The Memphis Grizzlies are interested in one of the EuroLeague's rising coaching stars, Lithuania's Sarunas Jasikevicius, and plan to meet with him soon, league sources told ESPN.

The Grizzlies' coaching search, which Executive VP of Basketball Operations Zach Kleiman is running, is still largely in the early stages, league sources said.

Jasikevicius, 43, has rapidly built a reputation as a legitimate NBA head-coaching candidate in his three seasons as coach of Zalgiris in Lithuania.

Known for a strong-willed leadership style and teams that exhibit elite ball movement and offensive execution, Jasikevicius has so far shown an ability to get his Lithuanian and EuroLeague teams to overachieve. Toronto president Masai Ujiri interviewed Jasikevicius for the Raptors' head-coaching opening last year, and his name keeps coming up with NBA general managers as a possible NBA coaching candidate.

Along with a decorated EuroLeague playing career, Jasikevicius played two seasons in the NBA with Indiana and Golden State, as well as four years at the University of Maryland for Naismith Hall of Fame coach Gary Williams. He also attended a year of high school in the United States and speaks fluent English.

Memphis fired coach JB Bickerstaff after a 33-49 season.

DENVER -- Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray reaggravated a right thigh injury that kept him out of the final 53 seconds of Game 2 and will undergo treatment over the next 48 hours.

Murray missed six of his eight 3-point attempts and finished with 15 points and seven assists, then had to watch the final seconds of Portland's 97-90 victory at Denver in Game 2.

Murray first bruised his thigh during the first round by absorbing a screen from San Antonio's Jakob Poeltl, and he has been nursing a right shoulder injury. He said he ran into another screen on Tuesday and had difficulty moving as Game 2 progressed.

"Those screens hurt," Murray said. "It is what it is. It hurt for the rest of the game. Couldn't move, obviously, and coach [Michael Malone] had to take me out. I'm just going to get treatment and just be ready for Game 3. It was definitely hurting."

Murray will try to get his thigh to "loosen up as much as possible" in the next few days, according to Malone.

"It's that right thigh area," Malone said. "Obviously, I think it is still probably sore and bruised from last series, and he probably got hit there again."

In addition to Murray hobbling, the Nuggets lost Torrey Craig for nearly 21 minutes between the second and third quarters after he sustained a bloody nasal contusion by inadvertently falling into teammate Monte Morris' knee. Craig and Portland's Zach Collins went for a loose ball before Craig fell into Morris.

Craig, who scored seven points in 19 minutes, returned wearing a protective mask late in the third quarter. He had his nose reexamined before the team flew to Portland late after Game 2.

Both Murray and Craig have been pivotal parts of Denver's playoff success. Murray is averaging 23.4 points in the Nuggets' five playoff victories this postseason.

After Malone inserted Craig in the Nuggets' starting lineup in place of Will Barton in Game 4 in the first round against San Antonio, the Nuggets won four of their next five playoff games and erased a 2-1 deficit to beat the Spurs. Craig's defensive versatility played a huge role in that series win over San Antonio.

Craig and Murray also were at the center of a dust-up in the final seconds of Game 2. After Portland center Enes Kanter was shoved into Craig by Nikola Jokic , Denver guard Gary Harris took exception and verbally let Kanter know.

During the ensuing timeout with 43.6 seconds left, Murray left the bench and had words with Kanter. Both teams separated the sides to prevent things from escalating.

"There was nothing dirty about it," Malone said. "The first play was inadvertent, and Torrey falls and winds up hitting Monte Morris' knee. There's nothing dirty about that. It's an unfortunate bounce for Torrey Craig.

"And the second one, Nikola and Kanter are tangled up in the paint, Kanter goes flying up the floor and runs into Torrey. I don't think there's any malice in either one of those plays. But listen: Both of these teams are trying to get to the Western Conference finals. It's going to be hard-fought and physical, but there is nothing dirty about it, and I respect that."

The Houston Rockets are optimistic that star guard James Harden will not have any more problems with his vision in the Western Conference semifinals, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

After the Rockets' flight landed in Houston on Wednesday afternoon, Harden went straight to an eye doctor. Tests revealed no damage to either of Harden's corneas, a source said, and the Rockets expect his vision to be completely clear by Saturday's Game 3.

Harden suffered contusions in both eyes and a laceration on the inside of his left eyelid when he was inadvertently hit in the face by Golden State's Draymond Green a little more than five minutes into the Rockets' Game 2 loss on Tuesday.

Harden said he could "barely see" after returning to the game in the second quarter. He frequently squinted and shielded his eyes from the light in the remainder of the game and his postgame news conference. Harden's vision in his left eye was especially blurry.

Harden's issues with his vision were not evident in his performance. He finished with 29 points and had his highest field goal percentage of the postseason (9-of-19, 47.4 percent), despite missing his first three shots before suffering the injury.

Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge suffered a mild heart attack in Milwaukee on Tuesday night, the team announced.

According to a release from the team, Ainge received immediate medical attention, is expected to make a full recovery and will return to Boston shortly.

Ainge, 60, also suffered what was described as minor heart attack in 2009.

All season, the top four teams in the NBA's Eastern Conference seemed to be on a high-stakes playoff collision course. Now those long-awaited postseason meetings have finally arrived, and after four total games in the series between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks and the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers, chaos appears on the horizon.

How the tied series play out as Celtics-Bucks shifts to Boston and Raptors-Sixers goes to Philadelphia will have significant ramifications not only for each of the teams involved, but also for the rest of the league.

Here's a team-by-team look at what's at stake:

Philadelphia 76ers | 31 percent chance to advance

Biggest things at stake if they lose

1. Philly's title window

"We believe we are in position to contend now, and our moves reflect that belief."

That was what Sixers general manager Elton Brand said back in February after reshaping his team's roster for a second time in just a few months on the job. It also was a clear signal of intent for Philadelphia's immediate expectations.

Owner Josh Harris doubled down on that belief when he declared to ESPN's Jackie MacMullan, "I think we have enough talent to win [it all]. We want to make sure, at a minimum, to advance deeper in the playoffs than we did last year."

So what happens to the Sixers now?

They'll have to spend big bucks to keep Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler. Ditto for JJ Redick, who signed a second consecutive one-year deal and will be a sought-after free agent despite being 34. Then there is Joel Embiid, whose health remains a long-term question mark, no matter how much he gets frustrated by that line of thinking.

Embiid is good enough that having a healthy version of him can alone keep the Sixers in contention. But to truly remain among the East's elite, they are going to need to retain at least two of Harris, Butler and Redick -- if not all three -- while making additions to the bench, which has been a major weakness after big moves this season.

2. How much it will cost to retain Harris and Butler

Deciding what Harris is going to get will be easy. Several teams are almost certain to come after him with four-year max offers, given that the combo forward is an excellent shooter who can run pick-and-rolls while maintaining a good locker room presence. That will be appealing to any team with max cap space. For Philadelphia to keep him, it is almost certainly going to have to offer a five-year deal either at the max ($188 million) or very close to it.

Butler's market is a little more complex. He has a lot of miles on his body, and certainly had tumultuous stays in both Chicago and Minnesota. Yet he still remains one of the league's elite two-way wing players and, more important, he's a big-game player -- as he showed with his Game 2 performance in the second round of the playoffs against the Raptors to lead Philadelphia to a series-shifting victory. With several big-market teams holding max cap room and a desire to chase star free agents, it is hard to see Butler failing to get a max deal, too.

If Philadelphia was to re-sign both players and keep Redick, the luxury tax might be impossible to avoid -- and that's before filling out the bench, or giving Ben Simmons the max contract extension Brand has already said will be coming his way.

So, to keep everyone, Philadelphia will be signing up for the tax long term. But the alternative is losing pieces that were acquired at an extremely heavy price.

League-wide implications: In a summer when there will be so many big stars available, the future plans of Harris and Butler -- and, to a lesser extent, Redick -- will be of great interest to many teams. If Philadelphia makes an NBA Finals run, it would seem far more likely that the Sixers would be willing to spend the kind of money to keep this group together than if they lose to the Raptors.

Whether Harris and/or Butler stay in Philadelphia will not only determine if the Sixers remain an elite East contender, but it also will determine if the many teams around the league with max cap space have two fewer options to pursue.

Boston Celtics | 31 percent chance to advance

Biggest things at stake if they lose

1. Kyrie Irving's long-term home

Anyone who has even passively followed the NBA this season has been well aware of Irving's ups and downs the past several months. At every point Boston has seemed to get on track, there has been a moment -- often involving Irving -- when things have gone sideways again.

At the center of all that talk has been the subject of where Irving will be playing next season. Right now, things around the Celtics are as good as they've been all season. The team swept its first-round series against the Indiana Pacers, then opened its clash with the Bucks with an emphatic road victory Sunday afternoon.

Good luck figuring out where Irving will be next season, though. On any given day, the belief around the league could shift from him remaining in Boston to teaming up with Kevin Durant to play for his hometown New York Knicks or rejoining LeBron James -- this time on the other side of the country.

Whatever his decision winds up being will have wide-ranging ramifications for both the Celtics and the league -- and could easily be swung by how far Boston advances.

2. Less likely to trade for AD?

What happens with Irving could easily have an impact on the biggest domino waiting to fall: What happens with Anthony Davis this summer?

If Irving recommits to Boston on a long-term deal, the chances of the Celtics trading for Davis increase exponentially. In a vacuum, the Celtics easily have the best package to offer the New Orleans Pelicans in such a deal, between their young players (namely Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown) and a trove of draft picks this year and beyond.

But if Irving leaves, it would make the calculus for dealing for Davis far more fraught for Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and his front office. It is one thing to give up a significant number of young players and picks to pair Davis with Irving (and presumably Al Horford, who can also become a free agent this summer), forming what would likely be the best team in the East for years to come. It would be quite another to trade all of that for Davis with Irving out the door, significantly increasing the chances Davis is just a one-season rental.

Leaguewide implications: The fates of Irving and Davis are the two biggest questions hanging over the league right now (particularly given the widespread assumption that Durant is going to leave the Golden State Warriors this summer). If Irving remains and Davis arrives, the Celtics will become an immediate title favorite. If neither is in green and white next season, though, perhaps this season's Celtics will wind up being the most talented group Boston is able to put together anytime soon.

And two more of the top 10-15 players in the league changing teams would be a monumental shift of power, wherever they'd end up.

Milwaukee Bucks | 69 percent chance to advance

Biggest things at stake if they lose

1. Giannis' supermax countdown clock

The Bucks had a brilliant regular season. They won a league-leading 60 games. They won a playoff series for the first time in 18 years. Giannis Antetokounmpo will likely be named the league's MVP, and deservedly so.

But for all that success, Milwaukee has a weight hanging over everything for the next 14 months: Is Antetokounmpo, who might soon be the best player in the world (if he isn't already), willing to sign a supermax contract extension to remain in the Upper Midwest for years to come?

If he is, then the Bucks can breathe a sigh of relief and continue to build around one of the league's elite players. If he isn't? Well, then it is time to start to consider trading him -- in what would, arguably, be the most consequential deal in league history since ... the Bucks traded Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975.

Every game Milwaukee wins this season -- up to and including an NBA Finals appearance and a title -- would help in the Bucks' quest to prove they have the talent necessary to win long term. But a second-round exit would reinforce many of the doubts that have existed all season long about the viability of this group to be a true championship contender. And that could make it more challenging for Milwaukee to make a case that this is Antetokounmpo's best place to win for years to come.

2. Is this core worth the price?

The other thing hanging over the Bucks right now: the upcoming free agencies of several of the team's key pieces. How many will stay, and what will it cost to keep them?

While the Bucks mitigated one potential free-agency issue by committing to a contract extension with Eric Bledsoe during the season, several other core players -- including All-Star Khris Middleton, starters Malcolm Brogdon and Brook Lopez and reserve Nikola Mirotic -- will hit the open market this summer.

In theory, the Bucks can keep all of them -- but doing so would almost certainly send Milwaukee soaring into the luxury tax. That is something ownership is willing to do, sources say, depending on how far the team goes this season.

A trip to the NBA Finals would make going into the tax an easy call. Going to the conference finals? That's a tougher one. Losing to the Celtics? Tougher still.

And given that all of this goes back to the goal of trying to recruit Antetokounmpo long term, it makes the decisions Milwaukee makes this summer all the more vital to get right.

Leaguewide implications: If Antetokounmpo were to turn down an extension, it would be a seismic event like few the league has ever seen.

In the meantime, though, the biggest Milwaukee domino for the rest of the league to watch is Middleton. A proven playoff performer and a consistent scoring threat in a league in which quality wing play is a premium commodity, Middleton should be able to command a max salary this summer -- be it from the Bucks or elsewhere.

Toronto Raptors | 69 percent chance to advance

Biggest things at stake if they lose

1. Toronto's case to keep Kawhi

Last summer, Toronto chose to trade one extra season of DeMar DeRozan for the chance at a championship ceiling with Kawhi Leonard. Toronto's decision has been validated through the first seven games of these playoffs. Leonard has been sensational, looking every bit the player he was before he spent all but nine games of last season sidelined with tendinopathy in his left quadriceps.

The question now is if Toronto's decision to trade for Leonard will work out like the Oklahoma City Thunder's did in dealing for Paul George a year earlier. Leonard has one of the tightest circles in the league, and his true thinking is something few people actually know intimately. Still, it is assumed his choice this summer will come down to one of two teams: the Raptors or his hometown LA Clippers.

George chose to stay in Oklahoma City despite losing in the first round last year, so it isn't exactly a guarantee that if Toronto loses now or reaches the Finals that it will sway Leonard's decision. Still, the Raptors will undoubtedly feel stronger about their case with each game they manage to win over the next several weeks.

2. Full-scale rebuild?

If Leonard chooses to stay, the Raptors will proceed forward with him and Pascal Siakam as the foundation of their team for the next several seasons -- a combination that will easily be good enough to keep Toronto in championship contention for the foreseeable future. But if Leonard leaves? Well, the Raptors will have big decisions to make.

Among Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol (assuming he picks up his $25 million player option), Serge Ibaka and Fred VanVleet, the Raptors will have $91 million in expiring contracts in 2019-20. They could simply try to be as competitive as possible next season and then let their books basically be wiped clean to chase free agents. Or Toronto could use those contracts as trade bait to bring in new talent to surround Siakam with moving forward.

Then there's also Danny Green, who shot 45.5 percent from 3-point range this season and remains an elite defensive option on the wing. Given the paucity of 3-and-D players in the NBA these days, Green will be highly coveted this summer. If Leonard stays, it would make sense for the Raptors to pay what it takes to keep Green. If not? He'll be in high demand.

The trade for Leonard last summer was just the latest example of Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri being willing to swing for the fences and get creative. Whether Leonard stays or goes, Ujiri isn't going to stop taking risks moving forward -- maybe as early as this summer.

Leaguewide implications: Leonard's free agency has been a constant topic of discussion for more than a year. It will remain one until he makes his decision, and whether one of the league's elite players chooses to stay in the East or goes out West could have a big impact on the league's power balance -- which, thanks to the rise of these four teams, finally appears to be leveling out after decades of West imbalance.

While Lowry and Gasol are entering their mid-30s, they remain very good players who would draw interest on the open market if Toronto chooses to move on. And if Green leaves Toronto, he would fit with just about any contending team given his ability to both shoot and defend on the wing. Given that all of them will likely be in Toronto if Leonard stays -- and perhaps none of them will be if he goes -- that decision could have a huge impact on the 2020 NBA championship.

Catcher Stephen Vogt completed his long road back to the major leagues Wednesday after the San Francisco Giants selected his contract from Triple-A Sacramento.

The 34-year-old was available off the bench Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers but he did not play.

"I feel super emotional and proud to be going back. A long year and a lot of hard work," Vogt said.

Working to bounce back from shoulder surgery that cut his 2018 season short, Vogt signed a minor league contract with the Giants before spring training and hit .241 with four homers and seven RBIs at Sacramento.

A California native, Vogt had surgery on his troublesome right shoulder in May of last year and didn't play for the Milwaukee Brewers at all last season. He is a career .251 hitter with 57 homers and 218 RBIs through parts of six major league seasons.

In other moves, reliever Ty Blach was optioned to Sacramento and just-suspended minor league pitcher Logan Webb was moved to the restricted list.

Vogt played for Oakland from 2013 through part of '17, when the A's designated the fan favorite for assignment in June that year. Vogt was so likable he drew chants of "I believe in Stephen Vogt!"

A rookie and playoff first-timer in October 2013, Vogt delivered a game-ending hit against Detroit in the best-of-five division series. He had left the Tampa Bay organization for the Bay Area on April 5 that season, traded back home to his native California, only a couple of hours from where he grew up and still lived in Visalia.

Vogt was a minor league journeyman who made it to the major leagues at last at age 28. He needed 33 at-bats to finally get his first big league hit, a home run against St. Louis' Joe Kelly on June 28, 2013. Rewind to that spring, and Vogt spent six days in Durham, North Carolina, wondering about his baseball future. He didn't make the Rays' opening-day roster and figured to start the season there at Triple-A. Then, Oakland acquired him.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Shohei Ohtani is now precisely seven months removed from Tommy John surgery. He has taken 32 at-bats in simulated-game environments. His timing, he said, is on point. His body "feels great."

And yet Ohtani remains on the injured list and in recovery. The Los Angeles Angels, predictably cautious with their young two-way sensation, won't reinsert him into their lineup until sometime next week, at the earliest.

"I'm pretty impatient to begin with, so I am getting a little impatient," Ohtani said through an interpreter Wednesday afternoon. "But as I get closer and closer, the more impatient I'm getting."

Ohtani won't be back in time to play in the Angels' weekend series against the Houston Astros in Mexico, a development he called "disappointing," but he could be activated later in the team's road trip, which will include stops in Detroit, Baltimore and Minnesota.

"Personally," Ohtani said, "I feel like I'm ready to go as of right now."

Ohtani -- the reigning American League Rookie of the Year after finishing 2018 with a .925 OPS and a 3.31 ERA -- will soon boost a lineup that is desperate for protection behind Mike Trout, who led the majors with 29 walks entering play Wednesday. Angels manager Brad Ausmus said the left-handed-hitting Ohtani "is going to face left-handed pitchers," alluding to an everyday role that could eventually push Albert Pujols and Justin Bour into a platoon at first base.

Ausmus estimated that Ohtani would need somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 at-bats before being activated, adding that he is "getting close."

"It's a process, and you have to get through it," Ausmus said. "I think he understands that. Players -- they want to play. That's a general rule; it's not just Shohei. We still have to go through the whole process. When you have an injury, there's a process to get back to playing. He's nearing the end of it."

Ohtani, who will only help as a designated hitter this season, said his timing is "getting better each day" and that he is "a little ahead of schedule" with his rehab. He believes last year's experience "is going to help me in every single way this year," most notably with the way he juggles his complicated schedule.

The 24-year-old has watched home games from the dugout over the past month and has paid close attention to the swings of hitters who might bat in front of and behind him in the batting order.

He is ready to move on from that.

"I'm starting to get a little tired of answering these questions," Ohtani said of inquiries about his recovery. "Hopefully next time I can answer what happened in the game."

SAN FRANCISCO -- Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder A.J. Pollock will need surgery because of an infection in his surgically repaired right elbow.

Manager Dave Roberts said Pollock will undergo the operation on Thursday. Roberts had no timeline on how long Pollock will be sidelined but said "it's going to be a little bit." Roberts said he expects Pollock back this season.

The former All-Star and Gold Glove winner bumped his elbow over the weekend in Chicago, leading to an infection in his bursa sac. Roberts said doctors are unable to treat the infection with antibiotics only because Pollock has a plate in his elbow from an operation in 2016. The plate will be removed, and Roberts says the structure of Pollock's elbow is good.

The 31-year-old Pollock signed a $55 million, four-year contract with the Dodgers in the offseason but has struggled at the plate. He is batting .223 (23-for-109) with two home runs and 14 RBIs in 28 games.

Pollock originally fractured his elbow while diving for a ball in a 2010 exhibition game. A plate and screw were inserted in the elbow, but Pollock reinjured his elbow in 2016 and was forced to undergo a similar surgery.

MIAMI -- Cleveland Indians right-hander Corey Kluber has a nondisplaced fracture of his right ulna after he was hit on the arm by a line drive off the bat of Miami Marlins outfielder Brian Anderson on Wednesday, the team said.

The Indians initially said Kluber had a right forearm contusion but later said X-rays revealed the fracture. Kluber's arm was placed in a cast, and he'll be re-evaluated in Cleveland on Thursday. The Indians will have a better idea at that point of how long he might be out.

"It looked ugly," Indians manager Terry Francona said.

After he was hit by the liner in the fifth inning, the ball rolled away from Kluber. He tried to swat it to first base with his glove rather than throwing it as Anderson reached on an infield hit. Kluber briefly visited with a trainer before walking off the field with the Marlins leading 3-1.

Kluber, a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner, allowed eight hits and three runs in 4⅔ innings, which left his ERA at 5.80. The Marlins won 4-2.

The Indians are already without starter Mike Clevinger, who is out until at least June with a back injury.

The Associated Press contributed this report.

SIX GAMES, SIX LOSSES. Nothing season-defining, nothing heartbreaking, nothing even memorable, just a nearly weeklong mid-April shrug that ended with the Seattle Mariners trudging toward the clubhouse six times while the Astros or Indians shook hands. But near the end of it, before loss five, Mariners manager Scott Servais found himself in an odd position: forced to explain why a team that was never supposed to win suddenly stopped winning.

He couldn't say what must have been on his tongue -- What did you expect? -- so that part stayed unspoken but understood. The Mariners started the season with 13 wins in 15 games, and they hit homers as if it were a choice, and they had everybody wondering how a team could dump nearly every recognizable name on its roster and come out on the other side with something approaching historic greatness.

It was the type of streak that causes people with a lot of time on their hands to point out that every other team that won 13 of its first 15 also won the World Series, and the type of streak that made six straight losses in mid-April far more newsworthy than anybody would have guessed.

Through those first 15 games, Servais had gone through every known variant of an equally unlikely question: What happens when a team that's not supposed to win suddenly does? Now, five losses in and fielding a nearly infinite number of corollaries, he decided to let the walls of his office do the talking for him.

He turned his head to the right and pointed his chin at a poster opposite a framed Vince Lombardi quote ("The Man on Top of the Mountain Didn't Fall There") and a bit to the right of a sign that bears the Mariners' logo and some "Process Driven" pabulum you might find in a Walmart breakroom.

"Look at that," he said, and everyone in the room dutifully followed along, mentally vectoring the chin and the wall to discover Servais' target: a large Mariners calendar schedule.

There it was, game after game, week after week, month after month. Home games in white, road games in blue, more miles flown over the course of the season than any team in baseball. A show-us-what-you-got trip to Cleveland, New York and Boston to start May. A Detroit-Toronto-Tampa trip in mid-August. Mid-August: a lifetime from now. "Look at all those games," Servais said, as if noticing it for the first time. "That's one long season."

JERRY DIPOTO IS positive and certain in a way that makes you wonder if he ever doubts. The Mariners' GM says, "The glass is always half full," and then laughs, but that doesn't begin to cover it. This is a man who never leaves the house wondering whether he locked the doors or turned off every burner on the stove, a man who always has exact change for bridge toll. The glass in Dipoto's mind overflows.

It's the type of certitude that enabled him to spend the offseason practically flinging players -- Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, James Paxton, Jean Segura, Alex Colome, Nelson Cruz -- from the roster of an 89-win team that hasn't made the postseason for 17 years, the active MLB record. He replaced them by implementing what might be termed an accelerated rebuild. Try to fix everything, from the aging roster to the lousy chemistry, without waiting around for the better part of a decade to see if any of it worked.

"If a rebuild usually takes five to eight years, we wanted to do it in half the time," Dipoto says. "We decided to focus on birth certificates. If the normal way" -- Dipoto later called it the Astros way -- "is to acquire 21- and 22-year-olds and hope they grow to be strong contributors at 26 and 27, what if we just go out and acquire guys who are 25, 26 and 27?"

Sounds simple. Completely overturn a roster by taking big swings at unproven guys who might need just a hug and a chance. Why didn't anyone else think of it? Plus, and this isn't a minor point, the strategy falls right in line with baseball's trend toward valuing youth and club control over just about everything else. Players older than 30 feel the squeeze: less money, fewer years, no more one-final-huge-contracts out there to finish a career. The Mariners remain in baseball's upper half for player salaries, but the core is unproven and cheap -- by design.

Dipoto and Servais discussed this, how they could construct a team around talented players who languished behind stars in other organizations. Daniel Vogelbach -- arms like legs, legs like piers -- was stuck behind Anthony Rizzo in the Cubs organization, and now he's slugging his way through all the stereotypes. Domingo Santana posted an .875 OPS in his one full season in Milwaukee but found himself struggling to find a consistent role in an outfield with Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun. Catcher Omar Narvaez was a 1.9 WAR player as a part-timer with the White Sox last season; he's catching nearly every day for the Mariners and hitting with power (a .875 OPS in April).

"It didn't really feel gutsy," Dipoto says. "It felt like we were doing the smart thing. But we knew the reaction might be a little ... I'd say tepid. But I've done enough that's been received by smiles and laughter, and enough where I'm sometimes hit in the head with fruit. You're not always going to be popular, but we did something to chart our own future instead of having to react to what an aging roster told us we had to do. We decided to create something that looks different."

HOW DIFFERENT CAN a big league ballclub look? Start with what happens a couple of hours before nearly every game, when the Mariners turn the clock back about 30 years and take a full-blown infield. They field grounders and throw to first, they turn double plays, the catchers throw to the bases. If someone screws up -- and since the Mariners were the worst fielding team in baseball through April, the extra work is warranted -- he goes again. It's all very elementary of them.

There's a hitting simulator in the tunnel between the Mariners' clubhouse and dugout at T-Mobile Park. A huge screen beams a life-size video of that night's opposing pitcher, throwing on an endless loop, and Seattle's hitters stop to stand in and get a feel for release point and, to a lesser extent, pitch movement. The simulator is just down the hall from a big banner with the team's motto: Kaizen, which is a Japanese term for the pursuit of daily, incremental improvement.

"They pretty much think of everything around here," Vogelbach says.

Even after another four-game swoon, not unlike the one Servais deflected in April, through the season's first 32 games, the Mariners lead the majors in every meaningful offensive statistic. They went 18-14 and averaged nearly six runs and two homers per game, and the production was as much patience as aggression. The Mariners' analytics department brought a new focus on pitch location and strike-zone awareness -- not only whether a pitcher is more likely to throw certain pitches for strikes, but where those pitches are most vulnerable within the strike zone. The new approach is best exemplified by second baseman Dee Gordon. This year, he has worked six walks in his first 111 plate appearances. Last year: nine in 588.

For a sport that prides itself on the daily dirge of failure and repentance, it's a convivial atmosphere. Sage vet Jay Bruce and Vogelbach -- seriously, it's impossible to overstate the size of the dude's glue-stick biceps -- are inseparable at one end of the clubhouse. At the other, where the relievers sit in their perpetual state of wait, rookies Brandon Brennan and Connor Sadzeck are reliving a pitch Brennan threw a couple of nights earlier. "Dude, I was sitting down there and everybody thought it was a slider," Sadzeck said. "I had to tell 'em: that's his changeup."

"We know there are a lot of people who don't think we're going to be any good," outfielder Mitch Haniger says. "Because of that, everybody in here roots for each other."

Haniger is a 28-year-old outfielder who might have started this whole thing by being warehoused behind A.J. Pollock in Arizona before being traded to Seattle after the 2016 season. He's now as close as the Mariners get to having a young, fully formed star.

"We call Mitch our champion because he truly is," pitcher Marco Gonzales says. "On and off the field, he does everything the right way. He cheers for everybody, and he's one of the best teammates."

Champion. In the context of a big league clubhouse, where the sarcasm is omnipresent if not always elevated, could they be serious?

"It's not at all sarcastic," Gonzales says. "Every time he gets a hit, we're like, 'That's our champion, that's our guy.'"

Haniger reacts about as enthusiastically as you might expect. "I ignore it," he says in a polite tone that still manages to suggest he will also choose to ignore further questions on the topic. "I will say, though, I did talk to some guys in the offseason about making sure this isn't one guy's clubhouse. We knew we had to make it the whole team's clubhouse."

ON A COLDER-than-it-looked mid-April evening, pitcher Mike Leake lay on the clubhouse carpet, stretching out before a start against the Indians. He's 31 years old but looks as if he could have ridden a skateboard to the ballpark. In a few hours, he'll walk off the mound after giving up two runs over six innings in a game the Mariners will lose 4-2.

The next afternoon, Leake says, "The way this team is built seems to be the business way to go right now. There are still some guys at home who could help a team compete, but the way they like to run it here is a business style. You can either accept it and play the game of baseball, or fight the system and they'll probably ship you out. They're trying to push the young. It's cheaper for them and it's more pliable. A veteran guy is going to want to do things his way. He's not going to accept new information if it's not going to make him better."

Leake wasn't naming names, probably because it was unnecessary. A bullpen as untested and inconsistent as Seattle's could use the unsigned Craig Kimbrel at the back end. A rotation assembled with as much twine and wire as Seattle's could drop Dallas Keuchel into the No. 2 or even No. 1 spot and be at least two games better over the course of a season.

"If we did sign them, then we would please the analytical world and the Twitter world," Dipoto says. Could Kimbrel and Keuchel, unsigned into May, possibly be cheap enough for the Mariners to be interested? "I have no idea," Dipoto says. "We're swimming in a different pond. Right now our pond is Connor Sadzeck, it's Brandon Brennan, it's Omar Narvaez. It's finding guys who need an opportunity and giving it to them."

Young, cheap and desperate for a chance is the new market inefficiency. Sadzeck is a 27-year-old rookie who walked 11 in 9⅓ innings with the Rangers last season and was acquired in an April 1 microtrade after he was designated for assignment by Texas. Where some might see stuff that behaves like an irrational toddler -- a fastball that tops 100 mph, a nearly unhittable 91 mph slider that has found a backstop or two in its day -- Dipoto sees the kind of prodigious talent that just might mature into a closer.

Dipoto's standard introduction, one he used with Sadzeck and backup catcher Tom Murphy, who was released by two teams this spring, reflects both his relentless optimism and his Father Damien outlook on player acquisition. "It looks like you're a big league player who hasn't been given the opportunity," he tells the new guys, "and we're going to give it to you."

Narvaez, a catcher traded from the White Sox for Colome, says, "That meant everything to me. Everything I've been working for. It's almost like a dream come true to be the No. 1 guy. It gives me a lot of pride in myself, and now I have to take care of it and take advantage of it."

The gratitude expressed by several of the new Mariners underscores the motivation behind Dipoto's frenzied offseason: flushing the toxins from the team's system. Despite the 89 wins last season, the entire enterprise went from stale to poisonous. Games would end -- win or lose -- and everyone would disperse like employees and not teammates. "Not many team gatherings," Gonzales says wryly. The tension peaked in early September, when Gordon and Segura fought in the clubhouse before a game.

"The first half of last season couldn't have gone better for us," Dipoto says. "Everyone was excited about it, but then the lights would go out at the stadium, the guys would grab their food and head out. Then they'd show up the next day for batting practice. The second half of the season, when we weren't getting the same breaks, you could see the fractures. It's nice to win 89 games, but if we truly thought we were an 89-win team, we wouldn't have done what we did."

They've proved that failure is sustainable, so why not take a shot at success?

"We have an unwritten future," Gonzales says. "And I think we're all on board with writing the best one that we can." The schedule, all those games in all those places, looms out there in the distance; all you have to do is follow the chin. But no matter where the endless blocks of blue and white boxes ultimately lead, they'll never erase the rarest of species: the baseball team that managed to pull off the wildly entertaining rebuild.