Rocco Baldelli's withdrawal only adds to unease over Mariners' manager search

Whoever the Seattle Mariners' next manager will be, there's now a longer list of candidates who have said "Thanks, but no thanks" than of candidates still in the race. Rocco Baldelli's withdrawal is merely the latest, and arguably the biggest letdown.

When Carlos Mendoza took his name out of consideration, it came off as no big loss. It was different when Stephen Vogt shot down speculation last week, but that was more like putting an end to a mass delusion. While he was everyone's ideal candidate, there were too many obstacles in the way of the Mariners actually luring him from the Cleveland Guardians.

By contrast, there's something about Baldelli's withdrawal that feels just so… unceremonious, I guess is the word? After his name first appeared on the radar, you could really feel the fanbase coming around to the idea of him in the dugout. But it shall not be, which Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports is for "family considerations."

The 45-year-old Baldelli was thought to be perhaps the front-runner to replace Dan Wilson before he pulled out. He certainly checked all the boxes. Managerial experience from his time with the Minnesota Twins was the big one, though his time with the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers mattered as well. He would have been a fine hire.

There was no downside for Baldelli to hear the Mariners out, but Adam Jude of The Seattle Times got to the likely heart of his decision-making process: "Baldelli and his wife have three young children and deep roots in Florida, and the thought is Seattle is simply too far from home for them."

Now that he's out of the mix, Joe Espada and Jason Kanzler are the only named candidates still in the hunt to become Seattle's next skipper.

Should anyone be worried that so many have pulled out of the race to become the Mariners' manager?

From the outside looking in, the Mariners' managerial opening does look like an attractive gig. The team has been to the playoffs twice in the last five seasons, and nearly got to the World Series just last year. The rotation is loaded with good arms. The lineup revolves around Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez. More is needed, but there's money and trade capital aplenty to help with that.

It's times like these that doubts begin to creep in, however.

One does wonder about the reputation the Mariners have in the industry, for basically the same reasons that have been known to keep fans awake at night. This is a mid-market team that talks a good game about getting to the World Series, yet which doesn't hide the limits of its ambitions. Jerry Dipoto's concept of sustainability is infamous, while John Stanton has no desire to push the envelope when it comes to payroll.

As much as one would hope that the club is thinking differently now, the Mariners' penny-pinching has extended to the manager's salary in recent years. And for the all the real success he's achieved in his 10 years leading the front office, even Dipoto seems to sense that his job security has slid onto thin ice. For prospective managers, there's conceivably a short distance between getting hired by Dipoto and fired by the club's next front office head.

Even if you want to absolve the organization of all blame, geographic concerns may hardly be unique to Baldelli. Seattle is far removed from spring training sites in Arizona and Florida, and really all other MLB cities. There isn't another team that racks up more miles in the air in any given season.

Simply by virtue of being only one of 30 just jobs like it, the Mariners' manager position is still desirable. It's also important to remember that few things have the capacity to surprise like a managerial hire. There wasn't much of a hype train when the Milwaukee Brewers tabbed Pat Murphy to succeed Craig Counsell, and now he's the toast of baseball.

All that said, hoping to be pleasantly surprised isn't where anyone wanted to be when this search began in earnest back in September. And since the goal is to make a hire before the end of October, the clock is ticking.

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