By Tyler Kepner in the Athletic
PEORIA, Ariz. — The matchup of slogan versus nuanced explanation is never a fair fight. The slogan always wins. So if the Seattle Mariners need buzzwords to energize their loyal but letdown fans, they could use these:
“This is our time,” Jerry Dipoto, the president of baseball operations, said in his Arizona office 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.”
Maybe it’s not quite Kurt Russell, as Herb Brooks in “Miracle,” challenging his young hockey team before the big game against the Soviets: “This is your time – now go out there and take it!” But it’s the best Dipoto can do to share the optimism and urgency that really do exist around the only franchise to never reach the World Series.
The Mariners look good — no, really, it’s true. Their starters are dynamic, durable, prime-age strike throwers. Their balanced, revamped lineup should sustain more rallies and score more runs. And if the members of the American League West keep taking turns as champions — the Houston Astros in 2022, the Texas Rangers in 2023 — this just might be Seattle’s time.
And yet, there’s lingering skepticism about the intentions and motivations of the front office, and Dipoto knows it’s his fault. Last Oct. 3 — two days after the Mariners’ only game in the last three seasons with no hope of making the playoffs — Dipoto refused to promise that his team would win a title.
The goal, he tried to explain, was to win at least 54 percent of the time over the course of a decade. The team, he added, was actually doing the fans a favor by asking for patience instead of pushing all in for a quick fix.
My, oh my.
Teoscar Hernández (left) and Eugenio Suárez combined for 48 home runs in 2023, along with 425 strikeouts. (Joe Nicholson / USA Today)
“I spoke in words that made sense to me — and clearly, I confused people,” Dipoto said on Thursday. “Our goal is not to be mediocre. Our goal is not to go out and win just enough to get over the line. There was more that was expressed in that thought that didn’t fit into a tweet. And unfortunately, the tweet version is the version that was conveyed, and that’s my mistake. I was talking long-form in a short-form world.”
Dipoto continued, and in the spirit of context, here’s what he said: (continued)