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New York Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Seattle supersonic: Cal Raleigh is blasting his way toward a historic offensive season
When the owners of the Seattle Mariners gathered last week for a meeting, Jerry Dipoto, the president of baseball operations, shared some data on their recent investment. At the end of spring training, the Mariners committed $105 million to catcher Cal Raleigh, keeping him under team control through 2030. Raleigh is enjoying a breakout season, and Dipoto wanted to convey just how rare it is for a catcher to produce like this. Advertisement Raleigh leads the majors with 23 home runs, to go with career highs in batting average (.364), on-base percentage (.379) and slugging percentage (.637). He's a switch-hitter coming off a Platinum Glove season, guiding a strong pitching staff for the first-place team in the American League West. He has played in every game this season. Add it all up, and Fangraphs gives Raleigh 3.8 wins above replacement, with 104 games to go — an extraordinary 10.6-WAR pace. Dipoto, who probably has the deepest knowledge of baseball history of anyone working in the sport, dove into his laptop to see how many catchers have done that. The answer: Nobody. Even if Raleigh falls off the pace and finishes with 8 fWAR, he would still be in hallowed territory. Dipoto shared this chart with his bosses, listing the very few 8 fWAR seasons by catchers in MLB history: That's eight seasons from seven players — five Hall of Famers; McCann, who made seven All-Star teams; and Posey, who is not yet eligible for Cooperstown and has the single-season fWAR record as the National League's MVP in 2012. 'And Cal, right now, is on pace to do better than that,' Dipoto said by phone on Monday. 'And if you look at what he's starting to accumulate, he's pushing 20 (career) wins above replacement. He's playing his 28-year-old season, and he's gotten better with each passing year. I really could go on about it for a long time, but he deserves to be recognized with the best players in the game.' The reigning Most Valuable Players, Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, have been predictably dominant this season. But what Raleigh is doing, especially at his position, has been similarly astounding. Raleigh was the first catcher in MLB history to reach 20 home runs before the end of May. Then he started June by homering again in Sunday's 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Before Raleigh, no catcher had pulled off all three of these performances in a single season: a two-homer game from the left side, a two-homer game from the right side and another game with a homer from both sides. 'I remember playing with Todd Hundley in New York the year that he hit the record number of homers for a catcher; he tied Roy Campanella with 41,' said Dipoto, a former Mets reliever, referring to a record now held by Salvador Perez. 'It was amazing, and when it was happening, we always referenced that Todd was an iron man because he caught all the time. Advertisement 'Mitch Garver has taken a number of reps as our backup catcher — it's not like he's invisible on the team — but Cal has played in every game, which is just a stunning thing, even for two months, for a modern-day major-league catcher. And he wants to. He's always wanted to. He thrives on being involved in it. Cal's desire to play, to contribute — he sees the game from every imaginable level.' Raleigh, a third-round draft pick from Florida State in 2018, has started 45 games behind the plate and 12 as the designated hitter. The one game he did not start, against the Athletics on May 6, he drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a pinch hit in the ninth. It wasn't Raleigh's most famous ninth-inning, pinch-hit, game-winner against the A's. That was his walk-off homer on Sept. 30, 2022, which snapped Seattle's 21-year playoff drought. The Mariners went on to win their first-round playoff series in Toronto before losing their division series to the eventual champion Houston Astros. In 2023, when the better-funded Texas Rangers edged the Mariners for a playoff spot, Raleigh publicly questioned ownership's commitment, giving voice to widespread fan frustration. While Seattle has not splurged in free agency since then, Raleigh's six-year contract cemented his role as a franchise pillar. 'In our clubhouse over the years, Cal has been kind of a torch bearer for establishing a standard and demanding accountability,' Dipoto said. 'He's not a really loud guy at all. He is actually quite the opposite. He's kind of quiet, he observes and he's thoughtful. But when something needs to be said, he says it. He says it in the house, he says it outside the house, and he has really developed a good sense for how to be there as a leader for his teammates.' The Mariners have had transcendent players over the years — Edgar Martínez, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Ichiro Suzuki, Félix Hernández — and Raleigh, who should make his first All-Star appearance next month, is not yet in their class. But in franchise history, only Griffey has hit more homers in the first five seasons of his career than Raleigh, and only Alex Rodriguez got to 100 homers faster than Raleigh, who did it in his 482nd game. With 15 more home runs this season — a conservative estimate, given his start — Raleigh would become the 10th catcher to hit 130 through his age-28 season. The list demonstrates the company he's keeping: *minimum 75 percent of overall games as catcher Source: Stathead So that's five Hall of Famers, three World Series-winning stalwarts (Parrish, McCann, Perez)… and Gary Sanchez. Raleigh has a long way to go, but his approach this season is encouraging for his future. After coming into the season as a .197 career right-handed hitter, Raleigh is batting .296 from that side this year. He has been more disciplined at the plate, swinging at a career-low 27.9 percent on pitches outside the strike zone. (The league average is 31.2 percent.) Advertisement The Mariners are built around their pitcher-friendly home park; entering play on Monday, Seattle ranked third in the majors in OPS on the road and 24th in OPS at home. Overall, though, the offense has normalized, ranking 11th in runs per game (4.53) after finishing 21st last season, at 4.17. All of it, Dipoto said, has played a part in Raleigh's rise. 'He's swinging at better pitches more frequently, and he's passing the baton in a lineup that I think he knows is a little deeper than it has been in the past,' Dipoto said. 'It's amazing what can happen when you don't feel like you need to hit a homer for us to score and the guys behind you can pick it up — and all of a sudden, he actually is hitting more homers.' More, in fact, than anybody else in a year that could rank among the best at baseball's most punishing position. (Top photo of Cal Raleigh:)
New York Times
06-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Mariners fans rage at Jerry Dipoto's interviews. He's ‘gonna get roasted' for this one too
PEORIA, Ariz. — Fifty-four percent. To most people, it's just a random figure. To a group of Seattle Mariners fans, it's a rallying cry, a reason for anger. To Jerry Dipoto? It's an example of good intentions gone wrong. It was Oct. 3, 2023, two days after the Mariners' season ended tantalizingly close to the playoffs. And Dipoto, Seattle's president of baseball operations, held an end-of-season press conference that won't soon be forgotten. 'If you go back, and you look in a decade, those teams that win 54 percent of the time always wind up in the postseason and they more often than not wind up in a World Series. … Nobody wants to hear 'the goal this year is we're going to win 54 percent of the time.' But over time that type of mindset gets you there.' Advertisement Dipoto now wavers between two competing thoughts. One is recognizing that he communicated his point poorly. The other? Maintaining that it's not his fault that the message wasn't fully understood. 'People obviously didn't understand it the way I expressed it,' Dipoto said, speaking with The Athletic in his spring training office earlier this spring. 'My guess is that 98 percent of people didn't actually listen to it. They just read it off a tweet. 'It's what it is. Maybe they wouldn't have understood it any better had they heard the whole thing. And that's on me for poorly communicating what I think is a simple idea.' The idea was simple: Great teams sustain success by winning at a 54 percent clip over a long period. Especially for a mid-market club like the Mariners that traditionally sits in the middle of the payroll pack, putting your organization in that position is ultimately the best chance to make the playoffs consistently and win a World Series. But it also spoke to an analytical and mathematical way of thinking that is routine and near-universal in front offices around the major leagues. This is the language of the modern baseball franchise. The difference? When most front office executives leave the bubble of their conference rooms and speak to the media or directly to fans, they usually distill their message into something simpler: We try to win every single game. Dipoto doesn't do it that way. For a long time, in a job that is so often defined by self-preservation, Dipoto has chosen to say the quiet part out loud — taking the front-office, numerical slant straight to the fans and media. 'I am who I am. I talk with passion. I talk with confidence,' he said. 'I'm not always as confident as my voice sounds. It's just the way I talk. It's who I am. I lean into it. I love our team. I love what we've been able to do with our franchise. I think there are a lot of organizations that look at us and say, 'They're doing it the right way.'' Advertisement Dipoto is entering his 10th season as the head baseball executive in Seattle. In that time, the former big league reliever has turned a downtrodden team into an organization that's annually competitive. It's also a club that has yet to win anything of substance, making only one playoff appearance under Dipoto. If his team won big — or had even been more aggressive in free agency — Dipoto's candor might be celebrated. Since they haven't, it makes him an easy target. The longer the Mariners stay mired in the middle, the more the transparency and accessibility once lauded by fans are seen differently. For a time, Dipoto stuck to his approach, then watched as his efforts to explain why the Mariners haven't broken through backfired on him nearly every time over the last two years. 'Is it a hard job? Yeah,' Dipoto said. 'It's a hard job. But most jobs are hard jobs. But in most jobs, they don't stick a microphone in front of your face.' Conscious of that, Dipoto has intentionally scaled back the number of times he speaks publicly. Seemingly every time there is a microphone in his face, he says something that rubs a disgruntled fan base the wrong way. 'Truly, I could say 'hello,'' Dipoto said, 'and it would turn into a thing right now.' It's not just the 54 percent comment for Dipoto. Just last month, he told local reporters that 'early projection systems feel like we're right in the mix.' He scolded the outsider view of the Seattle offense, which ranked 21st last year in runs scored, saying, 'I think there is the reality of our offense and then the perception of our offense,' before citing wRC+, which factors in their pitcher-friendly home park. This offseason, instead of simply saying the Mariners wouldn't trade from their starting rotation, he responded to the question with this: 'On the continuum of Plan A to Zero, that would be Plan Zero, times some denominator.' Advertisement There is validity to each of these comments and to the various others that have rankled the fan base. But as many GMs address these topics from a far more rudimentary point of view, Dipoto shows you his work. He takes his calculations to the masses. And often that leaves him having to pick up the pieces. 'In a decade filled with thousands and thousands of words, it's easy to pull out one or two in context, or out of context, that, if put side by side, irritates someone,' he said. 'That has become something of a sport. 'I accept the fact that in my position, the role that I play, and the amount of time I spend talking about what we do, it's going to be — I try not to take it personal. But sometimes I do. I try not to get defensive, but it's really hard sometimes.' Not everyone associated with the Mariners talks in Dipoto-ese. The starkest contrast to Dipoto's approach came from Cal Raleigh, the Mariners' franchise catcher. 'We've got to commit to winning, we have to commit to going and getting those players you see other teams going out (to get),' Raleigh said after his team's elimination two seasons ago. 'Going for it, getting big-time pitchers, getting big-time hitters. We have to do that to keep up.' There was something emotional and unbridled about what he said. Nothing about percentages or numbers. No front office speak. He talked like a fan. The only math required here was simple: Good players equals good team. That was, as some see it, an inflection point. The day the goodwill had worn out. When Mariners fans ceased appreciating their newfound competitiveness and became frustrated that it wasn't translating into something more. 'Yeah, maybe,' Dipoto said, when asked if Raleigh's comments initiated that divide. 'But that's his right. He has the right to say that. He has the right to point to what he thinks is truth and what needs to be said. To his credit, he had the courage to reach out and do it.' Advertisement But what Dipoto can do and what Raleigh and various Mariners fans want him to do are two very different things. For one, Dipoto's working within a restrictive budget set by the ownership group, which has generally run a mid-level payroll during Dipoto's tenure. But separately, Dipoto's overall philosophy is not defined by free-agent acquisitions. 'Very few, if any, of the great teams that were able to sustain,' Dipoto said. '… very few of them weren't built on a foundation of draft, sign, develop or trade. That's what we've communicated to our fans for a decade. 'We feel like we're closer to that goal than we've ever been. We're just not moving at a pace that is universally accepted. And I understand the frustration.' The issue, as Dipoto sees it, is that they did the good work of building a winning product. Their starting rotation of George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller is the envy of the sport. But good has now become not good enough. Acquiring 37-year-old utility man Donovan Solano was the team's only offseason splash. They made no significant trades, despite being known as a trade-happy organization. Mariners fans, and even some rival executives, Dipoto said, are surprised that this window — for a franchise with just one postseason appearance since 2001 — could be wasted due to inaction. 'People want us to succeed,' he said. 'We want to succeed. (GM) Justin (Hollander) and I are accountable to every decision that we have made. We've taken responsibility for the bad ones. And frankly, early on, we got celebrated for the good ones. 'Now they generally get swept under the rug and forgotten. The negativity from the general population over this offseason has been palpable. You can't help but feel it.' The relationship between Dipoto and Raleigh, however, has recovered from that day. Dipoto texts with his catcher in the offseason as various things happen. Advertisement Speaking at Mariners camp earlier this spring, Raleigh didn't reiterate the sentiments expressed back in 2023. But he also didn't walk them back either. 'We care about the city, we care about the fans, we care about the organization … We understand the frustration,' he said. But he also knows whatever Dipoto does is outside his control. And in the vacuum of any big signings, he at least appreciates his boss's transparency. 'I think all you want is the full truth,' Raleigh said. 'Anytime you get that, it's good. But at the same time, we have a job to do, and that's on the field. We're players, and players play. And GMs GM.' Most Mariners fans who approach Dipoto are friendlier than the ones he sees online. But one such outlier came up to him in Peoria this spring to speak his mind. 'It appears you're not trying,' he told Dipoto. Dipoto responded firmly, 'I assure you, we are.' Dipoto said it's been years since he's allowed himself to actively seek out fans' responses to his comments. But whatever his means of avoidance, it's clearly not all-encompassing. The reason he's talking now, about all of this, is because he believes in his club. That, ultimately, the lack of big bat acquisitions will become moot as his team performs well. For Dipoto, it's challenging to square his own beliefs in his processes and methods with his keen awareness that the public, writ-large, doesn't share that sentiment. As much as he'd like to ignore the detractors, even he'll acknowledge just how hard that can be. 'Our story is a pretty good story,' he said. 'But it's been overrun right now by the general desire that we go do something more. The big move. The grand slam. The big free agent. And maybe that'll happen at some point. We just didn't think this was the right time, or the right group of players that fit for us. Advertisement 'I don't want to continue to constantly apologize to people for not winning the World Series in 1979, '89, '99. I understand the history of the Mariners. We can't erase 48 years. What we can focus on is our game tomorrow.' When it comes to winning a championship, Dipoto tries to look at it pragmatically. Of course, he wants a World Series ring. But he doesn't want to be singularly obsessed with that goal — rather, he focuses on the process that will put them in a position to win it all. Because, as he says, 'You can't control the final outcome.' The same could be said for how the fans, baseball pundits and even his own players view him and the work he's done. As much as he'd like for everyone to understand, accept and agree with his line of thinking, that will not be the case. At least not until the Mariners win something meaningful. That much, he knows. And it led to his blunt and matter-of-fact assessment of how people will receive everything he's said here: 'I'm gonna get roasted.'
NBC Sports
25-02-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
5 former players are running baseball operations in the majors. More could be on the way
PEORIA, Ariz. — Shortly after his playing career ended, Jerry Dipoto took in a game at Wrigley Field with former big league manager Jim Fregosi. After a particularly nasty strikeout by Eric Gagne, Dipoto laughed. Fregosi promptly slapped Dipoto on the back of his head. 'He said, 'I'm just going to remind you today. ... Don't ever forget how hard that it is to play,'' Dipoto recalled. 'And that's what I think is the thing I remember most, and I think the benefit of the guys who have gone through it, is that they recognize that it is a really hard game.' That lesson stayed with Dipoto as he made his way to his current job with the Seattle Mariners — and membership in an exclusive club. Dipoto is one of five former major leaguers serving as the top baseball executive for a big league franchise at the moment. Dipoto, 56, has been the president of baseball operations for Seattle since Sept. 1, 2021. Like Dipoto, Chris Young, 45, was promoted from general manager to president of baseball operations for the Texas Rangers on Sept. 13. Craig Breslow was hired as the chief baseball officer for the Boston Red Sox on Oct. 25, 2023, and Chris Getz was promoted to GM of the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 31, 2023. Buster Posey, 37, joined the list when the former All-Star catcher was hired as president of baseball operations for the San Francisco Giants in September. 'There are a ton of incredibly successful executives who didn't play baseball,' said Breslow, 44. 'I don't think it's a prerequisite, but I do think it provides a level of credibility and empathy given I've kind of been on every side of a transaction, or every side of a conversation I've had to have with a player or coach. And credibility in terms of really being able to understand what players are thinking about, what they're going through.' Under Breslow's leadership, Boston used a complicated contract structure to add Alex Bregman in free agency. Bregman also was being pursued by the Cubs and Tigers before he agreed to a three-year, $120 million deal with the Red Sox. San Francisco had been struggling to land a major free agent before shortstop Willy Adames agreed to a seven-year, $182 million contract with the Giants in December. Adames said Posey played a major role in his decision. 'My meeting with the team, it was me and him, basically. No agent. Nobody,' Adames said. 'So we had a really, really good conversation, and I bought into his plan for this organization, for what he wants to build here in the near future.' Breslow has a degree from Yale and Young graduated from Princeton, so the five players in charge of major league teams doesn't exactly represent some sort of counterrevolution when it comes to Ivy League grads in baseball. But today's major leaguers are increasingly savvy when it comes to the business side of the game, and they have firsthand experience with the data used by front offices as part of their decision-making process. 'Where we were a decade ago to where we are now, there's just so much opportunity to make better decisions nowadays based on the information that we have,' said Getz, 41. 'But being well-versed in it now, you know having a former playing background is only going to position you, your résumé is just stronger.' While that big league career is an asset in a variety of ways, it also creates a unique set of blind spots. Building out a front office that complements one another is key, Dipoto said. 'I learned to adapt along the way to things I didn't know and to trust people who are smarter than I am to fill in those gaps,' he said, 'and to recognize when I'm allowing my want to be a good teammate and my want to love the good teammate, sometimes, you have be able to discern when that doesn't equal best player fit for this situation.' There are several more people in position to join the club one day. Brandon Gomes helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series last year, serving as the team's GM under Andrew Friedman. Ryan Garko was promoted to assistant GM with the Detroit Tigers in May. Cole Figueroa is an assistant GM for the Rangers. Kevin Reese and Tim Naehring work for longtime New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, and Josh Barfield is part of Getz's front office with the White Sox. When it comes to his discussions with players interested in working in baseball operations, Breslow said the conversations provide an indication of the potential for success. 'It becomes pretty clear, generally who has the curiosity, who asks a lot of questions,' he said. 'Who wants to learn why we make decisions not just what decisions are being made. Those are the people (that could make the transition).'
Associated Press
25-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
5 former players are running baseball operations in the majors. More could be on the way
PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — Shortly after his playing career ended, Jerry Dipoto took in a game at Wrigley Field with former big league manager Jim Fregosi. After a particularly nasty strikeout by Eric Gagne, Dipoto laughed. Fregosi promptly slapped Dipoto on the back of his head. 'He said, 'I'm just going to remind you today. ... Don't ever forget how hard that it is to play,'' Dipoto recalled. 'And that's what I think is the thing I remember most, and I think the benefit of the guys who have gone through it, is that they recognize that it is a really hard game.' That lesson stayed with Dipoto as he made his way to his current job with the Seattle Mariners — and membership in an exclusive club. Dipoto is one of five former major leaguers serving as the top baseball executive for a big league franchise at the moment. Dipoto, 56, has been the president of baseball operations for Seattle since Sept. 1, 2021. Like Dipoto, Chris Young, 45, was promoted from general manager to president of baseball operations for the Texas Rangers on Sept. 13. Craig Breslow was hired as the chief baseball officer for the Boston Red Sox on Oct. 25, 2023, and Chris Getz was promoted to GM of the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 31, 2023. Buster Posey, 37, joined the list when the former All-Star catcher was hired as for the San Francisco Giants in September. 'There are a ton of incredibly successful executives who didn't play baseball,' said Breslow, 44. 'I don't think it's a prerequisite, but I do think it provides a level of credibility and empathy given I've kind of been on every side of a transaction, or every side of a conversation I've had to have with a player or coach. And credibility in terms of really being able to understand what players are thinking about, what they're going through.' Under Breslow's leadership, Boston used a complicated contract structure to add Alex Bregman in free agency. Bregman also was being pursued by the Cubs and Tigers before he agreed to a $120 million, three-year deal with the Red Sox. San Francisco had been struggling to land a major free agent before shortstop Willy Adames agreed to a $182 million, seven-year contract with the Giants in December. Adames said Posey played a major role in his decision. 'My meeting with the team, it was me and him, basically. No agent. Nobody,' Adames said. 'So we had a really, really good conversation, and I bought into his plan for this organization, for what he wants to build here in the near future.' Breslow has a degree from Yale and Young graduated from Princeton, so the five players in charge of major league teams doesn't exactly represent some sort of counterrevolution when it comes to Ivy League grads in baseball. But today's major leaguers are increasingly savvy when it comes to the business side of the game, and they have firsthand experience with the data used by front offices as part of their decision-making process. 'Where we were a decade ago to where we are now, there's just so much opportunity to make better decisions nowadays based on the information that we have,' said Getz, 41. 'But being well-versed in it now, you know having a former playing background is only going to position you, your résumé is just stronger.' While that big league career is an asset in a variety of ways, it also creates a unique set of blind spots. Building out a front office that complements one another is key, Dipoto said. 'I learned to adapt along the way to things I didn't know and to trust people who are smarter than I am to fill in those gaps,' he said, 'and to recognize when I'm allowing my want to be a good teammate and my want to love the good teammate, sometimes, you have be able to discern when that doesn't equal best player fit for this situation.' There are several more people in position to join the club one day. Brandon Gomes helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series last year, serving as the team's GM under Andrew Friedman. Ryan Garko was promoted to assistant GM with the Detroit Tigers in May. Cole Figueroa is an assistant GM for the Rangers. Kevin Reese and Tim Naehring work for longtime New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, and Josh Barfield is part of Getz's front office with the White Sox. When it comes to his discussions with players interested in working in baseball operations, Breslow said the conversations provide an indication of the potential for success. 'It becomes pretty clear, generally who has the curiosity, who asks a lot of questions,' he said. 'Who wants to learn why we make decisions not just what decisions are being made. Those are the people (that could make the transition).' ___
