The Mariners may not know yet whether their new coaching setup will click, but at least the plan makes sense. Jason Kanzler earned his way into the manager’s chair by winning over both the front office and veteran players, and he’s got two assistants in CJ Gillman and Tanner Swanson who look built to address real issues.
That’s a pretty clean contrast with what’s going on in Houston.
The Astros formally announced Brad Ausmus as their new manager on Wednesday, and the fit is hard to untangle. His strongest selling point is that he already has five years of managerial experience, split between the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels.
But that experience comes with baggage: a .478 winning percentage, and a reputation that didn’t exactly sparkle in either stop. After that, he resurfaced as a bench coach with the Athletics under Mark Kotsay and the New York Yankees under Aaron Boone.
According to Chandler Rome of The Athletic, new GM Randy Flores was the one who pushed for Ausmus to replace Joe Espada. Flores had just been hired from an assistant GM role with the St.
Louis Cardinals on October 30, but there’s another wrinkle here: Ausmus interviewed with Astros owner Jim Crane before Flores was even hired. Add in Ausmus’ longtime relationship with Jeff Bagwell, who some Astros fans believe carries too much influence in the organization, and the whole thing starts to look less like a straightforward hire and more like a job with too many fingerprints on it.
There’s a simple version of the story - Flores and Crane just happened to land on the same name - but the suspicion around the process is already out there. It has the feel of something waiting for the first real crack.
The same kind of confusion hangs over Flores’ own arrival. Some parts of the Astros fanbase see Crane as having settled for the lesser option. Milwaukee Brewers assistant GM Matt Kleine was apparently in the mix and, as late as October 29, was viewed as the top choice before Flores got the job the next day.
Kleine would have been an easy sell. An executive from a World Series-winning front office, with a reputation for doing things the right way from top to bottom? That would have played well in Houston, and probably would have looked sharp from Seattle, too.
Instead, Crane went with Flores, and that choice has prompted comparisons to an earlier Astros reset. It feels, to some, like a swing at recreating the Jeff Luhnow path.
Luhnow came out of the Cardinals’ front office under John Mozeliak in 2011 and brought player development chops with him. Not long after, Houston built the kind of machine that reached four World Series in six years between 2017 and 2022.
But this version is not the same. Flores is another Mozeliak disciple, yes, but the Cardinals’ reputation for innovation had already faded by the time Mozeliak handed things over to Chaim Bloom after the 2025 season. If Flores is going to prove he’s the right man for the job, it has to happen quickly.
So far, the first impression hasn’t exactly helped his case. Even with less than two weeks on the job, he probably should have known why Carlos Correa no longer plays shortstop.
And for Seattle, that’s the larger point: the Mariners don’t have to feel threatened by what Houston is doing right now.
Yes, the Astros still own the division’s bragging rights. They won only 81 games this season, but they still captured the AL West for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons.
Still, the Mariners are not operating like a fractured club. Whatever happens next, they at least have a shared direction. After a year in which Dan Wilson sat at the center of a communications breakdown, the organization seems aligned again - John Stanton, Jerry Dipoto and his staff, Jason Kanzler and his staff, and at least several veteran players all pulling the same way.
There’s plenty of roster work left, and that’s true across the league. But even if early projections for the 2027 Mariners are too generous, the bigger point is that the 2026 club underachieved badly enough that improvement should be the baseline. Simply getting back to where they ought to be would count as progress.
In Other News...
Mariners Linked To A Former Top Pick Fans Have Seen Before
The trade market is already starting to circle around a name Mariners fans know well from the draft hype cycle: Dylan Crews. According to Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic, the former second overall pick has come up in discussions because there are so few right-handed-hitting outfielders available and because Washington is looking for controllable starting pitching, a combination that could make him a tempting fit for clubs trying to buy low on upside.
For Seattle, the appeal is obvious enough. Crews still carries the pedigree of a top prospect, but his major league track record has not matched the billing, with his plate discipline slipping and his offense lagging behind expectations. It is the kind of profile that can look familiar in a hurry to Mariners fans, and the comparison to Jarred Kelenic is a reminder that chasing a once-promising bat can come with plenty of risk if the breakout never arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Offseason Push Just Put Ryan Sloan At The Center Of It
Ryan Sloan has quickly moved from promising arm to protected asset in Seattles offseason planning. The Mariners have made it clear they view the young pitcher as off-limits in trade talks, and general manager Justin Hollander said he does not expect Sloan to be dealt as the club maps out a bigger role for him heading into next season.
Seattles interest in adding an infielder has pushed the conversation in a different direction, with other pitchers such as George Kirby or Emerson Hancock mentioned as possible trade chips. But Sloans place in the organization appears to be rising, with the Mariners planning to increase his workload and potentially give him a shot to start in the majors next year, a sign they see him as part of the solution rather than currency. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Push Hard To Land A Key Answer In The Outfield
The Mariners are moving quickly on one of the more intriguing names in the outfield market, with reports linking them to free agent Seiya Suzuki and suggesting they want an in-person meeting before the MLB lockout begins. Suzuki, who spent time with the Cubs and was a two-time NPB Central League batting champion, has emerged as a top target as Seattle looks for a meaningful answer in the outfield.
There is a real clock on this pursuit, too, with the current Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire on Dec. 1. That gives the Mariners a narrow window to make their case and potentially line up a deal before the offseason goes dark, which only adds to the urgency around a player who could change the look of their lineup. [Read more 🡒]