Mariners expected to retain Jerry Dipoto as baseball ops president

The Seattle Mariners have reportedly decided to bring Jerry Dipoto back in 2025, which will be a polarizing decision among fans.

Thanks to two straight wins for the Mariners and three consecutive surprising losses by the Astros, there’s still some hope in Seattle. This combination has seen the Mariners climb back to within 4.5 games of the top of the AL West and 5.0 of a wild card spot as of Friday morning, with 21 contests remaining.

However, it’s off the field where the Mariners have received more attention this week. As originally reported by Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of The Seattle Times, Jerry Dipoto is expected to return next season.

Divish and Jude write that ownership has apparently decided to move forward with Dipoto as president of baseball operations for the 2025 season and possibly beyond. Assuming this is correct — and there’s no reason to believe otherwise given the source of the report — it is a polarizing decision by John Stanton and company.

A good or bad move by Mariners ownership?

To say that opinion is split on Dipoto, would be a significant understatement. For every person who says he can’t put together a good hitting lineup, there will be those who point towards his success with pitchers.

For those who point at just one playoff appearance in nine seasons of Dipoto at Seattle, there will be others who argue he’s been hamstrung financially. This is a decision which will split the Mariners fan base, with a lot of strong feelings on either side.

One thing which this decision does though, is give clarity on the situation surrounding Dan Wilson. When he was announced as manager to replace the unfortunate Scott Servais, there was plenty of surprise that Wilson was given the job full time as opposed to on an interim basis.

Why commit the future to Wilson, when there was the chance that those above him would be leaving at the end of this season and new personnel might want to bring in their own manager? If Dipoto is now staying, this makes it clearer that Wilson was his pick, rather than ownership telling him who to install.

By extension, Justin Hollander’s future as Mariners general manager is now more secure. Even though his contract runs into next season, any replacement for Dipoto might well have decided to clean house, including getting rid of Hollander.

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Decision already made in August

As per Divish and Jude, the decision to bring Dipoto back was apparently made prior to the disastrous 1-8 road trip last month which resulted in Servais being fired. This is interesting.

Consider that the previous two times Dipoto was signed to a contract extension, it was announced right away by the Mariners. This time however we are having to rely on a report from The Seattle Times as opposed to official confirmation, which alludes to the frustration within a fan base which is seemingly at an all-time high.

At one point the Mariners were 10 games up in the AL West, and seemingly on the fast track to a second postseason spot in the Dipoto era. However, after the high point of being 44-31, the club has since gone 26-39 and are now fighting for their playoff lives.

Dipoto (and Holland), will now be charged with fixing a lineup which has truly struggled this year. Heading into Friday’s slate of games, the Mariners are ranked dead last in batting average, tied third-worst in OPS, lead the Majors in strikeouts and have scored the fifth-fewest runs.

In contrast, the Mariners’ pitching staff leads the way with the lowest ERA, WHIP and opposing team batting average. Even a close to average lineup would have the club in a much stronger position to make the playoffs.

In this respect, at least the Mariners do still have some hope of qualifying for the postseason, helped by having three more games versus the Astros, in Houston. However, regardless of what happens, Dipoto will be back next year to work with Holland and company on ways to improve the lineup.

What is your opinion of the Mariners’ apparent decision to bring back Dipoto next year? Are you for or against it, and why? Let us know in the comments section below.