“Expectations is the place you must always go to before you get to where you’re going.”

– The Phantom Tollbooth; by Norton Juster 

It has been eight days since THE press conference which, for a small moment in time, galvanized the masses of the fanbase to demand for better. 

There were demands to spend, sound bites calling for Jerry Dipoto to be removed from his role with the team, social media sideswipes by current players, and as far back as this fan can remember, the most aligned vitriol towards the organization in quite some time. I won’t be discussing any of that.

I will instead discuss the contrast of two organizations, both of whom were befelled by disappointing Septembers, and how they had polar opposite approaches to the conclusion of their seasons.

The Seattle Mariners Braintrust (minus one very significant person) stepped up to the podium, cracked their collective knuckles, and produced quote after quote, finding silver linings for themselves in a collective off-season and in-season execution that frankly had no business being discussed.

There was disappointment for sure; but any time the overarching message reverts to doing favors, asking for patience, and brushing off internal player comments, your disappointment expressed comes off as nothing but hollow and required (Jerry has since publicly “apologized”).

The Chicago Cubs, a front office and ownership group that has by no means ever been seen as perfect, handled their end of year presser exactly how you would expect an organization committed to winning would.

Jed Hoyer starts with an opening statement, asking his own question: is this season a success? No. I’m impressed by what the guys have done, but the internal expectations were to make the playoffs. When we were 10 games under, these guys still believed. They still knew they were a very good team. Begging me not to sell. And they went on a heck of a run, 10 under to 12 over. It was fun to watch. But we didn’t finish the race. – Bleacher Nation

A fan of the Chicago Cubs could be disappointed in the end of their 2023 campaign, but also find excitement and promise in the future based on the above comments from their President of Baseball Operations. However, the Northside Brass wasn’t done pumping out the hits (subscription required).

The Mariners, ripe with their own young vocal core, have echoed the need for more. They have shouted the support not only for themselves, but to a tired fan base desperate to have a reason to love again. They don’t just want to win a World Series for themselves; they want to win it for us.

To be clear; the Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners organizational philosophy on spending in free agency are not the same; but to give kudos where kudos is due, they have proven over the last three seasons that they don’t have to be the same in order to put themselves in position to compete; but here lies the conundrum.

There needs to be a level of change in philosophy within the organization if the ultimate goal is to be achieved. I’m not asking for people to lose jobs or wholesale change. I am simply asking the organization to listen.

Listen to your players. Listen to other organizations. Listen to the cries of hundreds of thousands of fans just outside your window. Just. Listen.

We have had eight years of talk, eight years of false promises delivered by organizational leaders on their willingness to spend to compete. We have, in a sense, arrived in the doldrums of the organizational timeline – good enough to compete, but not good enough to compete when the colors of autumn paint the horizons of where we wish to be.

The organization CAN get there. They have the means, they have the internal core, they have an ever increasing cost of media rights (more on that in another blog) – but the bottom is they can do it. 

But for the current leadership group, it starts with empowering the players you yourself have entrusted with bringing the Mariners their first World Series.

The front office just needs to listen, especially since they’ve spent eight years trying the other side of the coin.

Or, they can keep things the same, and stay stuck in the doldrums of 3rd place in the AL West, watching the two teams in front of you competing every year for the AL spot in the Fall Classic.

“What you can do is often simply a matter of what you will do.”

– The Phantom Tollbooth; by Norton Juster