3 moves for the Mariners to make after the firing of Scott Servais

34 games left in the season. That's when the Mariners decided to shake things up by deciding to fire both their Manager, Scott Servais, and their hitting coach, Jarret DeHart. However, it may be too little too late with the Mariners 5.5 games back of the division leading Astros while being even further back in the Wild Card picture as they sit 7.5 games back of the final spot currently held by the Kansas City Royals.

Seeing the Mariners record of 64-64 makes things feel a bit worse than they actually are. You think about years past, and you know that to get to the playoffs, you need to end up somewhere in that 86-90 win range to get a spot now that there are three Wild Card teams that earn berths. Right now, the Astros are on pace for 88 wins, so the Mariners would need to go 24-10 to match that.

However, the Mariners have the 25th-ranked remaining strength of schedule, while the Astros have the 7th-ranked when it comes to the average win percentage of teams remaining to face (.514-.486). If the Rangers falter a bit and finish in line with that mark, they would end up with 86 wins. It's not a big difference, but slight enough that it could mean the world to the Mariners. Does 22-12 sound a lot more manageable than 24-10 to you? I know it's just two games, but it seems much more doable.

The Mariners haven't been good the last 2 months, and that's still being nice about it. We are asking this team to win as many games in their next 34 contests as we just saw them win in their last 55 or so. The Mariners are a team of streaks though, as we have seen them go 6-10, 38-21, and 20-33. If they play at that exact same win rate that they did win they went 38-21... they would go 22-12 to finish the year.

All of that leads to this. The season isn't over, but it's getting tighter by the day. Let's look into it and check out the 3 next steps that the Mariners need to take after the firing of Scott Servais and Jarret DeHart to try and salvage the season.

Mariners move #2: Canzone needs to be in AAA

Dominic Canzone was definitely a fun piece when the Mariners were able to get him from the Diamondbacks last year as a part of the Paul Sewald trade. Although it seemed like a win/win move at the time for each team, Sewald's struggles this year makes it seem like a convincing win for the Mariners, especially with Rojas's defense and all the control on players that the Mariners acquired.

Canzone has just not been able to put it together though. I think he needs more time in AAA to get regular at-bats and grow in his experience and confidence before taking on this much playing time at the major league level.

Since July 2nd, Canzone is hitting just .146/.217/.293. He did miss a month of time with the injury which is another part of the reason that I think he needs to go to Tacoma. If he isn't fully healthy, trying to hit major league pitching becomes that much harder. Give him time down in AAA, and let the big dawgs earn their keep in September when the team really needs them.

Mariners move #3: Officially give Wilson and Martinez their titles

It does look like the Mariners named Dan Wilson not just the interim manager, but the full-time manager going forward. That's what it looked like in their press release, at least, where there was no mention of interim, and there was even a note that he was going to be the teams' 18th full-time manager. It caught everyone off guard, but he has been with the team for just over a decade, so plenty of the players are familiar with him.

Then, there is Edgar Martinez. He was the team's hitting coach back from 2015-2018 while leading the team to have OPS marks of 15th, 8th, 17th, and 19th. It's nothing special, but still worlds above what we have seen from the team over the last couple of seasons. While it sounds like he is just taking over in the interim right now, it would be good for the team to just make it official and belay any uncertainty about his role so the team can focus 100% on the remainder of the season.

Outside of that, I don't think that the team needs to make any coaching changes. Acta and Negron seem like great fits as your base coaches. Pete Woodworth is a massive stud as the team's pitching coach, and they need to make sure that they keep him locked up and around for a long time.

I don't know if I am in the minority here, but I think you need to keep Dipoto and Hollander in their roles as well. They've done the most with the tight circumstances and allowances they've been handed, and if we ever see the checkbook open up just a bit, and I mean only pushing them to around 10th in baseball for payroll, you could see them really cook and get wild with this team.

Make those adjustments to the lineup. Cement those roles for Wilson and Martinez. With 34 games left, it's not over, and how sweet would it be to chase down Houston and get them back after watching the team drop 15.5 games in the standings since June 18th. It can happen, and I'm back on board with this team going forward after a brief spell of negativity. Go Mariners!