Brady's Spin: Firing Scott Servais Was Necessary Move For Seattle Mariners
On Thursday morning, the news came out that the Seattle Mariners were going to fire manager Scott Servais and replace him with team Hall of Famer Dan Wilson.
Let me be clear on this: I take no joy in Scott Servais being fired, but this was the right move.
It's not because Scott Servais forgot what he once-knew about baseball and it's not because Scott Servais is a bad manager. It's because it's time. It's really that simple.
I can appreciate everything that Scott Servais did with the Mariners (and I do), while also recognizing that.
Over time, almost everything grows stale, no matter how good it is. Scott Servais is a nice guy. He's not a confrontational guy. He doesn't push his players publicly and he doesn't embarrass them in the media. He doesn't chastise umpires and he doesn't overreact to a bad loss and he sticks by his players. He truly seems to value those around him.
Five years ago, those were all the right answers. The Seattle Mariners, a team that was going through a rebuild in 2019, needed an attitude like that. Though Servais had also helmed the team in the Felix Hernandez/Robinson Cano/Nelson Cruz years, they pivoted in 2019, and Servais was still the man for the job. He is good with young players, he's supportive, he's patient and he's kind. That team needed that, and guys like Victor Robles, Paul Sewald, Justin Topa and Collin Snider have all since benefited from it, I can guarantee you.
Scott Servais often did take a team full of re-treads, young players and plucky underdogs to a better place, and I appreciate that too. He helped usher in a largely productive and fun era of Mariners baseball when it wasn't necessarily expected.
But, this team is not that. This team is supposed to be good, and had expectations that coincided with that, and they are set to fall massively short again. This isn't supposed to be an underdog story, this is supposed to be a team that can contend for a World Series. This team needs a new message, maybe one with more urgency behind it.
Scott Servais may very well get another managerial job, and he may do great at it. And in fact, I hope he does. He just didn't work here.
Not anymore.
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