From a recent Jerry Dipoto interview, via Fangraphs:
Jerry Dipoto on the Mariners New Direction
“We see ourselves as a run-prevention club… Most teams have a run-prevention model, it’s a matter of how much they subscribe to it. Most of it is going to be predicated on ballpark. You’re much more likely to build a run-prevention model in a park like ours, or Dodger Stadium, or the Big A, than you would in say Baltimore. It’s a different model.”
And later: “Ground balls aren’t as critical to us as they would be to a normal team, because our ballpark absorbs fly balls a little better.”