Scott Servais "strong front runner" to be Mr. Manager

When Jerry Dipoto was hired we heard the names Scott Servais and Tim Bogar. Both have worked with Jerry Dipoto in the past, and both have the strong sxent of "organizational up and comer", which I assume means the ability to express serious sounding philosophies while wearing baseball pants as a 40 or 50-something human male.

We've figured these guys were the favorites for awhile now, and sure enough here comes Ken Rosenthal to confirm it for us:

Sources: Scott Servais strong front-runner for #Mariners’ managerial position.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 22, 2015

Moments later Bob Nightengale popped in with a weird reading semi-confirmation:

It will either be Scott Servais as manager and Tim Bogar as bench coach, or Bogar as manager and Servais bench coach https://t.co/ZYSqtFCJeO

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 22, 2015

Now I will acknowledge the obvious, which is even though these are strong rumors from (mostly) credible industry sources it's not official. However, with the longstanding relationship that Dipoto has with both Servais and Bogar I doubt this would get leaked in a way that eventually burns his friends.

The very first thing you should do is read Colin's piece on Scott Servais, The second thing you should do is read Colin's piece on Tim Bogar. Colin sure is neat, you guys.

The third thing you should do is enjoy this photoshop, as staff wood-elf Peter is convinced that Scott Servais looks like Coach Taylor:

I don't really have time nor inclination at this exact moment to go further into the backgrounds, qualifications, and such of the two candidates. What I find encouraging is that this all seems to be a part of the plan Jerry Dipoto presumably laid out for Kevin Mather and ownership during his interview. As I said yesterday, at this point I'm operating under the mindset that Dipoto successfully grabbing his guys and installing the front office as he sees fit is a good thing. Pessimism and snark are easy, and familiarity with Dipoto will breed them in abundance I'm sure. But for now, I'm gonna just mindlessly cheer him on.

It seems odd to me that it has come out that both Bogar and Servais are hired but their roles aren't cemented. If this is true and now both men are aware of it that's got to be kind of awkward. Either could be the other's boss, or subordinate, at any time. If good management is largely about adapting to different responsibilities and power structures (it is) maybe this is a cruel test by Dipoto to see who handles it best. Could the cherubic smile belie a shark-like mindset? I'm sure not. Most successful executives get to high levels through being really, really nice all the time from my understanding.

We'll update if/when any of this becomes official.