“But today, we negotiate hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts and make massive trades without ever picking up the phone and speaking directly with one another, let alone meeting face to face,” Levine said. “You kind of learn the personalities of guys — who needs a phone call, who can do it on text, who prefers emails, who likes to be lighthearted. The art of the negotiation has almost been trumped by the art of communication.”

Over the years, general managers have trended younger — most now are in their 30s and 40s — which means they stay on their mobile phones constantly. The younger ones, after all, came of age in an era when texting was used for everything from updating your mother on your whereabouts to breaking up with a not-so-true love.

“The day that I feel like I leave my cellphone somewhere, that’s when panic will set in,” said Dipoto, 49, who has sent countless text messages to put together more than 60 deals to overhaul the Mariners’ roster since he took over in the fall of 2015. “I’ve been known to respond with some GIFs and occasional emojis.”

Even Sandy Alderson, the Mets’ general manager, who, at 70, is the oldest person doing that job in baseball, is getting in on the action.

“I did send a smiley-face emoji to Brian Cashman the other day,” he said recently in reference to the Yankees’ general manager. He declined to say why.

Not everyone has gone nonverbal. Alex Anthopoulos, 40, the new general manager of the Atlanta Braves who previously ran the Toronto Blue Jays, mostly uses text messages to set up phone calls. The back and forth via text takes too long, he said.

“My preference is more on the phone,” he said. “You don’t know how something is going to get delivered in tone.”