Fans often say that Dan Wilson "doesn't have the Mariners ready to play." But we spoke to Rob Bradford of the 'Baseball Isn't Boring' podcast about those claims.
It doesn't matter which corner of Seattle Mariners social media you go to, there is criticism of manager Dan Wilson.
Some people want to blame Wilson for how he handles the bullpen, or the starting lineup, or the pinch-hitting decisions. Others want to get after Wilson for the team's shoddy defense and others simply say "he doesn't have the team ready to play."
Regarding the last note specifically, I have pushed back on that, saying it's not the managers job at the big league level to motivate players to be ready to start a game on the right note.
Speaking on Friday's edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast, I asked Rob Bradford of the popular 'Baseball Isn't Boring' podcast if I was right in that, or if criticisms of Wilson in this regard were fair:
Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson (6) reacts to an umpire after a pickoff of left fielder Randy Arozarena (not pictured) to end the fifth inning at T-Mobile Park. Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images"Your senses are keen with this. Your instincts are keen with this because, you know, it's like Alex Cora (former Red Sox manager) went through all those years, and he was an elite fielder, and they had poor fielding teams. That wasn't because he's not going through the drills or whatever. No, it's the players. It's the players. It's the mindset, it's the attitude.
You talk about getting ready to play and what I'm thinking about with the Philadelphia Phillies, and so they've turned it around a little bit, but I don't think it was because all of a sudden they started taking more ground balls with Don Mattingly. It was because you had the players look themselves in the mirror. Players who understood what it took to actually be successful looked at themselves in the mirror and said, "We got to be better. And if we aren't better, this is the type of thing that happens."
So I think that, ultimately, what you have to have is a culture. What you have to have is leadership. What you have to have is expectation, and obviously the process of going through it. But I think that, to your point, the process that the Mariners have was already in place. They've proven the process under Dan Wilson. That is a fact.
So what they have to do now is simply look themselves in the mirror. The veteran guys look themselves in the mirror and say, "We have to be better...."
So I think that ultimately the Seattle Mariners have to do what the Philadelphia Phillies did. I just talked to Kyle Schwarber, which is, "Hey, guys. Hey, we know how this works, so let's be better."
The Mariners are 22-25 and will finish out a series with the San Diego Padres on Sunday afternoon at 4:20 p.m. PT.
Of note
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