Tear it down? Chase the playoffs? Mariners have to decide where they go from here

The Seattle Mariners officially began their offseason on Monday because, for the 17th consecutive year, they were postseason spectators and not participators.

So general manager Jerry Dipoto and Scott Servais answered for that. Dipoto was hired before the 2016 season and outlined a plan of making the playoffs by their third season; the Mariners didn’t accomplish that despite winning 89 games.

The question now and over the next several weeks and

Dipoto and his staff will meet within those Safeco Field offices over the next several weeks trying to answer this question: Where do they go from here?

“We picked a unique season in which 89 wins wasn’t enough to get us to the postseason,” Dipoto said.…