Mariners CEO Kevin Mather, criticized for comments, issues statement

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Kevin Mather has been president of the Seattle Mariners since 2014. (AP)

On Sunday, the Mariners became a major focal point in the baseball world when Team President and CEO Kevin Mather’s address, Feb. 5, was delivered at the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club.

Larger images of the event were posted to YouTube by the BBRC and shared on Twitter Saturday evening. The video was taken down on Sunday afternoon, but not before copies and transcripts were shared online, including by Lookout Landing.

The 45-minute video featured Mather making an opening statement of about 20 minutes, then answering questions from Zoom’s audience for the remainder of the recording, which ended abruptly. During the program, Mather touched on a number of topics in a way that elicited a reaction from fans, players, agents and members of the national media.

On Sunday night, the Mariners released the following statement from Mather:

I want to apologize to everyone in the Seattle Mariners organization, especially our players and fans. There is no excuse for my behavior and I take full responsibility for my terrible lack of judgment.

My comments were mine. They do not reflect the views and strategy of the Mariners baseball executives who are responsible for decisions regarding the development and status of players at all levels of the organization.

I spent most of the day on the phone apologizing to the many people I insulted, hurt, or disappointed while speaking at a recent online event.

I am committed to making amends for the things I have said that have been personally hurtful and I will do everything in my power to repair the damage I have caused to the Seattle Mariners organization.

While visiting with the BBRC, Mather’s opening statement included a glimpse into the financial impact of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season on baseball, stating that the Mariners were doing better than most, but that it was still “a low year” for the club.

“We were at the very bottom of our rebuilding setback cycle, so our payroll was as low as it was going to be,” Mather said. “We also have a TV deal with ROOT Sports, and we’re hitting way above our weight on the TV deal. We had 60 games, and per game we got a lot more than we probably deserved compared to other similar sized markets. Terrible year financially, but we did better than most.

Mather went on to tout the Mariners’ plan to bring as many young players as possible to their alternate site in Tacoma last season. In all, 15 prospects were invited to participate. Since there was no minor league season, that and a small pitching camp they held in North Carolina were the only ways to keep the prospects working. What they wouldn’t get, however, was the opportunity to join the Big League club, as Mather revealed in the speech.

“As devastating as 2020 has been about developing and improving players, we took a risk and brought in our high-end prospects, we really got to know them. They received a top-notch education in Tacoma, ”he said. “The risk was that if our major league team had had a COVID outbreak or injuries and we had to call people from the taxi team, we were a bit short of players. Because there was no way you would see these young players at T-Mobile Park. We weren’t going to put them on the 40-player list, we weren’t going to start the service clock. There were all kinds of reasons why, if we had an injury issue or a COVID outbreak, you might have seen my fat belly in left field. You wouldn’t have seen our prospects playing in T-Mobile Park. “

This, along with comments that predicted the MLB debut of top prospects Jarred Kelenic and Logan Gilbert in April, has been interpreted as a manipulation of duty time, which will certainly be a central topic in upcoming collective agreement negotiations between the MLB and the MLB Players Association. . These aspects of Mather’s speech have attracted the attention of at least one player agent.

Mather praised a number of actors throughout the conversation, but in some cases gave out information that concerned those involved.

“Kyle Seager, this is probably his last season as a Mariner,” Mather said of the Seattle third baseman, who is entering the final year of his contract. “He will, and I told him before, he will be a member of the Mariners Hall of Fame when he finishes playing. Last year he seemed to find the fountain of youth, had a fantastic year, and we expect the same in 2021. “

Julie Seager, Kyle’s wife, appeared to respond on her Twitter account.

Top prospect Julio Rodriguez weighed in fairly quickly on this statement:

“Julio Rodríguez has a bigger personality than all of you put together,” Mather said. “He’s loud. His English is not great. Everyone says he’ll be here in 2021. He won’t be here until 2022 or 2023. A fantastic kid. We are really big on social media. He loves to go out in front. He loves the Mariners. And between him and Kelenic, we think we’ve got an outfield that’s going to be as good as any in baseball for the next six or seven years. This is the real deal. He is ranked higher than Kelenic. “

Of note, Rodríguez is incredibly proud of his English and the Dominican Republic native went so far as to host “Vibin ‘with JRod,” an interview show on the Mariners YouTube channel this winter. He conducts all interviews in English, including this one thankfully, as the interviewer does not speak Spanish.

Rodríguez wasn’t the only person whose English was brought up by Mather, who said ‘that frustrates me’ as he began discussing Hisashi Iwakuma, a former All-Star of the team who recently returned. in the franchise as a trust coach. Mather continued, “For example, we just rehired Iwakuma, he was a pitcher with us for several years. Wonderful human being, his English was terrible. He wanted to get back into the game, he came to us, we frankly want him as our Asian scout, performer, what’s going on with the Japanese league. He’s coming to spring training. And I’ll say, I’m tired of paying his interpreter. When he was a player, we paid Iwakuma X, but we also had to pay $ 75,000 a year to have a performer with him. His English suddenly improved, his English improved when we told him that.

In addition to the comments above, Mather discussed a six-year contract offer that was rejected by Kelenic, called the fact that spring training would not be delayed by a month “embarrassing” and said. repeatedly called receiver Luis Torrens “Torres”. He also said Torrens and prospect Cal Raleigh would likely be behind the field for the Mariners for the next six years, which would most likely be disturbing news for Tom Murphy, who just thanked the Mariners for shooting the best on Saturday. left him after coming from the Rockies.

Discussing a possible signing of James Paxton or Taijuan Walker (both players were still free agents when the speech took place) is great information that was undoubtedly appreciated by the target audience. Admitting that the Mariners had “taken the position that there are still 180 free agents out there on February 5 unsigned, and sooner or later these players are going to turn their hat and come hat in hand, looking for a contract, ”are words that would not be appreciated by any player, however.

Attending events like the Rotary Breakfast is not uncommon for Mariners executives or front office members. It is an opportunity to connect with the community and thus generate goodwill and interest. Although additional information or inside information is often shared at these events, a little information can be very useful. In the case of the February 5 speech, Mather not only admittedly needed to apologize to many people, but went beyond the bounds of what would be beneficial to the organization. By the reaction seen online on Sunday, a lot of damage has been done.

The Mariners are expected to issue a statement Monday morning.

Follow Shannon Drayer on Twitter.

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