The Athletics are giving the Mariners a pretty clear message: this isn’t a team content to stay stuck.
Seattle already got the warning on the field, dropping five of seven meetings with Oakland in September. The Mariners’ biggest moment in that stretch was a 19-1 win, and even that came in a run where they managed only two victories total.
Three of the losses were by one run. And the weird part?
The A’s did it without Nick Kurtz, Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson, all of whom are out for the season. Shea Langeliers only came back for the final two games.
In other words, Seattle was looking at a shorthanded version of the division rival and still couldn’t handle it.
Now Oakland is making the next move.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the Athletics formally interviewed Mike Rizzo and longtime A’s executive Billy Owens for their general manager opening. Former Astros GM James Click is also reportedly in the mix, and the club wants to wrap up the search before the regular season ends.
That candidate list says a lot all by itself. Rizzo brings the most recognizable name and the loudest résumé.
During his time with the Washington Nationals, they won four division titles and the 2019 World Series. He built that team through scouting and player development, then made the kind of expensive pitching bets that can swing a franchise, bringing in Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg as core pieces.
For the A’s, that profile makes sense. Through 149 games, their pitchers had a 5.41 ERA, allowed 852 runs and posted an 82 ERA+.
The offense has been much closer to league average, even with the injuries that hit late. The young position-player base is there.
The pitching is the obvious problem.
Rizzo has done this before: recognize when a young team needs established help and make the move. He’s also seen the other side of that coin, because Washington never got back to the postseason after 2019 and some of those big contracts aged badly.
Owens would be a very different kind of hire. He’s been with the A’s since 1999 and has worked as assistant GM and director of player personnel since 2015.
He knows the scouting operation, the minor league system and the young players already reaching the majors. If Oakland believes the lineup is coming together and the pitching side needs specific repairs, he can make the case that he understands the organization from the inside.
But that also comes with a built-in challenge. Promoting from within only works as a fresh start if there’s a real plan to fix the pitching staff that’s already underperformed.
Click might be the most unnerving name from Seattle’s perspective. He spent 15 years with the Rays before running Houston’s baseball operations for three seasons, a run that ended with a 2022 World Series title. His background blends small-market roster management, data-driven development and experience operating in an AL West franchise that’s sat on top of the division for years.
That kind of résumé fits what the A’s need: someone who can turn a promising young lineup into a complete roster without burning years or money.
Of course, any conversation about Oakland eventually gets back to John Fisher. A general manager can map out the fix, but ownership still has to supply the resources and authority to carry it out. With the move to Las Vegas targeted for 2028, the organization has publicly talked about increasing payroll as it nears the new ballpark.
Seattle knows how much that kind of promise can matter - and how unreliable it can be. The Mariners can’t plan their own future around the hope that Fisher will trip up whoever gets the job.
And that’s the part that should really bother them. The A’s already have a young group of hitters capable of causing problems, especially with Kurtz, Rooker, Soderstrom, Wilson, Langeliers and Lawrence Butler all in the picture when healthy. Add even competent pitching, and the whole team changes fast.
The Mariners had a chance to bury a down A’s team and didn’t come close to doing it. After coming within one win of the World Series in 2025, Seattle left Sacramento with a 70-80 record and another reminder of how fragile the window can be.
Now the Mariners’ own front office has to sort out its path for 2027. That means figuring out the roster, the depth and whether organizational continuity still deserves the benefit of the doubt.
The A’s are openly weighing different futures. Seattle is still trying to explain how a team built to contend unraveled this badly.
Whatever Oakland does with Rizzo, Owens or Click, the response in Seattle has to come from Seattle.
In Other News...
White Sox Just Took On A Rotation Risk Fans Can't Ignore
Luis Castillo was supposed to give the White Sox a stabilizing presence after Seattle dealt him before the Aug. 1 trade deadline, but the early returns have been rough enough to keep the move under a microscope. Chicago took on the remaining commitment with the idea that a proven right-hander could help steady the rotation, yet the results since the deal have gone the other way, creating an uneasy contrast with what he had already done in Seattle.
For Mariners fans, the trade always carried some long-term significance because Castillo still has $21.6 million owed in 2027, and the White Sox are now living with that ledger as well as the on-field uncertainty. He had posted a 5.06 ERA in 99.2 innings with Seattle before the deal, so the underlying concern was already there, and the jump to a 7.76 ERA in 29 innings since joining Chicago has only sharpened the question of how much trust this arm can command over the next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Risk Wasting Emerson Hancocks Breakout At The Worst Time
Emerson Hancocks 2026 season has given the Mariners something they badly needed: stability in the rotation. After making 25 starts and turning in solid numbers, the right-hander looked like one of the quieter success stories on a staff that has had to manage plenty of moving parts. Then a left adductor strain on Aug. 28 sent him to the injured list, and with the season running short, Seattle no longer has the luxury of a normal starters rehab path.
That is why the conversation has shifted toward a possible relief role for Hancock the rest of the way, even as the Mariners weigh how his return fits alongside Bryce Miller and the rest of the rotation picture. Manager Dan Wilson has made clear that Hancocks health comes first, but the team still has to decide whether there is enough time for the kind of buildup a starter usually needs. For a club trying to maximize every inning in September, the choice could shape more than just this years finish. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Suddenly Have A Real Andrs Muoz Problem In The Ninth
Andrs Muoz has still piled up enough save chances to give the Mariners confidence that the ninth inning belongs to him for now, but the year has not come nearly as smoothly as the raw totals might suggest. He has turned in a 4.25 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP across 55 innings, and while his fastball has played up and the strikeouts are there, the contact he has allowed has been louder than Seattle would like from its closer.
The result is a bullpen conversation that feels bigger than one rough stretch. Muoz has already blown 10 saves, the most in the majors, and the Mariners now have to sort through what that means for the back end of games even as his $8 million club option looks likely to be picked up. For a team trying to lean on its relief corps in the stretch run, the question is no longer whether Muoz has the stuff to close, but whether Seattle can keep treating the ninth inning as his alone. [Read more 🡒]