First Dipoto, now Servais. Mariners, manager agree to multi-year contract extension

When he took over the Seattle Mariners before the 2016 season, Scott Servais didn’t have a day of managerial experience in the major leagues – or anywhere for that matter.

His almost lifelong baseball friend, Jerry Dipoto, said he never doubted whether Servais could succeed, which is why he hired him before the end of October 2015 just after a month after Dipoto took over as the Mariners’ general manager.

But Dipoto said it was the second half of the 2016 season that substantiated his faith. The team turned in an 86-76 finish, just shy of a playoff berth.

“We went into the trade deadline about a game over .500 and we were just hovering – and then in the second half Scott was able to throw it into a different gear in people management,” Dipoto said. “He raised the energy level in the room, and that’s really hard to have that come from the top down.

“Usually that’s something that starts from the bottom up, but Scott did a remarkable job that year of initiating that from the manager’s office … and from that point on, I thought, ‘He’s not just going to be good at this – he’s going to be really good.’ Because most people have to work years to bring groups together like that and he was able to do that in three months.”

Two years later, with the Mariners hot in pursuit of their first playoff berth since 2001 and their second winning season in his three years, the Mariners and Servais have agreed on a multi-year contract extension, the team announced Friday morning.

They did not announce specifics of the deal, but it figures to keep Servais with the Mariners through at least the 2020 season, and it comes just over two weeks after the Mariners extended Dipoto’s contract.

But this was coming.

“It was probably the worst-kept secret in the major leagues,” Dipoto said. “If I got mine, he was going to get his.”

Dipoto said he can’t envision doing his job without Servais, not with their baseball lives intertwined since near the end of their playing days, starting when Servais, the catcher, caught Dipoto, the reliever, one spring with the Colorado Rockies.

Except Servais hardly wanted to talk Friday about his secured future, not with the Mariners coming off losses in eight of their past 11 games, a four-game losing streak and the “second half” of the season officially getting going with a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox.

“I love Seattle,” Servais said. “I said it on Day 1 – our fan base is very hungry to get back to the playoffs and they’ve been very patient. And put your seatbelt on because it’s going to be a wild two-and-a-half months going forward.

“I want everybody to truly understand, I couldn’t be any more grateful to get the opportunity to stay here, but absolutely No. 1, my focus is getting to the second half of the season. That’s why the timing of this right now – I’m excited right now, but I can’t wait to get in and prepare for the White Sox. We need to win this series here this weekend.”

The GM’s and manager’s new deals comes with the Mariners holding the fourth-best record in the majors at 58-39. Both Dipoto and Servais were reported to be in the final years of their contracts.

Servais, 51, is already the fourth-winningest manager in Mariners history (222-199) midway through his third season. And of 20 Mariners managers, he’s one of three to have more wins than losses here, joining Lloyd McClendon (163-161) and Lou Piniella (840-711).

Servais could be the first since Piniella to manage for more than three seasons.

But the biggest difference between Servais in 2016 and now is his temperament, he said. He’s more at ease, less on edge and fewer pundits doubting his fit for the Mariners.

“I certainly understand that any time you get an opportunity like this that there are only 30 of these jobs,” Servais said. “And without ever having done it before there are going to be doubters out there.

“People are going to question you, are you ready for the challenge? Can you handle this? I’m still learning, and I look forward to learning, whether it’s about our players and how we prepare, to beating our opponent, and constantly trying to get better at this. I would like to say I’ve got it all figured out – far from it. And I don’t every see myself being that way.

“You got to be constantly looking forward to new ideas and as the game keeps moving forward, you got to stay with it.”

Since he took over in 2016, Servais’ 222 wins ranks fifth in baseball, trailing only Joe Maddon (251), AJ Hinch (249), Terry Francona (248) and Dave Roberts (248).

He said he’s looked to Hinch as a mentor, same with former Red Sox manager John Farrell. Manager’s with no managerial experience is rampant across baseball now, certainly not limited to only Servais.

“I think now it’s turning out to be fashionable,” Dipoto said.

“New and fresh never hurts. Scott does things different than maybe a traditional manager would have done when he played and I played, which is to say that even in the generation before that. There’s always change, and change is not a bad thing. It’s no longer a traditional slow plod through the minor leagues, it’s about learning how to deal with today’s player and connect with them on a different level and allowing them to express themselves. If you watched the All-Star Game – it’s just a different time. Guys are on the field with their cellphones.

“I think there is a generation of managers who have embraced that and they are the future of this role because it’s simple people management. They just also wear a uniform and a hat while they are doing it.”

Before joining the Mariners, Servais spent 11 seasons as a big-league catcher after the Astros drafted him in the third round in 1988 out of Creighton University. He grew up and was born in Wisconsin.

After his playing career ended in 2001, he spent 10 years in player development, scouting and front-office roles. He was the Texas Rangers’ senior director of player development and then he joined Dipoto’s staff with the Los Angeles Angels as assistant general manager. But he never managed a lineup until the Mariners.

But maybe telling is what Ichiro said in May when he transitioned from player to special assistant to the chairman with the Mariners. He’s played for nine of those 20 Mariners managers over the years.

“I have a manager who has a lot of heart and who cares about the players,” Ichiro said. “I haven’t felt this way – what I feel now is I want to do whatever I can for our manager and I haven’t felt that way in a long time to really want to play that hard for a human being.”

That should speak to the clubhouse culture and Servais’ people skills.

“I allow players to be who they are,” Servais said. “When we acquire players, and we’ve certainly acquired a few players since we’ve been here, you have to trust what the people in the front office are seeing when they make that acquisition and see how does this piece of the puzzle work? If they are doing their job and I’m not in line with that, it’s like trying to put the puzzle together but you’re trying to fit the piece in the wrong spot. It doesn’t work.

“So you really have to trust the guys in the office and Jerry and when they make those acquisitions, let those people come in and be who they are. Let them wear their uniform the way they want to wear it, whatever haircut they want to go with. It’s really secondary to me, and I wasn’t always that way. But I think over time I’ve learned and my own kids have helped me learn that at the end of the day it’s about putting people in good spots where they can perform and have fun and feel good about going to work every day. And that they really feel like they are part of something – and that they are part of a family.

“That’s what we have here.”

Mariners managers

Scott Servais is the 20th manager in Seattle Mariners history, interim or full-time, but he’s one of just three, alongside Lloyd McClendon and Lou Piniella, with a career winning record and he could be the first since Piniella to manage the club for more than three years.

*Servais’ career record is through Thursday, July 19

This story was originally published July 20, 2018 at 10:05 AM.