Dan Wilson steps into the role of manager as the struggling Mariners try to save their season

SEATTLE (AP) — Dan Wilson arrived in Seattle in the mid-1990s and became a beloved figured as a player for the Mariners, spending 12 seasons behind the plate as the catcher for some of the best teams in franchise history.

Now he’s stepping into a role that isn’t always beloved by the fans, taking over as the manager with 34 games left in the regular season and the team spiraling to the fringes of playoff contention in the American League.

“This is a good team. These guys have tremendous talent and sometimes some kind of a change in some direction can spark something,” Wilson said. “But these guys have it in them.”

Wilson was set to manage his first game on Friday night, when the Mariners open a series against the San Francisco Giants. The 55-year-old was chosen as the replacement for Scott Servais, who was fired on Thursday following a 1-8 road trip that dropped Seattle to 64-64 on the season and just 20-33 since the Mariners held a 10-game lead in the AL West in mid-June.

Servais was in his ninth season in Seattle, the second-longest tenure for a manager in franchise history. But it’s now Wilson’s position and his first time holding the job on a full-time basis in his career.

And this isn’t a trial run as an interim boss. Wilson is the permanent manager moving forward, something that was important to him in the process.

“The idea is to start something new and you can’t do that for 34 games. I think there’s quite of bit of time that needs to happen,” Wilson said. “We’re going to make a great run at this thing here at the end, but there’s also this idea of looking long term as well.”

The thought of Seattle making a late-season managerial change seemed laughable in mid-June when the team was 13 games over .500 and seemed on its way to its first division title since 2001.

But the collapse since sitting at 44-31 has been swift and maddening, centering on an offense that can’t generate enough hits and runs to take advantage of statistically the best pitching staff in baseball.

Ultimately, that led to the decision to remove Servais on Thursday, one that he learned about via a news alert prior to a scheduled meeting with executive vice president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto.

“It was a shock. I think everyone found out on social media because the first thing you do when you wake up is check your phone and all that sort of stuff,” shortstop J.P. Crawford said. “It was tough. He’s been my manager ever since my first day here and he challenged me to be the best person I could be. Sad to see him let go.”

In an attempt to help jolt the offense late in the season, Wilson brought a familiar face to his coaching staff with Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Edgar Martinez serving as hitting coach for the rest of the season.

Seattle began Friday last in baseball in batting average, first in strikeouts and have scored two runs or less 23 times in the past 53 games.

“There’s no one I trust more with hitters than Edgar,” Wilson said. “The thing I think about Edgar that I think a lot of people don’t understand was he was a tremendous hitter, he had just tremendous talent. But that’s not all he had. He studies hitting. He was a student of hitting and he can break it down better than anybody.”

Martinez was Seattle’s hitting coach from 2015-18 and has been an adviser for the organization since 2019. Wilson and Martinez were teammates with the Mariners for 11 seasons.

“I didn’t have to do much contemplating. Dan was the one who called me and at first I thought he was joking, but I didn’t have to think that much,” Martinez said. “I was excited. I was excited for him, excited to work with him.”