Marco Gonzales tries to help Mariners move forward from comments made by former CEO
Marco Gonzales believes the Mariners organization will move forward to better days ahead.
The club’s ace pitcher, who will make his third consecutive Opening Day start in April, spoke with reporters Tuesday about the comments made by former president and CEO Kevin Mather.
“It’s an unfortunate distraction for this group,” Gonzales said from Arizona following daily workouts at the club’s spring training facility in Peoria. “But, the positive is that we’ve built a really solid culture here over the last couple years. We’ve built a culture in which the players are beginning to run and guide the direction of this team. This is something that we will move on from. Our group will come together.”
Mather resigned Monday, a day after footage of a Zoom call he spoke on earlier this month with the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club surfaced online.
During the recording, which was posted on YouTube last week and removed Sunday after it was widely shared on Twitter, Mather addressed several topics not often discussed publicly by clubs, prompting swift and severe backlash.
He made several disparaging comments about the organization and its current and former players. Gonzales was one of several players Mather specifically discussed in the footage.
During a segment of the call when Mather gave the Rotarians a rundown of the prominent players Seattle’s roster, he said Gonzales “might be the second- or third-best left-handed starter in the American League” and that the 29-year-old has “very quietly put up fantastic numbers.”
He also at one point used the words “very boring” in reference to the club’s top starter, who led the Mariners in starts (11) and innings (69-2/3) during the shortened 2020 season, and posted a 7-2 record and career-best 3.10 ERA. Gonzales later changed his Twitter bio to reflect that particular comment.
It was one of many of the more personal comments Mather made about players during the call.
“I think bigger picture, we view this as an isolated incident,” Gonzales said. “His views are his own and certainly the relevance he has to this team and this group is he’s not close to us. He’s not here throwing a ball, he’s not here swinging a bat.
“So, although some of his words were hurtful and personal, certainly to me, I think we’re a lot stronger than that. It’s going to take a lot more to break this group up.”
As a veteran voice in the clubhouse, Gonzales said he and other experienced players have reached out to younger players who were specifically mentioned. He said Kendall Graveman, the starter-turned-reliever who is entering his seventh season in the majors, in particular has been a leader in this effort.
“I’ve been certainly proud of our veterans in this group who have taken a step forward and gotten out ahead of this, and bring us closer together,” Gonzales said.
“Sometimes a common goal can unite you, but sometimes a common enemy can do the same, if not greater. I think that’s the boat we’re in right now.”
Both Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais spoke to players on the outfield grass of one of the practice fields at the complex Tuesday morning, and Gonzales said Dipoto apologized on behalf of the organization.
“I think it’s something that we all feel embarrassed by,” Gonzales said. “We all feel that it doesn’t represent our culture, it doesn’t reflect the character of this team, and we feel like it is a little bit of a gut punch, but something that we can move forward from.”
Gonzales spoke about the excitement surrounding the team heading into the 2021 season as the Mariners continue to get closer to the end of a rebuild.
“One thing that I’ve noticed that’s different about this camp is just the energy,” he said. “I mean, there’s just a buzz. It feels different. We know that we have special talent, but more importantly I think we have better character here in camp.
“It’s been a lot of fun being around these guys. Everyone’s working their tails off, and it’s all business. We’re itching to get to work. We’ve got live BPs today and tomorrow, and we’re itching to get these games underway and see what this team can do.”
He looks forward to that third consecutive Opening Day start when the Mariners host the Giants at T-Mobile Park on April 1.
“It’s a tremendous honor,” he said. “It feels like exactly like the first time I got the ball for Opening Day. I’m going to go out there and do my best to set the tone. Like I’ve said to these guys all week, you can’t win all of them if you don’t win the first one, so let’s go out and get No. 1 and start the year off 1-0.
“That’s my goal. That’s the intensity that we have right now. That’s the direction. And for me to go out there right now and be given the ball Game 1, it’s an extreme honor that I don’t take lightly, and I won’t ever take that for granted.”
As for longer term goals, Gonzales said setting out to win the American League West is first and foremost.
“We’ve got to go out with that mentality that there’s a window here that we can go and make a statement,” he said. “That’s what we’re talking like. That’s the mentality that we have in this camp, and from there, we’re just going to go out and play with our hearts.
“I think championships are built on teams that go out and play with passion, play with their hearts, so just going to try to set that example every day.”
