Seattle Mariners did the right thing, finally
Chris Phillips
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All Apologies
Apology 1 – Kevin Mather
After this event went public, everyone knew an apology was coming. You can expect the standard “I’m sorry for what I did. This does not reflect the organization. I will work to be better.” But Mather’s apology was on a whole other level. He came off as incredibly lazy and disingenuous. It appears he found some apology template, copied it, made the appropriate updates, and then shared it. It makes him look like he either 1) doesn’t understand the gravity of his mistakes or 2) doesn’t care.
Not long after Mather’s apology made it to the public, he resigned from his position. Resigned, not fired. It may have been challenging from a contract and financial standpoint, but firing him sends a different, arguably stronger, message than letting him resign. By terminating Mather, it tells everyone, from within the organization to outside of it, that the Seattle Mariners won’t tolerate this type of culture. Again, we’re talking about money. In today’s climate, money is king.
Majority owner (and now acting President) John Stanton released an apology of his own on behalf of the Seattle Mariners. Stanton’s statements ring a bit hollow as well as also being a bit disingenuous. Mather as president IS the organization. So, Mather’s comments about “not reflecting the Mariners” are curious. You run the team, and the organization takes direction from you. So, how are we to believe Mather’s statements don’t reflect the organization?
The organization promoted Mather many times over, thus allowing him to build the organization’s values.
Apology 2 – John Stanton
Now on to Stanton’s apology. Stanton’s apology is more of the generic apology stars make. It was full of vague promises to be better and acknowledge they have a lot of work to do. But these apologies lack an essential ingredient, definition. How will they get better? What will they be doing to get better?
Stanton also failed to apologize to the specific people Mather named personally. With that being the case, maybe Stanton and the M’s didn’t want to leave anyone out. But couldn’t he have said, “We’d like to apologize to Jarred Kelenic, Logan Gilbert, Hisashi Iwakuma, Kyle Seager, Julio Rodriguez, their families, and everyone else that is a part of and supports the Mariners organization that is affected by the words of Kevin Mather. They were wrong.”
However, expecting this sort of statement is probably too much to ask for from the Mariners organization. Not too long ago, they stated they would “utilize our voice and our resources to join with all those working to end systemic racism.” But they continued to employ Mather at the top of the organization.
So, how contrite is Stanton? Hopefully, Stanton is going around and personally apologizing to everyone within the Mariners organization. Apparently, GM Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais are working the phones hard to alleviate any hard feelings.
Mariners President/CEO Kevin Mather has resigned. Chairman/Managing Partner John Stanton released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/BGryAnnmoZ
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) February 22, 2021