BREAKING: Seattle Mariners announce multi-year extensions for Jerry Dipoto and Scott Servais

The Seattle Mariners have officially committed to Jerry Dipoto and Scott Servais once more, as the club announced multi-year extensions for both their longtime general manager as well as his hand-picked manager.

The length of “multi-year” is the first, obvious question, however it is rare for GMs or managers to have their full salary and contract information made public, and even rarer for teams to share it willfully. However, this is an obvious vote of confidence in the development of the minor league system as well as the major league club, which sits 71-62 as of this morning, 3.5 games out of a playoff spot with a month to play. Additionally, the club has promoted Dipoto to the new title of President of Baseball Operations, putting him and newly hired President of Business Operations Catie Griggs on equal footing, both reporting directly to Chairman John Stanton.

There is plenty of debate on this front office, but at this point support for an extension seems overwhelming in Mariners fandom. The move is one we explicitly advocated for just last week as a staff, and while Dipoto and Servais have been far from perfect, the direction the club is moving in seems to be quite positive from a player development perspective. In fact, they’ve improved to the point that free agent pitchers like Paul Sewald actively have sought the Mariners out due to their excellent reputation for improving players.

The bump in title for Dipoto creates a technical void in the role of general manager, which will be something to watch in the coming months. Will the club fill that role with a secondary executive externally to help augment their abilities, or will they look internally to one of their assistant general managers perhaps, hoping to retain Justin Hollander who has been a finalist in multiple GM jamborees in recent years? Additionally, with Servais locked in, does the club have the ability (or desire) to keep together most of their current coaching staff moving forward? Plenty of questions, but the club has answered one of the biggest ones facing the Mariners with these moves.

Now, Dipoto and Servais have the job security to attempt to build a perennial contender, and hopefully ownership couples this extension with a commitment to boosting payroll.