FanPost Friday: Prepping for the 2023 Mariners “soft sell”
Jerry Dipoto publicly calls the team “mediocre” and the trade deadline looms, so it’s time to make peace with missing the playoffs if you haven’t yet
Hello and welcome back to FanPost Friday! In spite of the team’s split with Minnesota and the return to the team’s seemingly permanent .500 status, by most accounts we are approaching the time for the Mairners to punt AKA do a “soft sell” on the 2023 season. It sucks, I know. I don’t like it, but we all knew the team didn’t do enough in the offseason to build upon 2022’s success to make the 2023 team a sustainable winner. So, here we are.
Jerry Dipoto took to his usual Thursday morning interview on Seattle Sports Radio and sounded far more dire and down on the team than at any point this season so far. You can listen to the interview here, but here are some quotes and some intrepid paraphrasing by @theJagePage, thank you for documenting the interview for the Mariners Twitter masses:
A Recap of the The Jerry Dipoto Show from 7.20.23 in regards to the #Mariners so far this year. pic.twitter.com/Ac8f9Lwfge
— Jage (@thejagepage) July 20, 2023
And one more key quote from Shannon Drayer:
Dipoto on @SeattleSports
— Shannon Drayer (@shannondrayer) July 20, 2023
"It's a very average offensive team and we have to find a way to become better than average. It's going to require some creative moves because we don't have the next wave of bats at AAA ready to come and push us over that edge."
Shortly after this interview aired, we found out about Jarred Kelenic’s self-inflicted foot fracture, which further solidified the impending soft sell in my mind.
In a season where so much had gone right for him and he was starting to move closer to being the player that he and everyone else believed he could be, the player he worked so hard to move away from reappeared ... https://t.co/gPT3blTw3r
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) July 20, 2023
So yeah, yesterday was a wild morning in Marinersville, and then they went ahead and beat the Twins anyways to return to .500.
The MLB trade deadline is August 1, so how they play up until then or until Jerry may start making deals will more or less determine how and when the soft sell/punt begins on 2023. I’ve made my peace with it, but let’s hit those polls to see what the vibes are like out there in the LL Hivemind! Also, make sure to listen to today’s Meet at the Mitt podcast episode with Two Zachs & an Evan because they talk all about whether it’s time to punt on 2023 or not and it’s a great discussion.
To the polls!
Have a good weekend, avoid driving anywhere near Seattle if you can avoid it, and cheers to all Canadians spending their hard-earned loonies & toonies to support our service industry economy this weekend as they caravan to Seattle to watch Canada’s Team (TM). Please don’t make a mess and tip your bartenders. I also hope the Mariners make you sad <3.