Tony La Russa high on the list for possible new Mariners President

[blstoker]

Why would the Mariners want a guy who's in the Hall of Fame as part of their organization? No reason to bring someone in who knows what winning is about. They ran the last guy who had WS victories out (Pinella) so why add someone to the FO who has 3 of them?

I'm the eternal optimist when it comes to fandom, or at least I look at the silver lining when possible, but this kind of stuff really makes me question whether I wanna follow the team anymore. Whoever is promoted from within had better ensure the team gets better, this crap is just plain stupid to this point.

 

[TheDman875]

Though I'd take Chuck Armstrong over Tony LaRussa.

 

[wazzu31]

of course you would

it looks like the m's will just promote a "mini me" of armstrong, so that's great for you.

Care to actually dispute my comments or just throw your childish insults? Until then go run along so grown ups can discuss.

 

[wazzu31]

...Why...?

I'm no fan of Chuck Armstrong at all, but I have a personal grudge against LaRussa so guess that is a my only main reason. I know every one hates the promoting within (which I'm not for either) but what is one thing that shows LaRussa could affect the Mariners in a front office role besides of his name.

They need to scrap their entire front office model and try for the younger hot shot whoever that may be.

 

[cezero]

It at least makes sense that a childish grudge against LaRussa mad you say it.

I have plenty of grudges that can make me irrational as well.

 

[cezero]

lol

 

[Thisnamewasntaken]

If they hire from within and don't hire Tony this FO is retarded. Not saying he would be the best because of his history but I know for damn sure he would do better than anyone connected to this franchise as of now.

 

[Podunkparte]

this FO is retarded.

Fixed

 

[YourFriendGannon]

A lot of assistants in the Cardinals front office tree have been hired to by other teams for bigger roles. I'd feel more excited if the Mariners were going after one of them rather than the 70 year old guy who managed them. I mean, I don't know how qualified Larussa is to be a team's president & no one here has said they know how qualified he is. Has anyone else interviewed him for a front office job in the last two years?

 

[blstoker]

A lot of assistants in the Cardinals front office tree have been hired to by other teams for bigger roles. I'd feel more excited if the Mariners were going after one of them rather than the 70 year old guy who managed them. I mean, I don't know how qualified Larussa is to be a team's president & no one here has said they know how qualified he is. Has anyone else interviewed him for a front office job in the last two years?

At this point, LaRussa's qualifications mean nothing. Really, it's about a front office who doesn't care about the product, just the bottom line. People are tired of it, and by hiring from within, there really isn't much chance that will change.

 

[dude82]

I'm no fan of Chuck Armstrong at all, but I have a personal grudge against LaRussa so guess that is a my only main reason. I know every one hates the promoting within (which I'm not for either) but what is one thing that shows LaRussa could affect the Mariners in a front office role besides of his name.

They need to scrap their entire front office model and try for the younger hot shot whoever that may be.

In business, the company's well-being should matter more than personal feelings/bias. If a job candidate is qualified, it shouldn't matter whether you personally like him/her or not. Having said that, questioning La Russa's qualifications for this particular job is fair game because for almost all of his post-playing career, he's been a coach. He only recently transitioned into a position within the league office as a special assistant to Selig and I have no idea what his duties actually were.

If the Mariners decide to split the responsibilities of the next president and give business responsibilities to one person and baseball responsibilities to another, I think that bolsters his qualifications because the man knows baseball. That's actually the route I'd like to see the M's take regardless of whether they ultimately hire La Russa or someone else for the baseball part.

 

[NWinAZ]

3h[/ame] Hearing that [URL="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Mariners&src=hash"]#Mariners executive VP Kevin Mather will succeed Chuck Armstrong as team president. Beat out fellow exec VP Bob Aylward.

 

[Podunkparte]

3h Hearing that #Mariners executive VP Kevin Mather will succeed Chuck Armstrong as team president. Beat out fellow exec VP Bob Aylward.

 

[Banned 10x]

It's official

Kevin Mather Named President Of Mariners

By Jeff Todd [January 24 at 6:15pm CST]
TODAY: Seattle officially announced Mather's promotion to the role of president and COO via press release. Meanwhile, the club announced that fellow executive Bob Aylward will take over as Chairman of the Board of NW Sports Net LLC (the club's TV network). Previously, both roles had been under Armstrong's jurisdiction.
Mather said (through the press release) that he will "support[] Jack Zduriencik as he continues to lead the baseball operation and builds the Mariners both for 2014 and for future seasons." Speaking to reporters later today, Mather said that he views his role as coordinating the business and baseball operations side of the club, Shannon Drayer of ESPN Radio Seattle [ame="[MEDIA=twitter]426865947392376832[/MEDIA]"]tweets[/ame]. Mather added that the club has enough payroll flexibility to add additional players this offseason, [ame="[MEDIA=twitter]426865499981357057[/MEDIA]"]tweets[/ame] Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune.
YESTERDAY: The Mariners are expected to name Kevin Mather as the club's new president, reports Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times ([ame="[MEDIA=twitter]426281920498900993[/MEDIA]"]via Twitter[/ame]). Mather will move up from his current position as VP of finance and ballpark operations, taking charge after a long term at the helm for the outgoing Chuck Armstrong.
Mather has held his role since all the way back in 1996, when he came to Seattle from the Twins organization. This 2012 profile from the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin paints Mather as a shrewd businessman who keeps a close eye on the bottom line. According to the piece, Mather oversaw the building of Safeco Field, and since that time has run the facility, handled its lease, and largely controlled the team's finances.
Mather will take over a club that enjoys a substantial new TV deal and a nice home park that he helped to build. One priority could be to improve the team's lagging attendance figures. (Last year, the Mariners were 25th in baseball at getting people in the seats, with a total draw closer to that of the last-place Rays than the 22nd-place Diamondbacks.) With the Seattle president position reportedly set to oversee both business and baseball operations of the club, Mather (along with GM Jack Zduriencik) will be tasked with building a winner in a tough AL West division after spending big money to extend ace Felix Hernandez and making a huge splash by adding superstar Robinson Cano.

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[Destroydacre]

Another yes man who knows zip about baseball and only cares about the bottom line. Well that's it. Until Lincoln is gone, I am officially done with this godforsaken franchise. To not even interview La Russa. Just wow. Fuck you Howard Lincoln.

 

[dude82]

I'm taking a wait-and-see approach here. I'm not going to write him off simply because he's been with the organization since '96. It's assuming that he's going to be exactly like Armstrong in his decision-making and that's not fair to him. He should be judged on his own merits. Besides, any outsider that they hired who wasn't a well respected guy throughout baseball probably would have gotten the "Well, they hired a guy I'm not familiar with, he must be another 'yes' man" treatment, am I right? I'm not saying it's not an understandable reaction given what we've seen from this organization for over a decade now, but it's not fair to Mather to automatically assume that because he was with the organization already, he's going to be an Armstrong clone in this job.

 

[NWinAZ]

I'm taking a wait-and-see approach here.

I said the same thing in 1977.

 

[Thisnamewasntaken]

We messed up not signing Tony... Instead we got Marshall Mathers..err Kevin Mathers... Aka another POS. I don't want to wait and see for shit. You don't keep doing the same crap when it hasn't worked. You don't keep the same garbage around. This was all about loyalty.. Aww how sweet...and we get to suffer for it.

 

[unlvmariners]

I'm taking a wait-and-see approach here.

I applaud you for having optimism but this hire feels like a hire of a guy that was groomed for the job by guys that run the team poorly. I have a hard time believing a guy that has been with this organization for so long doesn't have the same poor qualities as the other guys.

 

[dude82]

I applaud you for having optimism but this hire feels like a hire of a guy that was groomed for the job by guys that run the team poorly. I have a hard time believing a guy that has been with this organization for so long doesn't have the same poor qualities as the other guys.

To me, there are two ways to look at it:

You can assume that because he's been in the organization for almost as long as Lincoln and Armstrong have and because Lincoln and Armstrong had a lot of input into making the decision to hire him to replace Armstrong, he's going to be just like them in his decision-making.

or

You can keep in mind that just because a person works for incompetent people, doesn't mean they, themselves, are necessarily incompetent or are going to be incompetent. Just because someone is employed with the same company for a long time doesn't mean that they agree with everything their boss says or does, or would do things the same way should they eventually become the boss themselves.

I think he at least deserves the opportunity to prove that he's not just another Armstrong and that he actually has a mind of his own before people start turning on him. It's not his fault that his bosses are/were terrible at their jobs and it doesn't necessarily mean he's going to follow in their footsteps now that he has the power.

Besides, Armstrong and Lincoln haven't been and aren't the only local influences in the sports management world that Mather has had available to pattern himself after. The Seahawks and Sounders seem to have no trouble keeping fans coming to CenturyLink and it's not hard to see why. The people that run those teams know that this fanbase is a passionate one for its teams, but they also know that they can't take it for granted and just throw crap up against a wall and hope something sticks.

Those people know that even the most passionate fanbase isn't going to keep showing up after a while if they think that management doesn't give a damn about them, so they invest in their teams in ways that don't seem like bribes (the giveaways) to come see a poor product or distractions (ballpark amenities) to keep people focused on things other than the team on the field. They invest in making the team on the field a winner, which is the only way to keep people coming back long-term. They've been able to see what the Mariners have been doing wrong for all these years and avoid those mistakes, and if Mather is smart, he'll look/have already looked to those organizations and the people who run them to see how to run an organization that people actually want to support and a team that people actually want to come see for the players and not for anything else.