Mariners History: 5 years since Seattle dodged disaster on Jarred Kelenic contract

Just over five years ago on Feb. 5 2021, then Seattle Mariners President and CEO Kevin Mather took part in a zoom conversation with the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club. It was an event which garnered little to no attention initially, even when the video was subsequently downloaded onto YouTube by the Rotary Club on Feb. 19.

However, the following day on Feb. 20, lifelong Mariners fan Eric Hess was the first person to watch the video and he unwittingly became an infamous part of team history. Adam Jude of The Seattle Times did a tremendous job of breaking it all down at the time, but essentially, Hess shared the video on Twitter and Reddit and it quickly exploded around the social media world thanks to several careless, weird and downright ugly comments by Mather.

Some of Mather's controversial and unnecessary comments included complaining about the need to pay for Hisashi Iwakuma's translator and criticizing Julio Rodriguez's English-speaking skills. However, arguably the main takeaway was regarding Jarred Kelenic, who at the time was the Mariners' No. 1 prospect and No. 4 in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline.

Jarred Kelenic decided to bet on himself

As per Corey Brock of The Athletic, Mather said: "We offered (Kelenic) a long-term deal, six-year deal for substantial money with options to go farther. After pondering it for several days and talking to the union, he’s turned us down and in his words, he’s going to bet on himself."

The fallout from the zoom meeting saw Mather resign on Feb. 22, but the negative press for the Mariners wasn't over. As per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Kelenic and his reps argued that his refusal to sign the offer (made 14 months earlier) was why the M's were holding him back, effectively insinuating a form of service time manipulation.

Jerry Dipoto denied this during a regularly scheduled appearance on Seattle Sports. Either way though, this is one of those times a scandal has actually worked out in the Mariners' favor as opposed to costing them in the long run.

Despite having all the physical tools and ability required to succeed, Kelenic's mental makeup seemed to compromise his abilities once he made his Major League debut with the Mariners in May of 2021. Through 147 combined games in his first two years in the majors he had a .168 batting average, .589 OPS, 68 wRC+ and unsightly -1.9 bWAR.

The 26-year-old made the effort to work on his game during the offseason, with him coming across as more mature during spring training in 2023. He then came out like gangbusters to open the season. He had a .308 batting average and .982 OPS through the end of April and still led the Mariners in both categories at the conclusion of May.

A tense atmosphere in the Mariners clubhouse

However, the following month Kelenic struggled with a .173 batting average and .588 OPS, which impacted him again mentally and although never officially reported, speculation was that his mood caused tensions within the clubhouse. It all came to a head on July 20 when he broke his left foot after kicking a Gatorade cooler in frustration, sending him to the 10-day injured list.

Kelenic felt awful about the incident and letting his teammates down, but the damage was all but done. He did return to action on Sept. 11 and completed what was the best season of his Major League career to date, including single season highs of a 2.1 bWAR, 49 RBI and 111 OPS+, but was traded to the Atlanta Braves in December.

The Braves gave the Waukesha, Wisconsin native every chance to succeed as he played a career-high 131 games in 2024, but despite having his moments, still looked ordinary overall. Last year saw him get off to a slow start resulting in being sent to Triple-A, where he spent the rest of the season.

Kelenic became a free agent after the conclusion of the 2025 season and has since signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox, with high hopes of making a positive impression during spring training as a non-roster invitee. However, the truth is that expectations are at an all-time low for a player who at one point seemingly had the baseball world at his feet.

As for Kelenic's legacy with the Mariners, it seems cruelly appropriate that his biggest contribution to the organization is coming up with the nickname "Big Dumper" for Cal Raleigh. Harsh or not, the reality is that he is one of the biggest prospect busts in recent memory and the M's must be thankful he never signed his six-year offer.