Seattle Mariners Fans React Angrily to Another Questionable Jerry Dipoto Interview

In an interview with The Athletic on Thursday, Dipoto spoke with Sam Blum about his perception, the fan backlash he receives, the M's roster, and those controversial 54 percent comments from the end of 2023.

Seattle Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander talk to the media prior to the game against the Boston Red Sox at T-Mobile Park in 2023. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Seattle Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto gave another questionable interview recently in which he addressed the fan backlash he experiences, his famed "54 percent" comments from 2023 and much more. And fans are not happy with Dipoto, once again.

The interview was with Sam Blum of The Athletic.

While some Mariners fans have defended Dipoto given the very clear ownership restrictions he operates under, others have panned him for the moves made or not made, as well as his public comments, which don't always come off the smoothest.

Let's start with the 54 percent comment from 2023, in which Dipoto (paraphrasing) said that the best way to build a sustained winner is to always put yourself in position to win. He made it clear he didn't want to sacrifice multiple years in pursuit of "one great year."

That sentiment makes sense, but most fans have taken those comments as a sign that the organization isn't really trying to deliver a World Series, and rather than hide from them, or fully apologize for them, Dipoto continued to justify them with the outlet.

“People obviously didn’t understand it the way I expressed it,” Dipoto said, speaking with The Athletic in his spring training office earlier this spring. “My guess is that 98 percent of people didn’t actually listen to it. They just read it off a tweet.

“It’s what it is. Maybe they wouldn’t have understood it any better had they heard the whole thing. And that’s on me for poorly communicating what I think is a simple idea.”

Nearly every time Jerry Dipoto speaks publicly nowadays, there's an uproar.

I sat down with Dipoto, the Mariners' president of baseball ops, to discuss his communication style, his team, and the backlash he receives.

Read: https://t.co/4ahuGSPmk0 pic.twitter.com/EVaubx3kaE

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) March 6, 2025

Dipoto also talked about the negative perception from fans:

“Is it a hard job? Yeah,” Dipoto said. “It’s a hard job. But most jobs are hard jobs. But in most jobs, they don’t stick a microphone in front of your face.”

Conscious of that, Dipoto has intentionally scaled back the number of times he speaks publicly. Seemingly every time there is a microphone in his face, he says something that rubs a disgruntled fan base the wrong way.

“Truly, I could say ‘hello,’” Dipoto said, “and it would turn into a thing right now.”

That's probably true as well, and this interview seemingly isn't going over well in M's fan circles either.

It is remarkable that after everything that’s happened this offseason, Jerry Dipoto sat to do an interview about why his 54% press conference was misunderstood.

— Mariner Muse (@MarinerMuse) March 6, 2025

Truly did not expect to wake up today, three weeks from Opening Day, to see my baseball team’s ranking executive go on record re-litigating his own disastrous press conference by telling you, AGAIN, you’re just dumb and don’t get it. https://t.co/81YRgauoI0 pic.twitter.com/Wbw3zSVOvO

— Nathan Bishop (@nathan_h_b) March 6, 2025

Jerry Dipoto: “I think there are a lot of organizations that look at us and say, ‘They’re doing it the right way.’”

🥴Squandering the greatest rotation in team history

🥴One playoff birth in almost a quarter-century.

🥴Only team in MLB to never appear in a World Series pic.twitter.com/AVwl445KVT

— Rob “Stats” Guerrera (@StatsOnFire) March 6, 2025

We will have much more on this interview, as well as the recent Justin Turner interview in USA Today, on Friday's edition of the "Refuse to Lose" podcast:

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