Remarks of Mariners’ CEO frustrating to players, union

As far as Anthony Rizzo is concerned, Kevin Mather simply said the quiet part out loud.

Mather, the CEO and president of the Seattle Mariners, resigned Monday after video surfaced of a speech he gave to a Rotary Club this month in which he made insensitive comments about several current and former players.

He also spoke bluntly on a point of contention between teams and players when he said Seattle would likely keep top prospects Jarred Kelenic and Logan Gilbert in the minors at the start of the season to delay their right to file for free agency.

The players’ association has long complained about the practice. Cubs star Kris Bryant filed and lost a grievance against Chicago alleging the club intentionally manipulated his service time when it kept him in Triple-a for two weeks prior to his major league debut in 2015. Had Bryant been promoted one day earlier, he would have been eligible for free agency a year sooner.

Bryant and the union lost their grievance because it couldn’t prove the Cubs acted in bad faith.

“Being in this game, you know what (Mather) said is true to about 99.9 percent. It happens. It’s just not out there and it’s just not said,” said Rizzo, Bryant’s teammate with the Cubs. “There’s stories written on it. There’s teams that manipulate service time. There’s teams that do it all the time . ... I’m happy it’s out there in the public now and people are seeing that this is the way it is.”

Detroit Tigers outfielder Robbie Grossman was direct in his reaction Monday.

“That’s a tough situation,” he said. “Hopefully the union will look into it.”

The players’ association said in a statement Monday that the video was “a highly disturbing yet critically important window into how players are genuinely viewed by management.

“Not just because of what was said, but also because it represents an unfiltered look into club thinking,” the union said. “It is offensive, and it is not surprising that fans and others around the game are offended as well. Players remain committed to confronting these issues at the bargaining table and elsewhere.”

Mather said his comments were his own and did not reflect the strategy of the baseball leadership that makes decisions about player development for the Mariners.

The collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the union expires Dec. 1, raising the possibility of a work stoppage next spring. The average MLB salary dropped for an unprecedented third straight year in 2020.