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The guy is supposed to be pretty smart and he knows the organization, so I think we ought to keep an open mind. It could be the case that Mather has had his own ideas for some time, but given that he worked under Armstrong on the non-baseball ops side of the organization, it could be that he simply never had a venue for putting those ideas forward.
There's also the possibility of a sale in the next year or two, which could bring in an entirely different organization from top to bottom. Mather could be in the role of caretaker Pres until the sale is complete and then he goes off to his next adventure with a stint as President of the Mariners on his resume. It's also entirely possible that he's a true visionary and that the Mariners, under his administration, go on to a new era of on-field success with multiple division championships and world series appearances.
On Zduriencik: I'm reasonably convinced at this point that the man has almost no say over budgetary decisions. I don't know if it's correct to call him a marionette, but what I suspect is true is that his job description at this point simply does not include any significant level of control over how the budget for the major league roster is allocated.