Is Seattle Mariners Manager Scott Servais “Over-Managing”?

It takes no genius to know that this second half has been a dark time for our Mariners. They now move to four games under .500 since the Midsummer Classic. The defense has made key errors, the hitting has vanished, and the starting pitching has gone from potentially overachieving to just okay. Oh yeah, and the middle relief has been a nightmare.

The M’s have gradually fallen out of playoff seeding during that time. In a time where it couldn’t get worse, they gave MLB’s worst club just their 41st win this season. Even though the manager can’t play nor control his player’s performance, you need to point fingers at the top. This team looked like a wild card sure-fire earlier this season. Tonight was one of the many recent games that their heads have looked anywhere but in the game.

It would be unfair to pin 100% of this struggle on Servais but he is the controller of this Mariner domain at day’s end. In essence, the manager’s main jobs are to set the lineups as well as manage the bullpen. Scott has seemed to have trouble working either aspect out this season.

Every September Mariner game matters as long as they’re still within spitting distance of Oakland for MLB’s final playoff spot. The A’s could fade and we could gain a rhythm to end the season. But how can any rhythm be gained when there’s a different lineup card every night? Your players need to adapt to and get comfortable with their place in the lineup. How does Dee know his place if he goes from hitting leadoff to ninth?

More from SoDo Mojo

• 2023 Steamer Projections: Teoscar Hernandez could see a drop in Seattle
• Could the Mariners Acquire AL Batting Champion, Luis Arraez?
• Steamer Projections: Julio Rodriguez to enter rarified air in 2023
• What if the Mariners traded FOR Tyler O’Neill this time?
• Mariners starting pitching is being overlooked by MLB

And Dee is your fastest Mariner out there so lineup 101, he should be at leadoff. And is Seager going to hit fifth, sixth, or seventh from now on like a couple of games ago? Robinson Cano is not Willie Bloomquist and therefore is probably not used to playing two infield positions in one game, as he did in tonight’s loss.

It doesn’t stop there. It may not make sense to pinch hit Cameron Maybin for Ben Gamel when Gamel is clearly the better hitter and made a couple web gems in right tonight. In the catcher’s department, David Freitas got a hit earlier in tonight’s game. But wait, let’s pinch hit Chris Herrmann in a potential game-tying scenario. Herrmann ended up swinging his back out more than the actual ball.

So you can check off questionable lineup management. But Scott is also struggling with his bullpen management. He needs to realize that over-managing is not the key and may usually backfire. Take tonight where he pulled Wade Leblanc in the middle of a gem. He was riding a shutout through six innings with less than 70 pitches! Unless he’s injured, is there any reason to yank him early?

If the reason is to rest him for the playoffs, there may be no playoffs to rest him for where we stand. Scott’s premature pull of Wade backfired as relievers Warren, Duke, and Vincent all made MLB’s worst look like Murderer’s Row. Who knows if Wade would have struggled as well but you need to go off current performance and he was dealing.

To cap off the over-managing, he pulled Chasen Bradford early in the ninth. The M’s were just down a run and within good reach. But the overrated lefty-lefty decision was made which led to the struggling Chris Davis putting things away against Roenis Elias.

If what occurred tonight was a one-time thing, that’s different. But we have seen this same movie too many times this season. Let the players play. Over-managing doesn’t work. To gain momentum, there needs to be a stable lineup each night so guys don’t get thrown off. And when your starter is throwing lights out, let him play unless the light switch is clearly broken.

The Mariners have definitely contended all three seasons in the Servais era and that’s a plus. But does he have a clear sense of the team? With Servais’s extension, it’s too late to move on from him soon. So is he still learning the ropes of being a major league manager or is this the best we’re seeing from number 29 in years to come?