Jerry Dipoto is back to undermining his own credibility with Mariners fans

On Monday, Jerry Dipoto did that thing again. The thing where he opens his mouth and makes Seattle Mariners fans wish he hadn't. Given all that happened this season, nobody wants to hear the guy in charge kinda-sorta admitting that he'd have thought about firing him, too.

“If I didn't have a job today, it'd be justified."

At least it took some prodding for the Mariners' president of baseball operations to come out and say this on Monday. It was in response to Dave "Softy" Mahler's question about fans who wonder whether he deserved to pay a price for the disastrous 76-86 season that just concluded on Sunday. A little bit of humility is never a bad thing, folks.

But if the question is how much humility is too much, Dipoto's answer is right where the line is, if not over it. He would have been well within his rights to deflect, and say that as long as he has his job, he's going to do it the best he can. He instead acknowledged that the mob at the castle walls has a good cause for being there. Not what you want to hear from a leader under such dire circumstances.

Jerry Dipoto is one of the best things to happen to the Mariners, and his own worst enemy

We come now to the point where we acknowledge that Dipoto has been good at his job, at least if the measuring stick is previous Mariners bosses.

This franchise has been around for 50 years. It has 19 winning seasons in these 50 years. Of those, seven have come since Dipoto took over the front office before 2016. It was just last year that he was the toast of baseball after the Mariners got closer than ever to the World Series. Dude was Executive of the Year, for crying out loud.

It's the messaging that tends to land Dipoto in hot water, usually because he sounds like a guy doing a bit with saying the quiet part out loud.

There's obviously his original sin of the "54 percent" remark from 2023. Even if what he actually said -- i.e., about how sustainability is ultimately the best way to get to the World Series -- has some merit, he also said that any team that deliberately tries to get to the World Series in a given year is going to end up "laying in the mud and can’t get up for another decade." You don't just tell that to a fanbase that has never known the glory of a World Series berth.

No wonder it didn't fly at the time, and it sounds funny now that the Mariners find themselves laying in the mud just three years later. The model failed this year, to a point where it clearly needs changes.

Dipoto's big idea for fixing what ailed the Mariners this year revolves finding a new manager who can bring something different to the table. He spoke Monday of the team's culture needing a reset, and how the ideal manager is "someone who might be able to poke holes in what we’re doing and help us see something that perhaps we’re blind to.”

It's not the wrong idea, yet it does boil down to a premise that there's more to be gained from the players who will be returning to the team in 2027. It's a lot to ask of a new manager and a new coaching staff, and doubly so knowing that there's a lockout coming on December 1. Once it hits, there will be a communications blackout between players and team personnel.

What's really needed is an all-of-the-above approach in which the Mariners get the coaching they want and give them a better roster to work with. At least one star hitter is needed, as well as better depth for the bench and bullpen than guys like Leo Rivas and Michael Rucker. It's a big project that is going to require maximizing what resources the Mariners do have.

This, of course, is Dipoto's job. And right now, it would be easier to have confidence in his ability to do it if he hadn't just told everyone he isn't sure he should have said job.

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