At 69-78 and on the verge of missing the playoffs, the Seattle Mariners are one of the most disappointing teams in baseball, if not the most disappointing. 

This disappointing campaign seems destined to cost manager Dan Wilson his job, but several fans would prefer to see President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander go also.

Dipoto is getting set to finish his 11th season at the helm of the Mariners, and the team has just two playoff berths so far, and one trip to the American League Championship Series. While there have been several positive strides for the organization as a whole under his leadership, the overall winning hasn't been enough.

I tend to believe that Dipoto and Hollander deserve to come back in 2027, for a multitude of reasons, but even the most ardent supporters of the duo have to admit that the major league winning has lacked - and that's the thing that matters most.

Buster Olney of ESPN was a guest on Thursday's 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast and was asked about Dipoto's future and offered an interesting nugget that we haven't really discussed here.

"But one thing to keep in mind, and I've heard this in recent weeks, that there is some thought that with the looming labor situation that a lot of owners will tend to be conservative about changes because it's going to be such a wild and wacky months ahead.

First off, the lockout is going to happen at the beginning of December. Baseball moves will be shut down. I don't think there's going to be a lot of movement before the lockout, quite simply because no one knows what the financial rules are going to be when baseball resumes. They don't know when baseball is going to resume.

It's going to be really difficult for anybody to talk about trades, for example, because you don't know exactly what the value is in returning. And then when you come back, it's going to be the wild, wild west.

You know, I was covering the Orioles in 1995 when that labor situation resolved in the first week of April. And it was a crazy. Like three weeks, rapid fire signings, all kinds of moves being made.

And the people I've spoken with say they think that a lot of owners are going to want to have a known quantity in their front office when that happens. And so maybe this buys a year for some executives around baseball, like where the owner goes, 'you know what, at least we go into it knowing what we deal with in terms of the person sitting in the chair and making decisions.'

The Mariners will continue their season on Friday night on the road at the Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif. The A's just took three-of-four from the Mariners in Seattle last weekend. They also just took two-of-three from the Toronto Blue Jays.

The M's are six games back in the American League West and five games back in the battle for the third and final wild card.

The most recent edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory,' podcast is out. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.