MLB Rumors: Mariners Expected to Fire Scott Servais, Hire Dan Wilson as Manager | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumours

The Seattle Mariners are apparently turning to their past in an effort to stop their slide in the American League standings.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Marc Carig reported Thursday that the team is expected to fire manager Scott Servais and replace him with Dan Wilson. Although Wilson never managed at any level, he was a catcher for the Mariners during his playing days and was a special assignments coordinator for the team in spring training.

This is the next step in what has been a rollercoaster season for the Mariners.

They seemed headed for their second playoff appearance since 2001 when they built a 10-game lead in the American League West. However, they are an ugly 1-8 in their last nine games and have fallen to .500 at 64-64.

Seattle is now five games behind the Houston Astros in the division and 7.5 games behind the Kansas City Royals for the final AL wild-card spot.

A postseason berth seems like a long shot at best at this point, so it appears the front office has decided to make a drastic move with hopes of further inspiring the club.

Hiring someone with no managerial experience is a pretty drastic step, but Wilson will be a familiar name to fans of the team. He was a catcher for Seattle from 1994 to 2005 and was a member of some of the franchise’s iconic teams that also featured the star power of Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson.

The Mariners reached three American League Championship Series during Wilson’s playing career, although they were unable to take the next step and advance to the World Series.

Seattle is still without a pennant in franchise history, but would certainly like to restore some of the consistency of those Wilson teams.

In 12 seasons with the team, he slashed .262/.309/.384 with 88 home runs and 508 RBI. He was an All-Star in the 1996 campaign, when he finished with career-best totals in home runs (18) and RBI (83).

But playing and managing are two completely different things, and he will be tasked with improving Servais’ timing. Servais was the manager from 2016 until this season and finished with a 680-642 record.

While Seattle advanced to the playoffs just once during his tenure, he finished with a winning record in five of his eight full seasons.