyone.

“I believe in Jerry,” Stanton said, “and Jerry is going to continue to lead our baseball organization into the future as the president of baseball operations -- and I believe passionately that he is the right guy to do that.”

The Seattle Times first reported that Dipoto would return on Sept. 8, but the club never commented on the report, nor had it made an announcement on whether Dipoto had received an extension. In the past, the club formally announced when Dipoto had received separate extensions, in September 2021 and July '18.

A source with knowledge of the situation told MLB.com last month that no option on Dipoto’s most recent deal was exercised, meaning Dipoto’s contract was either for more than three years (2022-24) or an extension was agreed to. Stanton, preferring not to speak on contractual details, was asked why the club didn’t make an official announcement as it had in the past, if indeed a new extension was signed.

“I philosophically believe that the focus of our baseball organization should be the players on the field,” Stanton said. “I've joked with people that no one ever bought a ticket because of the owner or the president or the general manager. They buy tickets because they want to see great baseball.”

Entering his 10th season, Dipoto has drawn criticism for Major League talent evaluation, for disrupting clubhouse chemistry by trading away well-liked players and for a growing disconnect with the fan base after last year’s polarizing end-of-season press conference. The latter is why he largely remained out of the public eye this season, a contrast from his prior reputation as one of the sport’s most forward-facing figures among those in his role.

On Saturday, in his first public remarks since Servais’ dismissal, Dipoto held an impromptu 25-minute media session with reporters evaluating the 2024 season, calling it, among many things, “a learning experience.”

“I learned a lot,” Dipoto said. “I know our staff learned a good deal. We learned some things not to do. We learned where we may be doing things the wrong way, and we have to make adjustments, not just an approach on the field, but in how we put the roster together.”

As the Mariners head into the offseason with just one playoff berth in nine years under Dipoto, Stanton was asked for his evaluation of Dipoto, specifically in 2024.

“You start with the performance of the Major League team on the field, and it's disappointing,” Stanton said. “I think that you can't get past that as being the number one factor. But I look at the other things that enable us to be successful in the future, will enable us to be successful in the future, and they're all pointing in the right direction.”

Dipoto orchestrated one of MLB’s fastest rebuilds in recent memory, has developed arguably the best homegrown pitching staff in the sport and assembled a high-performance staff that kept those arms -- and the rest of the roster -- remarkably healthy all year. Overall, by days lost to the injured list this year, according to Spotrac, the Mariners ranked fifth best (1,135 days).

Eyeing the future, Seattle’s farm system was ranked as high as No. 2 by MLB Pipeline before the recent wave graduated to the Majors, and its reinforcements -- headlined by a group of promising hitters -- have the club at No. 9 and almost certain to climb by spring. Single-A Modesto and Double-A Arkansas each won a championship this year.

• Mariners' Top 30 Prospects list

“I think he's developed a great set of systems,” Stanton said of Dipoto, also crediting general manager Justin Hollander, “most of which didn't exist or existed in earlier stages of development.”

The Dan Wilson era
To some surprise, when Wilson was named Servais’ replacement, there was no interim tag, which Dipoto said was to allow Wilson a runway to cultivate trust and lay long-term groundwork. The decision required Stanton’s approval.

“It was a very long series of conversations,” Stanton said. “I asked Jerry questions as to why he wanted to make the change, with respect to Scott, why he wanted to bring Dan in, and I was certainly satisfied by his thinking on it.”

Stanton also reiterated that, “Dan as the manager was Jerry's choice, to be 100% clear.”

Before taking over, Wilson, 55, was among the organization’s most respected figures -- a franchise icon who has been active in the community and who’d already built relationships with many of the Mariners’ young core in his prior role as a special assistant for player development.

Wilson’s competitive strategies have been much different than his predecessor. He has constructed similar lineups each game, operated the bullpen more moderately and, above all, has put a premium on simplified messaging.

Players have given much credit in the latter category to hitting coach Edgar Martinez, the Hall of Famer who played alongside Wilson in the 1990s. Martinez, 61, was brought on only through the end of 2024, though his resounding success has spurred intrigue on what his role will look like in ‘25, given that it appears he will return in some capacity.

“At the risk of saying the obvious, we would do backflips for as much involvement as Edgar has in this franchise going forward,” Stanton said.

Beyond Martinez, decisions on the rest of the coaching staff loom for Wilson this offseason, as does his longer-term scope and correspondence with Dipoto. Wilson has been very measured in media interviews, perhaps a byproduct of being thrust into uncharted territory in overseeing a team that still hoped to salvage its season into October.

But with escrow essentially closing after a full offseason, it’ll be fascinating to watch how Wilson handles the gig in 2025.

A ‘sustainable’ payroll
Fair or not, a team’s budget is always an external point of contention for those that either aren’t in the playoff race or fail to meet expectations. That has been particularly true in Seattle since the Mariners re-entered a competitive window in 2021.

The Mariners operated with a payroll of roughly $145 million in 2024, according to multiple outlets that track those figures, such as Spotrac, Cots Baseball Contracts and RosterResource, each of which had the club ranked between 16th and 18th out of the 30 MLB teams. They were around roughly $140 million in ‘23, $155 million in ‘22 (elevated by signing bonuses on Julio Rodríguez and Luis Castillo) and $105 million in ‘21, the year when they emerged from their rebuild a year earlier than anticipated. They peaked just north of $170 million in ‘18, the final year before the rebuild.

Stanton said that in 2025, “Yes, we plan to increase our payroll” from ‘24, but Dipoto indicated that most of the uptick will be rooted via in-house raises. A sizable group of players is either entering salary arbitration for the first time or going through the process again, all of whom will reach the bargaining table with tangible statistics to make a compelling case to earn more money than they did in '24. This group includes Cal Raleigh, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Randy Arozarena.

But it doesn’t include Rodríguez, whose megadeal that he signed as a rookie will jump his salary by nearly $8 million to just north of $20 million.

“That’s going to be a big number,” Dipoto said of internal increases. “That’s going to jump payroll quite a bit anyway, but it won’t be the only rise that we see in payroll. I can’t give you an exact number. I don’t know what that is. I can tell you we’re not going the other way.”

On the one hand, Seattle will have cost certainty on most of its roster. Including arbitration projections, the Mariners’ payroll for 2025 sits in the $125-130 million range at the offseason’s outset. This is an unofficial estimate.

“We’re roughly the 15th-largest market in baseball,” Stanton said. “We're pretty much smack dab in the middle in terms of the size of the market, and that means that we're about average in our ability to generate revenue and to do those things. I think, to me, the word that we use a lot -- and our objective -- is to have a sustainable franchise over a long period of time.”

On the other hand, the club won’t have a sizable amount to spend aggressively in free agency. But free agency has also been the outlier in how the club augments the roster.

“I think our draft, develop and trade philosophy certainly doesn't preclude free agents,” Stanton said.

Aside from the expensive component to free agency, there’s also the blunt reality that the Mariners have stumbled in that area of roster building, headlined by the largest such contracts to both a pitcher under Dipoto ($115 million to Robbie Ray) and hitter ($24 million to Mitch Garver).

Ray had a great first season with Seattle in 2022 but suffered season-ending elbow and flexor injuries in the debut start to his second, thus shelving Seattle’s most expensive player for all of ‘23 and most of ‘24. He was traded to the Giants in January in the midst of an offseason spearheaded by Seattle’s effort to create payroll flexibility (more on this later). Garver, an above-average hitter by wRC+ (league average is 100) for his entire career, was worth 88 wRC+ and minus-0.4 WAR per FanGraphs in his debut season in ‘24.

The status of ROOT Sports
A chunk of Dipoto and Hollander’s payroll decisions last offseason were made in light of ongoing uncertainty related to the Mariners’ regional sports network, ROOT Sports, which the club absorbed full control of in January after holding a 70% stake prior.

Stanton called the notion of budget uncertainty at the time a “misconception” and that the club’s final budget was set in early November. Regardless, Stanton and Dipoto suggested that the Mariners enter this offseason with clarity on the ‘25 budget, though neither outlined what that number will be.

“Last year, we had a pretty good feeling that there were a number of teams that were in a unique situation due to the RSN [regional sports network] issues,” Dipoto said. “I don’t know how that’s going to play out this season or what it’s going to mean for other teams in the league. The only thing I do know going into this [off]season is how it’s going to play out for us, and it’s not going to be nearly the concern that it was this past year.”

That said, the Mariners haven’t made a decision on their television broadcasting for 2025.

“Our goal is to have programming available to as many fans as possible,” Stanton said, “and so that will be our guiding light in terms of making decisions as the season comes to an end.”

Specifically, Stanton said that the club is considering whether to essentially run it back with ROOT, as it did in 2024 but with more abbreviated production staff and programming than in ‘23; or further explore a partnership with MLB, which produced and distributed games for teams that have been impacted by the RSN situation. The Padres, D-backs and Rockies were the clubs that used MLB’s distribution this year.

“We look at that as an alternative for us,” Stanton said.

The Mariners won’t take further direction on their decision, Stanton said, until a bankruptcy court ruling is made on Diamond Sports Group, the owner of Bally Sports Networks, which filed for bankruptcy in March 2023. Diamond oversees the production and distribution of a little more than one-third of the league’s club television broadcasts, and if Bally is no longer an option after the bankruptcy ruling, those clubs would seemingly need an alternative.

“That will allow us to know what other teams are doing,” Stanton said of the bankruptcy case, “and that will give us some sense as to what it is that MLB would have to sell, basically. If there are a lot of teams involved, then they've got an ability to deliver to distributors, such as the cable companies, a broader set of markets, and therefore something more valuable to those distributors.”

The ‘draft, develop and trade’ model
Poll any front office on what positional area would be the most marquee to build an organization around, and each would almost certainly point to starting pitching. And the homegrown group that Dipoto has assembled -- Gilbert, Kirby, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo -- is perhaps the sport’s best.

The Mariners have also developed Raleigh, a Dipoto third-round Draft pick in 2018 who has become arguably MLB’s most productive catcher, and Rodríguez, who was signed as an amateur international free agent in '17 and who when at his best has shown the potential to be one of MLB’s bright young stars.

J.P. Crawford and Andrés Muñoz were not homegrown players, but they joined the organization via trade early in their careers and became foundational pieces. Each signed a notable extension, as did Castillo, who was the headlining starter moved at the 2022 Trade Deadline, and Victor Robles, who became a revelation in Seattle after being released by Washington in June.

The Mariners also were among the most aggressive teams at the July 30 Trade Deadline, acquiring Arozarena, arguably the biggest bat moved, and Justin Turner, who became a key clubhouse figure but is a free agent.

The Deadline also underscored limitations. The Mariners wanted to add more, and sources said that they were willing to part with any prospect to do so. But most of the biggest names that were floated in trade rumors ultimately did not move -- notably Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Pete Alonso, Yandy Díaz and Luis Robert Jr.

Seattle carried a one-game lead in the AL West at the Deadline but ultimately missed the postseason.

Separately, for all the Mariners’ success with trade acquisitions (recently including Eugenio Suárez, Luke Raley and Ty France before a steep decline from 2023 to '24) there have also been key misses on those with proven track records elsewhere -- such as Jesse Winker, Kolten Wong, Adam Frazier and Jorge Polanco, whose $12 million option for ‘25 likely won’t be exercised.

Stanton was asked if he sees any constraints of the draft, develop and trade philosophy, specifically the latter element.

“I think Jerry's done an extraordinary job of trading. ... He's been prolific in doing that, and very effective in doing that,” Stanton said. “And I think that that is an important part of that philosophy. And if you're effective in trading, it seems to me that that means you don't have to do free agency deals in the same numbers.”

‘Fans are frustrated’
Before the Mariners exited the field on Sunday, nearly the entire team paced the warning track encircling T-Mobile Park, slapping high-fives, snapping pictures and sharing gratitude to the ticketed crowd of 42,177. Despite Seattle being eliminated three days prior, it was their fifth-most-attended home game of the year, bringing its final attendance total to 2,555,813.

That number, which is unofficial, was a slight dip from 2,690,418 last year. But excluding 2023, it would’ve been Seattle’s most attended season since '07 -- which underscores the region’s rejuvenated interest.

Yet many among the fan base have expressed growing frustration with the team’s shortcomings, and with it the direction of decision-making and leadership.

The Mariners finished with a winning record for the fourth straight season, just the second time in the franchise’s 48 years they’ve done so. But angst has mostly been toward the club not reaching heights, especially in this perceived window of contention and on the heels of a 2022 season in which it finally snapped the longest active playoff drought (21 years) in North American professional sports.

In each of the two years since, the Mariners finished as the first team on the outside looking in, one game back of the final AL Wild Card spot (excluding tiebreakers), not to mention the massive lead blown atop the division this year.

Stanton was asked what he would say to fans who are demanding more be done to push the Mariners -- the only MLB team that has never played in the World Series -- over the top.

“I love this place. I am present. I am here. I care deeply about this,” Stanton said. “I am as disappointed as any fan we have that this team hasn't been in the playoffs in two years. I believe we're making progress. I can certainly understand why fans are frustrated when they hear me say that, but I believe that we are on track to have a team that consistently wins over a long period of time.

“I intend this team to win, have a winning record every season, be in the playoffs most seasons, and we will win a World Series.”