As we have been speculating for a few weeks, the Seattle Mariners are likely to move on from manager Dan Wilson, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of 'The Athletic.' Rosenthal cites him as the manager "most likely" to get fired this offseason.

I take no joy in writing that, because Wilson is a good man, a legendary Mariners figure, well-liked by his players, and personally, he's always been respectful of me and my presence at Mariners spring training and games.

But it is the reality: Someone has to pay for the failures of the 2026 Mariners, and it looks like Wilson, and at least some coaches will fall on the sword for it. I've thought that for a while, but Rosenthal does as well. He indicated the same thing last week in an appearance on 'Foul Territory.'

But while there will be changes on the staff, it does not appear that there will be changes in the front office, with Rosenthal indicating that ownership has shown no indication that it wants to move on from Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander.

I've generally agreed on bringing back Dipoto and Hollander, though I understand that that's a hard justification when the group is headed for two playoff berths in 11 years.

I believe they deserve to be back based upon the general health of the organization at large, the success of their drafting and player development in the minor leagues, and the creativity they have in stretching a budget, which we know is a constraint of ownership.

Again, it's a tough sell to fans, and I say it with that understanding. I also say it because I fear that a new front office group could come in and tear the whole thing down, and I don't want that. I want the Mariners to be competitive, and I think the current duo will work to do that. A new group could try to lead a rebuild, and I have no interest in that.

Buster Olney of ESPN was on the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast last week and also said that the looming lockout could impact how teams want to handle things. He didn't say this specifically applied to the Mariners, but noted that it's a possible consideration for them:

"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 Houston Astros have already fired general manager Dana Brown. The Los Angeles Angels fired Perry Minasian long ago. When I worked in New England and the Boston Red Sox moved on from Dave Dombrowski, they did so in August, I believe, to get a jump start on the next hire.

If the Mariners were going to move on from this current group, wouldn't they have already done it? We think so, right?

The Mariners will take on the Rockies for a three-game series beginning on Friday. Seattle is 5.5 games behind both the Astros and Texas Rangers.