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Seattle Mariners president and CEO Kevin Mather has resigned, President and Managing Partner John Stanton announced on Monday. Mather’s resignation comes after a speech he gave earlier this month, in which he made derogatory remarks about the English-speaking abilities of two club members, spoke openly about the manipulation of the duty time of several prospects, and called the longtime third baseman “overpaid”, was posted. online during the weekend.
“Like all of you, I was extremely disappointed when I learned of Kevin Mather’s recent comments,” Stanton said in a declaration. “His comments were inappropriate and do not reflect our organization’s feelings on our players, staff and supporters. There is no excuse for what was said, and I will not attempt to make one. “
Stanton has stated that Mather’s resignation is effective immediately and that Stanton will return to the role of President and CEO until Mather’s replacement is found.
Mather had been with the Mariners since 1996 and assumed the role of President and CEO in 2017.
Otto Greule Jr / Getty
Speaking to the Bellevue, Wash., Rotary Breakfast Club for an online event on February 5, Mather touched on several topics about the inner workings of the Mariners organization in a 46-minute discussion.
Discussing the potential Julio Rodriguez, a # 2 ranked Dominican outfielder by CBS Sports in the Seattle Farming System, Mather said he “has a bigger personality than all of you put together. He’s loud. His English is just fine. not great. Everybody says he “I will be here in 2021. He won’t be here until 2022 or 2023. A fantastic kid. ”
Sunday, Rodriguez tweeted an image of his face superimposed on Michael Jordan in the documentary series “The Last Dance” saying “… and I took it personally.”
Mather also complained about having to pay an interpreter for Hisashi Iwakuma, a former Mariners pitcher who was recently hired as a special assignments coach.
“Wonderful human being. His English was terrible,” Mather said. “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 into spring training. And I’m going to say, I I am 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 an interpreter with him. His English suddenly improved. better when told to him that. ”
Mather also openly admitted that the team chose not to bring up top prospects like Jarred Kelenic last season in order to keep them under the team’s control for a bit longer.
“We weren’t going to put them on the 40-man roster, we weren’t going to start the service clock,” he said. “There were all kinds of reasons why, if we had an injury issue or COVID epidemic, you may have seen my fat belly in left field. You wouldn’t have seen our prospects playing in T-Mobile Park. “
Mather also called third baseman Kyle Seager, who has spent his entire career with the team, “probably overpaid” and said he probably won’t be with the team by 2022. Seager’s wife , Julie, replied on Twitter asking if they should put their Seattle home up for sale.
Mather apologized for his comments on Sunday, saying he had “no excuse”.
“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, “Mather said in a statement. “My comments were my own. 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.”
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