Kevin Mather is out. Who’s on deck for the Seattle Mariners?

Mariners fans got what they asked for, Kevin Mather is gone. After his controversial statements reached the public, fans did not hold back for good reason. Although in baseball you get three strikes, Mather only needed two to be ousted.

Fans are still a little disappointed in how the Mariners organization responded. The former President resigned from his position, rather than being fired (although he was probably forced to resign).

Some Mariners fans, including myself, thought John Stanton’s response was rather soft. Stanton told reporters, “there were a number of comments made by Kevin that, as I’ve said, didn’t reflect the Mariners, don’t reflect what I believe, what our ownership believes, and was inappropriate.”

From my perspective, Stanton should have taken some responsibility for retaining Kevin Mather for so long, especially after his first controversy. But none the less, it is in the past and Stanton will immediately take on the roles of the CEO in the short term.

So, who could be the long-term replacement for the Mariners?  There haven’t been any specific names in reports, but I have a couple in mind.

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Former Seattle Dragons President

One candidate I have in mind is the former President of the Seattle Dragons, Ryan Gustafson. He ran into some bad luck because the XFL season was canceled due to the pandemic, and was the President for just one year.

Prior to the Seattle Dragons, Gustafson was the Vice President of Business Strategy and Development for the Seattle Sounders. He played a crucial role in the Sounders organization for nearly three years.

And prior to the Sounders, he was with the San Diego Padres for 3.5 years. He started as a Manager of Business Strategy and Analytics, moved up to Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation, and finally was the Vice President of Strategy and Innovation.

As you can tell, Gustafson has plenty of experience in important roles. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics at the University of Puget Sound in 2008 (go loggers)  and also attended Harvard University for his Master’s Degree in business Administration.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mariners have already contacted him for this role since he is currently not with a sports organization and he is a Washington native (and I’m guessing he’s a Mariners fan deep down).

You can follow Ryan Gustafson on Twitter here.

Former Chicago Cubs President

Nearly three months ago, the Mariners were rumored to have at least considered Theo Epstein who had just left the Chicago Cubs.

He began his career with the Baltimore Orioles as a Public Relations Assistant but his career began to take off after joining the Padres.

In San Diego, he started in player development and worked his way up to Director of Baseball Operations. Epstein eventually left for the Boston Red Sox and suddenly got thrust into the interim General Manager position.

Many people credited Epstein with building a new revamped Red Sox team to beat “the curse of the Bambino.” His next adventure was with the Chicago Cubs, where he was the President of Baseball Operations.

Now, Theo Epstein is working for the MLB as a consultant for on-field matters. So, it might be worth giving him a call again about the vacant CEO position.

Epstein has mostly worked in baseball operations so there might be a slight disadvantage. But he has managed to revamp organizations and win multiple World Series rings so that is very intriguing to me.

Again, the two names I have listed above are completely speculative and my own opinion. I am sure there will be more reports in the next couple of weeks, but I think Gustafson and Epstein are very viable options to fill Kevin Mather’s position.

Follow Sodo Mojo on Twitter here.