3 qualities Mariners' next manager must have if Dan Wilson's time is up

It's far from official that this will be Dan Wilson's last season managing the Seattle Mariners, but the signs are pointed in that direction. If so, the time will soon come when the Mariners must ask who their next manager should be. Before that, they must determine what their next manager should be.

The only sure bet is that the next person won't be a copy-paste version of Wilson. That's never how it works when the manager's chair changes hands. And yet, dare we say the Mariners should keep in mind that Wilson brought some good qualities that should not be taken for granted?

Julio Rodríguez described Wilson as being a "hands-off" type who lets his guys play. That's not the worst approach, especially when it comes to veterans who know their way around the proverbial block. And as tired as we've all gotten of "Tough one today," the charitable read on Wilson's infamous catchphrase is that it speaks to his willingness to be a heat shield for his players.

The next Mariners' manager needs to blend the new school with the old school

If we can agree that these qualities are at least nice-to-haves for the Mariners' next manager, the only question is what are the must-haves for the 22nd skipper in franchise history.

Someone who knows how to manage a game

Here's a quote about Wilson from Manny Acta from May of 2025, which is now living rent-free in our heads here in September of 2026:

"He’s been really impressive for a guy who had never done it before. Obviously, the last part that’s going to come is the Xs and Os, because he didn’t have the experience. But he’s doing really good in that too. The good thing is, he listens. He listens to the people around him and he allows people to work."

Manny Acta

The Xs and Os thing was a reasonable sentiment at the time, but HOO BOY has it not aged well. Wilson's actual in-game managing famously ended up dooming the Mariners' 2025 season, and progress in 2026 has been nonexistent. Even with the caveat that he's had an undermanned relief corps all year, his bullpen management has been especially egregious.

Maybe there's a case that things like bullpen management, lineup construction, pinch-hitting and situational hitting and running are as much an art as a science. But if Dave Roberts can strike a balance between playing hunches and playing the numbers, that's evidence that it can be done. Since the Mariners are a mid-market team that has to compete with a mid-market payroll, it must be done.

Someone willing to hold players accountable

Again, it's not a bad thing that Wilson has primarily functioned as a classic players' manager. Yet it is fair to accuse him of having been too soft at times, including recently when his heat-shield act covered up for lack of hustle on the part of Josh Naylor.

More broadly, Wilson's "Tough one today" explanation for seemingly every Mariners loss felt less benign every time he said it. There are times when the game of baseball just doesn't cooperate, but the scale at which the Mariners have lost games this year can only come from systemic problems. The sloppy play in particular is something Wilson needed to do something about, yet just never did.

It's harder to blame all the injuries the Mariners have suffered this year on Wilson, but he may not be entirely blameless either. A lot of guys tried to play through pain this year, ultimately to the team's detriment. That's somewhere between a communication problem and a culture problem, the buck for which stops with the manager.

Someone who is willing to be a teacher

Whoever takes over the Mariners is going to inherit a whole bunch of veteran talent. Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh are going nowhere, and some mix of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo and Andrés Muñoz is going to survive even if the Mariners shake up their pitching staff.

Yet there's also a new dawn upon the team's roster. Colt Emerson is J.P. Crawford's heir at shortstop. Kade Anderson, Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo are already up, and Ryan Sloan is among the well-regarded prospects who could be next. As president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto put it, "The future seems better than the present."

There's basically a whole next generation that will soon be rubbing shoulders with the players who drove the Mariners to the playoffs in 2022 and 2025. Getting everyone to coexist will mean keeping the veterans happy and putting the young guys in a position to thrive. The latter group will need a manager who has their back and is willing to be generous with their time and knowledge.

All of the above is… a lot, to put it mildly. But that should also be the whole idea whenever the Mariners get serious about hiring a new manager. Since Wilson wasn't good enough, the thing to do is do better.

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