Seattle Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais are monitoring damage with players who were mentioned directly or referenced by former team president and CEO Kevin Mather in an online video that goes lead to his resignation.
The message of the last two days to those affected has been: You have every right to be upset.
“We are very open with our players and urge them to be equal. And if they want to be angry, they should be frank. They should insult them,” Dipoto said Tuesday. “But at the same time, they are collectively driven toward what we’re trying to do here as a team.”
The video released over the weekend showed Mather expressing his views on the club’s organizational strategy and making controversial comments about players at Bellevue, Washington, the Rotary Club on February 5th. prospect of the Dominican Republic for his English skills. He also admitted that the team could be manipulating the service time of some of its young players.
Mather apologized Sunday and then abruptly resigned the next day, but not before lending a hand to the organization as he began full-staff training in Arizona.
Dipoto and Servais are angry.
“I’m ashamed that this is our way of looking at it, because for those of you who have been around me or Scott or this team, that’s not how we’re connected,” Dipoto said. “It’s a shame to be categorized or to face the stigma we’re now fixated on, and we have to get rid of it. It has to support us and now we have to account for it, and then find a way to grow beyond “.
Mather’s most inflammatory comments were about the English skills of former star pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma and full potential Julio Rodriguez and they got the strongest responses from Dipoto and Servais.
Servais referred to his winter baseball experiences in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela and the sailors ’season-opening trip to Japan two years ago.
“It’s an eye-opener. He appreciates what foreign players have to go through. Not just communicating, but trying to figure out how to play the game at the highest level,” Servais said. “So no one has more recognition for it than I do and it’s an issue I’m very sensitive to.”
Mather undermined the strategy on the baseball side, admitting that the team was possibly manipulating service time for the best possible Jarred Kelenic and Logan Gilbert. Mather also divulged information about contract negotiations with Kelenic and pitcher James Paxton and called veteran Kyle Seager “overpaid.”
Mather took the wrath of the MLB Players Association by saying that neither Kelenic nor Gilbert would be with the major league club on Opening Day as a way to maintain control of the club for longer.
But Servais and Dipoto said no decisions have been made on the list and that Kelenic and Gilbert’s plans have been presented and communicated to both.
“All of our players are aware of what their path is, what their development plan looks like and we are very direct in how we share it,” Dipoto said.
Servais said he met with several players mentioned directly by Mather.
“I would say the temperature was very hot with several guys who certainly mentioned their names for various reasons,” Servais said. “It didn’t surprise me at all. But I feel really good with this group and I’m proud of the way they’ve handled things so far. We could talk about that all day and our players will continue to handle things well that way.”