The Mariners are making a change as they try to salvage their playoff hopes. Seattle announced Thursday evening that theyve fired manager Scott Servais and tabbed Dan Wilson as their new skipper. The Ms also dismi sed hitting coach Jarret DeHart. They did not announce an immediate replacement at hitting coach, although Adam Jude of the Seattle Times reports ( ) that franchise icon Edgar Martinez will join the coaching staff in an unspecified role. The Ms have not officially announced Martinezs hiring. We believe that we need a new voice in the clubhouse, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said in a statement. Dan knows our team and has been a key member of our organization working with players at every level over the past 11 years. He is well respected within and outside of our clubhouse and we are confident he will do a great job in leading our group over the final six weeks of the season and moving forward. Dipoto subsequently thanked Servais for his pa sion and work over a nearly nine-year run in Seattle. Servais, 57, has been the skipper in Seattle since he was hired after the 2015 season. The club has had its share of ups and downs in that time but the move seems to be related to Ed Davis Jersey the clubs recent slide in the standings. The Mariners were cruising at the beginning of the season while clubs like the Astros and Rangers were slow getting moving. As recently as June 18, the Ms had a ten-game lead over the Astros in the American League West. But things have flipped since then, with the Mariners hitting a bad skid as the Astros have course corrected. The Ms are now exactly .500 at 64-64, putting them five games back of Houston and 7.5 games back in the Wild Card race. Whether a clubs failings can be placed on the manager is always a matter for debate, but its not uncommon for them to be scapegoated when things go bad. Seattle has a strong pitching staff but the hitters have a collective batting line of .216/.301/.365 this year, which translates to a wRC+ of 96. The team-wide 27.7% strikeout rate is easily the worst in the majors, with Colorado second-worst at 26.1% and every other club below 25%. Whether that has something to do with Servais or the clubs overall roster construction, or some combination, is something for each fan to decide for themselves. Either way, it seems the decision makers have opted to shake things up with just over a month remaining on the schedule. The club has stuck by Servais through some other ups and downs, though some of those were clearly planned. The Mariners hovered around .500 in his first three years, including an 89-73 finish in 2018, but then the front office decided to embark on a rebuild. They traded away players like , , , and others going into 2019. They finished below .500 that season and in the shortened 2020 season as well. Things have been much better lately. They won 90 games in 2021, just narrowly mi sing the playoffs. Another 90-win season followed in 2022, which was enough for a Wild Card spot that year, the clubs first playoff berth since 2001. Last year, they slipped slightly to 88 wins, mi sing the playoffs by just one game. Despite a fairly strong three-year run, the ongoing collapse this year has prompted the Ms to pivot to Wilson. Its a curious choice, as midseason managerial firings usually see the club pivot to another key member of the staff such as the bench coach, but thats not the case this time. Wilson played in the big leagues from 1992 to 2005 as a catcher, most of that with the Mariners. The Ms hired him as a minor league catching coordinator in 2013. He has never been part of a big league coaching staff, nor been a manager at any level. According to the Ms pre s release, Wilson has spent the past seven years as a special a sistant for player development. Notably, the teams pre s release lists Wilson as the 18th full-time manager in franchise history. There is no interim tag. Dipoto confirmed that the Ms view him as the permanent manager (via Daniel Kramer of ). The team did not announce the length of Wilsons contract. The aforementioned run scoring i sues also led the team to move on from DeHart. Seattle dismi sed first-year offensive coordinator Brant Brown just two months into the season. Theyll try to jumpstart the offense with another midseason change. DeHart had been on Seattles major league staff since 2019. He has held the title of director of hitting strategy and hitting coach for the past two-plus seasons. Martinez, one of the greatest hitters in MLB history, was the Ms hitting coach between 2015-18. He stepped down after the 18 campaign to take a le s demanding role with the organization. Now that hes returning to the coaching staff, hell presumably have a significant say in hitting instruction regardle s of his specific title. A sistant hitting coach Tommy Joseph is now the top in-house staffer on that side of the ball. first reported that Servais would be fired and that the Mariners would hire Wilson in his place. R.J. Barrett Jersey