Seattle Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto did an interview with Tyler Kepner of The Athletic where he talked about his confidence with the club heading into the new season. As spring training gets underway, there is high expectations with Seattle from Dipoto, even saying that “this is our time.”
“This is our time,” Dipoto said Thursday. “We have players just entering what should be the best seasons of their careers. And we think now our window is open and this is the group that can lead us there.”
Dipoto wants Seattle to be “a contending team for a long time”
He made it sure to express that they don’t want to be a team that wins just enough to get by, but that they want to be a “contending team for a long time.” Last season, the Mariners were 88-74 which put them third in the AL West behind the Houston Astros and the World Series champions in the Texas Rangers.
“The idea here is that we want to be a contending team for a long time,” Dipoto said. “And if you consistently put yourself on the dance floor, that’s when good things happen. I said this jokingly in the offseason: the Dodgers went out and had a magnificent offseason. They have achieved in building what I think is one of the best rosters you will ever see. And the chances of them winning the World Series are still pretty small — comparatively.”
“That’s just how baseball works,” Dipoto continued. “But they’re going to be on the dance floor. And if they’re on the dance floor with that kind of talent, year after year after year, sooner or later you break through. And that’s what I was trying to convey. I think our players mostly understand that, and I believe that the fan base in general knows that I put my foot in my mouth with words that didn’t convey the thought that I was trying to convey. And that’s all I was saying: we’re trying to be a sustainably winning team.”
Dipoto and the Mariners will begin to prove their confidence starting March 28 on opening day when they will start a four-game series against the Boston Red Sox.
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