Could the Mariners cheap ownership lead to little to no moves at the trade deadline?

If you've read out site, (First of all, thank you) you know that we have issues with how ownership spends... well, doesn't spend money. At least not in the way that we want. Obviously we don't know all the facts behind the how and the what of their actual money, but from what is on the surface, it looks like the Mariners are "cheap" when it comes to spending money on their team.

Yes, I know that they signed Julio and Castillo to nice extensions. However, they still sit in the middle of the pack, and questions come up as to why they aren't capitalizing on a young core that has driven tons of fans to the games. We know that money is coming in from that, so again on the surface, it would seem like that money is there to re-invest.

John Stanton HAS to spend to make this team better

It's a bit of an intro to defend the point of the fan who wonders why the team isn't spending. Parking, tickets, gear, and food are all more expensive than they've ever been. The team has averaged 89.3 wins the last 3 seasons, one of their best marks in history, all while falling just shy of the playoffs twice and making it once.

Call me crazy, but an impact bat or two last offseason, especially if the pitching performed the same, would've led to this team being nigh unstoppable.

But, here's the problem. They went and got Jorge Polanco, Mitch Haniger, and Mitch Garver. Garver is doing fine, not what we want, but hitting .178/.295/.407 since becoming the backup catcher. It's okay, and fine as someone in your lineup, but not as what amounts to being your second or third best hitter. With Haniger and Polanco, you are looking at expensive players that the team is going to have to package with something to get rid of them, much less what it will take to upgrade.

Could the fact that so much money (again, relatively to the Mariners case) is tied up in those three players lead to the Mariners not spending at the deadline? Yes, you have to trade prospects to get better, but they are also going to have to trade out more players than they want if they pair it with those contracts to get them off the books and take new ones in.

That, or they will have to outright cut them. You could always leave them on the bench I guess, but that might not go over well either. I'm worried, because I'm starting to believe that the Mariners reluctance to spend is going to lead to them not upgrading enough at the deadline, and wasting one of the best pitching staffs we have seen. Here's to hoping that I'm wrong.