Following a disappointing 76-86 season that saw them finish third in the American League West and miss the playoffs, the Seattle Mariners made several coaching changes this week.

After two-plus years at the helm, manager Dan Wilson is out, as are bench coach Manny Acta, hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, infield coach Perry Hill and first base coach Eric Young Jr.

However, despite those changes, the pitching group of Pete Woodworth and Trent Blank is remaining unchanged. But why exactly?

Let's dig a little deeper:

1) Mariners pitchers finished with a 4.20 ERA this season, good enough for 19th in baseball. Only one team with a worse ERA made the playoffs (Houston, 4.45).

2) Mariners relievers had a 4.46 ERA, good enough for 22nd. No team made the playoffs with a worse bullpen ERA.

3) Following the All-Star break, the Mariners had a 5.09 team ERA, which was 27th in baseball. 

When asked on Monday about why Woodworth and Blank will remain the organization, Dipoto cited the strength of the pitching group as a whole from 2021-first half of 2026.

In that time, the Mariners have consistently been one of the best pitching teams in baseball, and Dipoto is not going to judge this group based on 2.5 tough months.

While no one will use injuries as an excuse for this team, it is fair to point out the ripple effect that injuries had:

Carlos Vargas didn't make his season debut until late August and Cooper Criswell was out for most of June-early Sept. Matt Brash was lost for the season in early June. The exits of these relievers put a lot of stress on the bullpen, which helped lead to a wear down late in the season.

Furthermore, the rotation struggled to go deep into games, putting further strain on the bullpen, which simply couldn't hold up.

I discussed this on the most recent edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast:

"We are going to have a lockout. The question is, how long does that lockout go? But we're going to have a lockout. So once December 2nd happens, the lockout will take effect. These players will not be allowed to have any communication with the coaching staff. So if we go from December to February, two months. December to April, four months. Whatever it is, we're going to have no communication between the coaching staff and the players. That's how the lockout will work...

Let's say the Mariners, I'll just give them the benefit. Let's say they hire a manager in two weeks, so that takes us till the middle of October. And then that manager hires a new staff, say another two weeks. So November 1st, the staff is completely in place. That would mean that the Mariners only have one month of time for the staff and the players to talk with each other before the lockout, and then everybody has to go away from each other for however long. If you were bringing in new pitching guys and cultivating totally new pitching plans with completely new voices across the board, I feel like that would be a difficult dynamic."

Dipoto said that this search will be exhaustive and they will explore every avenue to find the right manager. As a result, there won't be any movement on the coaching staff until the manager spot is filled. It seems like we're at least a few weeks away from getting news on the managerial front, especially if the Mariners want to hire someone from a team that is currently playing in the playoffs.