Seattle Mariners Winning Formula: Spend More, Win More?

The Mariners have recently had owners willing to spend a ton of cash to help the team win. Before the organization’s shift in power this past season, the M’s were setting records for how much money they were shelling out for the payroll. It appears that this new ownership group is looking to continue this trend. But is spending more money helping the Mariners win more?

The Mariners have spent a great deal of cash over the past six years, a little over six hundred and sixty million dollars to be more exact.

This past year, the M’s blew way past their previous highest payroll of about one hundred and twenty-four million dollars in 2015, setting a new franchise mark at nearly one hundred and fifty-four million dollars.

A large reason why the numbers keep growing is due to the mind-numbing contracts signed by some of the team’s best talent. Between Kyle Seager, Robinson Cano and Felix Hernandez, the team is paying out about sixty-three million dollars.

Other players have been making boatloads of money too. Nelson Cruz and Hisashi Iwakuma have also been getting eight-figure paychecks the past couple of years.

But are these big contracts and the hundred-plus million dollar payrolls helping the team win? If we look back over the past six seasons, there is no real correlation between wins and cash spent.

More from SoDo Mojo

• 2023 Steamer Projections: Teoscar Hernandez could see a drop in Seattle
• Could the Mariners Acquire AL Batting Champion, Luis Arraez?
• Steamer Projections: Julio Rodriguez to enter rarified air in 2023
• What if the Mariners traded FOR Tyler O’Neill this time?
• Mariners starting pitching is being overlooked by MLB

Even though the M’s have increased the team’s salary by at least fifteen percent each year since 2013, their wins have not increased by that much. In fact, from 2014-2015, the Mariners decreased their total wins by close to thirteen percent.

In another damning find to the idea that more money equals more wins, in 2012 we saw the Mariners spend fourteen million dollars less than the previous year but record eight more victories.

Furthermore, the Mariners had their highest rank for total payroll compared to the rest of the league in 2016 (twelfth) but had one less win than in 2014 when they had the sixteenth highest payroll.

Yet, even though there isn’t a connection between how much the M’s have spent and how many games they’ve won, M’s fans can hope that there will be a connection in 2017.

Next: Seth Smith Heading To Boston For Pomeranz?

With many contracts still to be worked out, the Mariners already have over one hundred million dollars spoken for in 2017, and this doesn’t even include Jean Segura’s contract that is yet to be determined.