A year-by-year look at Mariners payroll

In the last couple of years, it seems as if the Mariners have been a bit tight with their money, choosing to pinch pennies over spending a bit more money to try and force the contention window open. Well, some fans continue to blame Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander for this, the blame should actually fall to John Stanton, as he is the one signing the checks and giving them the salary cap number.

Has it always been that way? Those who have been around more than a few years will remember that the strings weren't always pulled tight on the proverbial moneybag, and that this squad actually used to spend a bit of money. Some of that was just from a handful of a big contracts that were handed out, but it was still enough to rank them up there in spending, more in line where lots of fans think they should be year over year.

That's been the big qualm that the collective fan has had recently, with the team not spending enough money. There is an argument to be made that it's low now to be able to afford re-signing all of the youth that the team has (i.e. Kirby, Gilbert, Raleigh), but it still doesn't make fans happy when the signing of Mitch Garver makes noise as the first multi-year deal handed out to a hitter since Dipoto & Hollander started building the team, back around the time Stanton took over.

Just where does that salary cap number rank, though? That's what we are here to look at today. How the Mariners payroll has ranked across baseball. Let's dive right in.

Seattle Mariners payroll: When the checkbook was open

Seattle Mariners payroll for 2015 season: 12th
Seattle Mariners payroll for 2016 season: 11th
Seattle Mariners payroll for 2017 season: 13th
Seattle Mariners payroll for 2018 season: 8th
Seattle Mariners payroll for 2019 season: 11th

Let's drop back in time to a decade ago. Stanton was not yet at the helm of the Mariners, and Nintendo were still the ones in charge. Jack Zduriencik was running the show in the Front Office as the GM, and was actually allowed to spend money (imagine that).

A lot of this money comes from a couple of contracts that were handed out, and they were the main reasons that the Mariners were actually able to compete over that time. Let's first start with the one that everyone loved, Nelson Cruz. Nelly a.k.a. Boomstick signed a 4YR/$57M contract back in 2015, in what was the 3rd-largets contract ever handed out by the Mariners in Free Agency up to that point. He dominated during his time with the Mariners, and I don't think a single fan regrets any part of that signing.

Then, there is the big one. Far and away the largest FA contract handed out by the Mariners, and one of the bigger ones in baseball history. Robinson Cano. Luckily for the Mariners, Cano still played pretty darn well during his time in Seattle, accruing a 23.3 WAR across five seasons. Debate the trade all you want, but it still made sense from Seattle's point of view, and I don't feel bad about it to the day, even if Kelenic isn't in town anymore.

The Mariners also had Juan Nicasio and Fernando Rodney during these years, and while they weren't massive deals, still rank as the 12th and 18th largest contracts ever handed out prior to the 2024 offseason. The Nicasio one was a Dipoto signing, and the 3rd largest signing the Mariners have made since he came aboard.