The Seattle Mariners made an interesting decision in the second inning of Monday night’s game against the New York Yankees.

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Facing a team with one of baseball’s best offenses, the M’s had Leody Taveras lay down a sacrifice bunt with no outs and runners on first and second base. The bunt successfully advanced the runners, but a strikeout and flyout that followed meant no runs came across.

Even if that bunt had worked and the M’s were able to push at least one of their runners across, it would have meant just a two- or three-run lead against an offense that’s capable of putting up runs in a hurry, which Seattle experienced firsthand during a six-run outburst by the Yankees in the fifth.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson has been lauded the impact he’s had on the M’s clubhouse, but decisions like the one made Monday have left Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk scratching their heads at times. So when ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan joined the show for his weekly conversation, they asked Passan how he balances those two elements of a manager when judging the job they’re doing.

“You hope that one does not far outweigh the other, and if it does, you hope the ugly side just doesn’t rear its head particularly often,” Passan said. “But when you have 162 games, there are going to be quite a few moments of strategy where it’s on the manager, and there is no quicker way into the doghouse of fans than bad button-pushing.”

Strategy can be learned

When Wilson took over as the M’s manager last season, he had no managerial experience outside of a few short stints filling in for Mariners minor league affiliates. Passan feels the lack of reps Wilson has on in-game decisions could be playing a factor in some questionable strategy choices early on this year.

“A lot of guys who are managing now, the majority still, did have minor league managing experience,” Passan said. “They were in those scenarios where they learned if they made the wrong call, and then next time around didn’t do it again. And part of me wonders if some of this is Dan Wilson as a first-time manager being the guy who hasn’t made those mistakes and almost needs to experience them in order to learn from them.”

However, Passan said what Wilson does have down is the toughest part of managing.

“Listen, give me the guy all day who has a hold over the clubhouse. That to me is the hard part. Strategy can be learned, feel can’t,” Passan said. “And I think Dan Wilson’s got a lot of feel, so I’m going to lean into that and say that there are enough people in the organization who have an understanding of proper strategic moves that they will be able to figure out how to get him on the right path there.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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