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By Jon Paul Hoornstra
Contributing Sports Writer
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The Seattle Mariners have fired manager Scott Servais and appointed Dan Wilson as his replacement. Hitting coach Jarrett DeHart was also let go.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was first to report the news Thursday morning.
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The news comes on the heels of a devastating sweep in Los Angeles at the hands of the Dodgers that saw the Mariners fall to 7.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the third and final wild card berth in the American League.
The Mariners (64-64) had led the American League West most of the season, but the resurgent Houston Astros (68-58) are now five games in front of the second-place Mariners.
Wilson spent the majority of his playing career in Seattle and is in the team's Hall of Fame.
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Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto hired Servais in Oct. 2015, less than a month after Dipoto was hired as the team's GM. The two had worked together in Anaheim — Dipoto as GM, Servais as the Angels' farm director — and their longstanding relationship continued in Seattle.
It was the first and so-far only major league managerial job for Servais, 57, who is 680-642 in nine seasons with one postseason appearance under his belt. The Mariners reportedly signed him to a multi-year contract extension in 2018.
Wilson, 55, has worked in the Mariners organization since 2014, including the last five as a special assistant for player development. He spent the 2014-15 seasons as the Mariners' Minor League Catching Coordinator and the 2016-17 as the organization's Defensive Coordinator.
In a 14-year playing career, Wilson appeared in more games as a catcher than any other player in Mariners history (1,281). He played two seasons with Cincinnati (1992-93) and 12 with the Mariners (1994-2005).
Wilson attended the University of Minnesota and was selected by the Reds in the 1st round (7th overall) of the 1990 MLB Draft. He is also one of 11 members of the Mariners' Hall of Fame.
Wilson has some managerial experience on his resume at the Triple-A level with the Mariners' top farm team, the Tacoma Rainiers.
Although in-season managerial changes in MLB are fairly rare, the writing has been on the wall in Seattle for some time.
According to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times:
It was more than just the awful road trip that sunk the Mariners to their nadir this season and ended Servais' tenure with the organization after nearly nine full seasons — the second longest of any manager in franchise history. Realistically, it was the culmination of two months of losing and failure following that apex day on June 18.
Since that high water mark above .500, the Mariners have posted a 20-33 record, losing their 10-game division lead in a span of 24 games and now trailing the Astros by five games. Only the hapless Chicago White Sox have had a worse record over that stretch (10-43).
The Mariners have an off-day Thursday before hosting the San Francisco Giants on Friday.
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