Seattle Mariners President, Chief Operating Officer and minority owner Kevin Mather came to speak at the Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce during one of the busiest offseasons and historic weeks in team history.
After another disappointing season, the Mariners let go general manager Jack Zduriencik and hired Jerry Dipoto, who made a flurry of roster moves that culminated in the re-signing of pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma. It had been a period of uncertainty and trepidation for fans worried about the future of the team, until a momentous announcement reminded them of the greatness of the past.
Ken Griffey Jr. was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with a record 99.3 percent of votes on Jan. 6, the day before Mather was scheduled to speak to the Chamber. The Mariners announced on Jan. 8 that they would retire his jersey number, 24, during a pre-game ceremony on Aug. 6.
“It’s a great day for the Mariners and great day for Seattle,” Mather said, joking that Safeco Field employees have threatened to “occupy center field” until the three writers who didn’t vote for Griffey come forward.
Mather was the driving force behind the building of Safeco Field, overseeing the project after joining the Mariners organization in 1996. Safeco opened in 1999 and had been a “roaring success,” he said.
“It’s the best field in baseball, and I’ve been to most of them,” Mather said.
Mather previously worked as an accountant before joining the front office of the Minnesota Twins. In January 2014, he was selected to succeed Chuck Armstrong as Mariners team president.
Mather noted that though the team hasn’t been good “for the past 10, 12,13 years, the fans have been unbelievably loyal” and that the team is going in a different direction in 2016.
“I hope I can keep up with [Dipoto],” Mather said. “He goes 100 miles an hour, and he has a plan.”
That plan revolves around consistent pitching, solid defense and getting on base; essentially, tailoring a team to fit Safeco Field. With a payroll of $130 million and an ownership that’s “sick of losing,” Mather hopes to see the team in the playoffs in the near future.
“We think we have a really good team this year,” he said. “It’s different – we’ll sell a lot of programs in the first few months.”
The biggest question mark hanging over the future of Safeco is an idea to build an arena in Sodo for NHL and NBA games. The plan involves obtaining part of Occidental Avenue South, and Mather and the Mariners contend that it simply wouldn’t work with the Mariners scheduling needs and traffic impacts.
“We have 81 games that are not flexible,” Mather said. “To make money, that arena has to have events 220 days a year… We think it should be here, but not on Occidental Avenue.”
The 2016 Mariners season begins on April 4, with a FanFest on Jan. 30-31.
