What we’ve learned about Mariners’ Dan Wilson at season’s midpoint as manager
SEATTLE – The physical toll of a Seattle Mariners loss is etched on Dan Wilson’s face.
Some nights, he looks like what you’d expect a firefighter to look like after battling an endless inferno, the color and the life extinguished from his expression, the emotional exhaustion of defeat apparent in his voice.
“A tough one tonight,” he’ll invariably say.
Wilson has been part of the Seattle Mariners for 33 years, first as the team’s Hall of Fame catcher, then as a minor league coach and, now, in his first full season as manager. He can’t help but feel a burning obligation to the organization and the Seattle community.
The losses, for him, are personal, then and now.
“As a player, when you’re behind the plate and you have the ability to call pitches and whatnot, there is a responsibility factor to it,” Wilson said. “So maybe that’s part of it. … Unless you’re in this role, it’s hard to understand that.”
He’s trying to be better about that. Trying to move on from game’s outcomes, good or bad, a little quicker, a little easier. Trying to get a handle on what he wants to be and what he needs to be in his new job.
All part of the continuing education of a first-time major league manager.
“The thing I think that has been the highlight for me is, like, each day is a learning experience,” Wilson said. “Taking on a new and very different role, it’s just been a ton to learn. And the more you learn, the more you realize there’s a ton more to learn.”
Wilson has acknowledged some shortcomings, and he has been criticized for some in-game decisions. Two memorable ones: the confusion surrounding a pitching change with Gabe Speier coming out of the bullpen vs. the Astros on April 7; and the walkoff loss to the Athletics on May 6 when Wilson decided to intentionally walk the bases loaded in extra innings.
“That’s on me,” Wilson said after.
Every decision that backfires is rife for second-guessing, of course, and a new manager’s strategy is probably under more of a microscope as folks try to dissect who he is.
Some of that is just part of the job. Some of it is Wilson bearing the brunt of it because that’s who he is.
Earlier this month, Manny Acta recognized how much the losses were wearing on Wilson and pulled his boss aside. “Don’t beat yourself up,” Acta told him.
“He’s been really impressive for a guy who had never done it before,” said Acta, an MLB manager for six seasons with the Washington Nationals (2007-09) and Cleveland Indians (2010-12). “Obviously, the last part that’s going to come is the X’s and O’s, because he didn’t have the experience. But he’s doing really good in that, too. The good thing is, he listens. He listens to the people around him and he allows people to work.”
Wilson wants to win. Wants his players to compete every night with everything they have. His message: Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
He won as a player. The Mariners had a .533 win percentage (667-584) in games in which Wilson appeared as a player from 1994-2005.
And he’s winning in his return to the dugout. The Mariners, going back to the end of last season, have a .590 winning percentage (49-34) in Wilson’s first 83 games in charge, the best start by a manager in club history.
‘It’s not ordinary’
Talk to enough people in and around the Mariners clubhouse, and there’s emerging a profile of Wilson as a manager.
He trusts the people around him. He’s worked hard to build personal connections. And, as much as anything, he wants players to feel empowered and valued.
“He does a good job of caring about people but also demanding the best from you,” Julio Rodríguez said. “He’s very hands-off. He lets us play. You don’t want to feel, like, pressure and all that. He knows we’re prepared to go out there and give our best and we want to go out there and give our best. He trusts us, and I think that’s something that’s really cool about him.”
As much as anything, and as simple as it sounds, Wilson wants players to know he believes in them.
“It’s a very special group. I know I say that a lot, and it gets old, I’m sure,” Wilson said. “But it’s a group that fights, and they fight all through the game, all the way till the end. And you can’t ask for more than that from a group of guys. It’s not ordinary; that doesn’t happen a lot. This is a group that’s really strong that way and they’re just a pleasure to be around.”
“Calm” and “consistent” were two words often used to describe Wilson. There’s a positive, can-do steadiness about him, they say.
“He brings such a cool, calm presence in the dugout and in the clubhouse,” J.P. Crawford said. “He makes you feel real comfortable to where you can go up and have a conversation about anything with him. You know he has our back.”
In spring training, Wilson appointed Cal Raleigh, Crawford and Rodríguez as three of the main clubhouse leaders. It’s a new role for Rodríguez, a 24-year-old in his fourth MLB season, and Wilson wanted that group to establish the standards and routines for the team, and for players to hold each other accountable.
Rodríguez agreed with the sentiment that the general mood inside the clubhouse is a little bit lighter and the players are a little tighter than they’ve been the past couple of years.
“It doesn’t matter – wins or losses – everybody comes in every day the same,” Rodriguez said. “And I think that’s really huge for us. Obviously, (Wilson) sets the tone from the top, and I think everyone follows that.”
“Players are the ones who create that kind of environment,” Raleigh said. “It can’t be forced through a coach or the staff. But (Wilson) does a good job of creating ownership within the group. Players need to take care of the players and police themselves. Ultimately, it’s all about the players.”
When necessary, Wilson has, on multiple occasions, pulled a player into his office for a closed-door meeting to discuss expectations. But he’s generally done so with little fanfare.
“He was pretty clear about the type of culture he wanted to set up here,” Acta said. “He’s a really good communicator. He shows everyone he cares. He’s not afraid to open up to them, and I think that makes people want to run through a wall for him.”
Empowering players, Wilson said, comes from his experience as a player.
“The biggest thing for me was, I felt that the teams that I was a part of that were player-led, those were the teams that were the most fun and the most successful,” Wilson said. “And when I say that (this is) a special group, that’s another way that they’re special – this is a group that wants that and they can handle that kind of responsibility. And they’re unbelievable about it. That’s really important to me and these guys have really responded to that.”
‘This is who we want to be’
One priority for Wilson coming into this year was establishing an identity as a team, and for players to understand their individual roles within the team.
“Dan has frequently talked about the idea of, ‘Know our identity,’ ” president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said. “It’s our players having an awareness of our identity and then playing to our identity. … And when we get in leverage situations or the game starts to get tight, you can just see there’s a natural grind among all of our position player groups, and each guy is leaning into his own skill set, and that’s what I come away with as our team’s identity.”
A key reason for the Mariners’ offensive turnaround this season, players say, is the simplicity and the consistency of their approach.
The Mariners went through a handful of hitting coaches the past few seasons under former manager Scott Servais, and some players griped after the fact that the hitting strategy was too fluid and too complex, the daily game plans evolving depending on the opposing pitcher.
Now, as Raleigh described it, “It’s kind of an old-school mentality of just getting after it every single day. Doing the same thing and being the same guy and trusting your guys. Just sticking with what we want to do and not wavering off that and not trying to change into a new player or a new team every day. It’s, ‘This is who we want to be; we’re going to be it every day and we’re going to embrace it.’ That makes the consistency a lot easier.”
And that, Raleigh said, is a credit to Wilson, and to what the new manager is trying to create.
“He understand our game,” Raleigh said. “He just wants you to go play and play hard. After that, the rest will take care of itself.”