THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Saturday, October 31, 2015

At the end of the day, new Seattle Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto was going to bring in his guy to help return his new team to the glory days.

You remember the glory days of Seattle baseball right? Well, maybe not so many of those.

WITH THE hiring of Scott Servais as the team’s new manager, Dipoto brings a guy that he has worked with in the past with the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels, with the hopes that he’s a better option that Lloyd McClendon.

To be fair, it shouldn’t have been McClendon’s fault that the team underachieved while he was manager. Bad players in some spots led to bad results.

It wasn’t his fault that pitchers like Hisashi Iwakuma missed time due to injury, or Robinson Cano waited until the final two months to start earning his money at the plate.

Besides working as an assistant GM in Texas and Los Angeles, Servais also spent time as a catcher for the Houston Astros, Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs among others before retiring in 2001.

Lately, the trend in the majors has been hiring coaches with little experience — Kevin Cash in Tampa Bay or Jeff Bannister in Texas — and those teams have done fairly well in keeping in contention until late September, if not playing in October, like the Rangers did this season.

Servais has also worked with Nelson Cruz while the two were in Texas, and the Rangers were advancing to the World Series.

THE MARINERS aren’t that far away from being in the mix for the playoffs.

Having a different voice in the clubhouse will only help things along a little quicker.

For Mariner loyalists, Ken Griffey, Jr. wasn’t going to be the next manager, nor Edgar Martinez.

There’s something to be said about former players going back to manage their former team — it shouldn’t be done.

If Griffey took over the team, I’d be curious to watch the game and see if he can really turn things around. Same with Martinez, who remained on the staff as hitting coach after taking over midway through last season.

With Servais, he might not have much coaching experience — none, actually — but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a vision of where this team could be heading.

For years, most fans outside of California have thought the Angels’ run was going to end at some point, but the players and group that both Dipoto and Servais brought in continued to find a way into the postseason.

Having that relationship with Dipoto, things can only get better for the team and its fans.

October has been a lonely month for fans around Safeco Field for well over a decade.

Maybe next year is the year.

At least right now, it seems like they’re taking a step in the right direction.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.