Sodo Mojo’s Seattle Mariners Twitter Mailbag

Bad Clubhouse Corrupting Prospects?

This is an interesting perspective and not one I entirely agree with. The bullpen has been quite good lately, both Dee Gordon and Kyle Seager are playing well. I guess I don’t see a lot of veterans who appear to be “mailing it in”.

However, Scott Servais has certainly been trying to send messages to a few young vets in recent days. He publicly called out Yusei Kikuchi after his start in Detroit. He benched Mallex Smith for repeated mental errors on the bases during the road trip.

Perhaps I’m not watching close enough, but I don’t see anything like a serious clubhouse problem. Remember last year when Jean Segura was throwing punches at Dee Gordon because his buddy Robinson Cano wasn’t playing second base? That was a problem.

And to their credit, the Mariners fixed the problem by trading both Cano and Segura away in the off-season. But to answer the question, no I don’t think it will be a problem. Any clubhouse issues can be dealt with pretty easily unless they are being caused by Seager or Gordon. The Mariners only have 4 players with guaranteed contracts for 2020, so flushing those guys out won’t be an issue.

Besides that, rookies are typically so focused on performing at the level so they can stay there, that doing anything to jeopardize their standing in the organization would be beyond stupid. I don’t know if there is a clubhouse drama right now. But even if there was, you cannot shield rookies away from the natural dynamic of a clubhouse.

You play long enough, and you’ll have to deal with the veteran who doesn’t give you know what anymore or the two teammates that hate each other. It is a part of the game. So is working around those issues, a skill you can only obtain by going through it. I wouldn’t let it change anything this year.