The Seattle Mariners need to hire a new field manager and a lead radio announcer this offseason. Who has the harder job to do in filling these two positions? Is it President of Baseball Operations Jerry DiPoto, who will make the call on the replacement for fired manager Dan Wilson? Or is it the Marketing & Communications Department, which is tasked with replacing Rick Rizzs, who retired after serving for 41 years in the radio booth?
Conventional wisdom says that Dipoto’s decision is the more important of the two. A good manager sets a competitive tone, motivates the players, decides who plays and when, makes key decisions during each game, and deals well with the media. Show me a team that won the World Series this century, and I will show you a good manager. No team has gotten there, or won it all, without one.
Should Dipoto hire a fiery leader, a former star player, someone with a track record, a players manager, or a candidate with a good mix of these traits? His pick will receive close scrutiny especially given that the Mariners came within one game of winning the 2025 ALCS but finished third in the AL West this year, a division won by a team that played .500 baseball. Plus, DiPoto has been around for 11 years now. He’s accomplished important rebuilding steps, but the Mariners need to move forward next year, not regress. There’s no doubt that DiPoto has a tough job ahead of him.
That’s probably what many Mariner fans are thinking.
However, I’m more interested in who will be the lead play-by-play guy in the radio booth next year. I’m a radio fan and not a TV watcher when it comes to enjoying baseball. Rick Rizzs is beloved in Seattle, and few MLB radio announcers are more knowledgeable about the game and their home team. So many accolades have been written about him since he announced his retirement that I will only add one observation. I didn’t think anyone could replace Dave Niehaus as the voice of the Mariners after he died of a heart attack in 2010. That may not have been Rizzs’s goal, but he accomplished it anyway just by being himself and by always putting baseball and the Mariners first. In short, he did it the old-fashioned way with dedication, enthusiasm, and old-fashioned hard work.
I will be watching closely as the front office searches for a replacement. I don’t know if they will promote from within or bring in someone new to Seattle. Surprise me, but please hire someone who can win over our hearts on the air just like Rick Rizzs did.
