The Seattle Mariners 2019 Offseason Primer

Assessing the Budget

For reasons you probably can’t count on one hand, the Mariners are a team that must spend.

Since Jerry Dipoto took over (though not necessarily because of him), the team has ended its years with upwards of $170 million committed to their 40-man roster according to Cot’s Contracts, and that will remain true once the 2018 figures are released.

In the same time frame, the team has opened their seasons with approximately $142 million, $154 million, and $158 million committed to their 25-man roster.

Nelson Cruz represents a big contract coming off the books, but knowing several players are also headed for significant raises in arbitration, Seattle likely is not prepared to cut salary to under 2018 levels. However, that should not create a great issue.

Previously, the team was ready to add money around the trade deadline.

Per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times:

"The Mariners don’t seem to have the prospects to pry away a front-line starter or even top-level closer. But they do have the finances to take on more money. “We have the resources,” [Dipoto] said. “And we have been told over and over that if there is something out there we can attain that helps us, then go do it.”"

And that was after Alex Colome and Denard Span were brought in.

It does not appear that this sentiment will be rescinded over the offseason, so if spending money will help the team win, then the team will spend money (within reason).

I would not be surprised to see the Mariners open the 2019 season with up to $170 million committed to their 25-man roster. That is a rather sizeable $12 million increase over 2018’s payroll and on the upper end of where we pegged the budget before arbitration numbers were released, but we might not know the extent to which the team is prepared to push the payroll until they actually do it.

Speaking of arbitration though, how much money is on the books next year?