Dipoto looking for bullpen help for Mariners

It was possible Seattle’s ownership would decide to turn over their front office after a down year, but the Mariners are still on the periphery of the playoff picture, and it appears Dipoto isn’t going anywhere. He helped end the franchise’s 21-year postseason drought a couple years ago and has been at the helm since 2015.

McKay will oversee baseball development at all levels including player and staff development, mental skills and education across the organization, according to a team statement. He’s been with Seattle for the last eight years and has served as the club’s head of player development for the last seven years.

Hollander previously served as vice president and assistant general manager of baseball operations and has been with the organization since 2016. He’ll continue to operate beneath Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto. The promotion ensures that Hollander will remain with Seattle and won’t be poached to lead another front office this upcoming offseason.

“I view this as another way to continue to give back to an organization and community that has always supported me, and my family,” Griffey said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to continuing to contribute to this organization’s success in any way possible.” Griffey, who spent 13 seasons with the Mariners, becomes the first former player to hold partnership interest in the team. He was named as senior advisor to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred this past January.

The game will take place at Dodger Stadium next year before heading to T-Mobile Park in Seattle in 2023. The Mariners previously hosted the game in the third year of the stadium’s existence in 2001 when it was previously known as Safeco Field. With a host of promising youngsters, odds are the Mariners will have a handful of players participating in the All-Star festivities by the time 2023 rolls around.

A well-deserved reward for Servais, who has guided Seattle to a 71-62 record so far this season despite a -57 run differential. He’s already the second-winningest manager in franchise history in his sixth year with the organization. The team also announced Wednesday morning that general manager Jerry Dipoto has been promoted to the role of president of baseball operations. He’ll get a multi-year contract extension as well.

This felt like an inevitable outcome once Mather’s comments to the Bellevue Rotary Club came to light. He outlined a plan of service-time suppression for some of the club’s top prospects and also made callous remarks about some of the organization’s foreign-born players. “There is no excuse for what was said, and I won’t try to make one,” Mariners chairman John Stanton wrote in a statement Monday. “I offer my sincere apology on behalf of the club and my partners to our players and fans. We must be, and do, better. We have a lot of work to do to make amends.” Stanton added that he will step into the job that Mather held on an interim basis.

Among those will be Tom Allison, according to Rosenthal; Seattle’s vice president of scouting. Greg Johns of MLB.com confirms the report, and notes that these are related to the COVID-19 setbacks. Allison is highly respected in the scouting community, and likely will be a sought-after piece for another front office when his contract expires at the end of October.

The players will continue to receive the $400 a week that was agreed to after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. If a minor league season was to start -- which seems unlikely, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times points out -- the players would then begin receiving their normal salaries. Divish does point out that the Mariners did release a number of players in the system, however; estimating that the number is higher than 30. There are several teams who haven’t made a decision or a public announcement yet, but outside of the A’s infamous decision to stop payments after May 31, most orgs have decided to do the right thing and continue the allotments.