The Mariners have played well recently, going 8-2 in their past 10 games. They’ve done so on the strength of a suddenly whelming offense, a solid bullpen, and a healthy dose of one-run and extra inning good fortune. As is the way of these things this good stretch of play has led to calls for the Mariners to extend their General Manager Jerry Dipoto, who is without a guaranteed contract past this season.

The debate is largely framed around what Jerry Dipoto “deserves”; that a young team with an above .500 record nearly halfway through the season is not only on-but-perhaps-ahead of schedule for a rebuild. Readers of mine will not be surprised to learn I have very little interest in this line of reasoning. Jerry Dipoto “deserved” to be fired after 2018 for failing at his mandate to make the playoffs with a playoff-ready core, and fail he absolutely did. He failed miserably. That media and fans still struggle to admit this very simple fact is frustrating, but understandable given the odiousness of Dipoto’s employers, and his ability to spin a good yarn. 

Dipoto, who has presided over scandal, gone on radio telling his players to “don’t whine, just play” during a global pandemic, and been a hatchet man for whatever soulless cost-cutting endeavors management has been able to cook up, all while the team’s playoff-less streak stretches out into its third decade, should consider himself fortunate to still have employment in Seattle in the first place. I cannot get on board saying he “deserves” to have that employment extended further. I will say, however, that doing so is the correct decision for the Seattle Mariners. 

It appears likely that the 2021 season is the beginning of management’s “put up or shut up” timeframe for the Mariners front office. Given such, a full collapse would have theoretically put Dipoto’s job in jeopardy. To his and the team’s credit, that has not occurred, despite a multitude of reasons that it could have (one of course being the atrociously thin roster he, as the person in charge of such things, put together). As such it’s clear no regime change is looming between now and the trade deadline. Given that assumption it would be wildly irresponsible to allow an executive without a contract past this year to preside over a potentially very active trade period. 

The team is faced with major decisions regarding the future of Mitch Haniger and Kyle Seager, whether to parlay an above .500 record from a team clearly over its skis into a Wild Card push or sell assets for more prospects, and the development of all the prospects already in the system. The team still has yet to replace disgraced-former president Kevin Mather and there is no responsible fashion in which a change in front office leadership can occur in the next 90-120 days. Allowing an executive without job security to make decisions with potential long-lasting impacts is even more dubious.

The Mariners are clearly not going to fire Jerry Dipoto during this season barring an unforeseeable catastrophe (always possible with the Mariners), and they cannot allow major franchise decisions be made by a lame duck executive. That Jerry Dipoto’s primary accomplishment in five and a half years in Seattle has been to turn a playoff-ready core into a farm system that may produce a playoff-ready core in 2-3 years is irrelevant. For the stability of the team’s present and immediate future he should be extended for at least the 2022 baseball season, and it should happen today.