Ranking the worst contracts in the American League West: A couple Mariners problems

While the American League West has been dominated by the Houston Astros in recent years (except a weird 2020 season where the A's won the crown), it has become one of the better divisions in baseball. With that, there comes a lot of fairly large spenders, even the often cheap Oakland Athletics, and one of the most frustrating ownership groups in baseball in Seattle.

The AL West still possesses three large spenders as the Astros have the third highest payroll, the Rangers are eighth, and the Angels are 14th. The Mariners sit just behind them at 16 and the A's are all the way at the bottom with the lowest payroll in the game ... and it's not particularly close. Even with the Dodgers tossing out a $700 million deal to Shohei Ohtani, the National League East is the only division that can compare in terms of divisional payroll.

But that doesn't mean some massive mistakes weren't made along the way. The AL west has some of the most questionable contracts out there.

Ranking the 5 worst contracts in the AL West: Where do the Mariners land?

With those hefty payrolls, there are bound to be some misses, some more so than others. Each team has a few large contracts (except for Oakland, whose highest-paid player is Seth Brown at $2.6 million). Some have panned out, but others are a complete bust.

Seattle Mariners: Mitch Garver and Mitch Haniger

While the Mariners might not be the cheapest team in the American League West (sorry Oakland), they are far and away the next in line. The Mariners regularly shop on the clearance rack, but this offseason saw them hand out the largest free agent contract to a hitter under Jerry Dipoto ... and it isn't looking good.

The Mariners brought in World Series champion Mitch Garver, who played a key role in the Rangers securing their first championship in franchise history. Garver seemed to fit this Mariners team perfectly. Though he dealt with injuries and played in only 87 games, he still hit .270/.370/.500 with 19 home runs and very solid walk and strikeout rates. This led the Mariners to give the catcher a two-year deal, with $12.5 million each in 2024 and 2025 and an option for 2026 that has a $1 million buyout.

Fast forward to the 2024 season and this looks terrible. The 33-year-old seemingly forgot how to hit, and the Mariners have moved him from full-time DH to backup catcher in hopes of extracting at least a little bit of value. He put a negative fWAR and continuously hurt this team. His 31.3% strikeout rate is a career high and is very fitting that this happens as he joins a Mariners team with strikeout issues. There is a chance he bounces back next year, but if he doesn't the Mariners won't pick up that option, triggering the buyout, and paying him a $13.5 million salary in 2025, in what will likely be the worst signing in Dipoto's Mariner tenure (though the options are mighty slim).

The second Mitch that Seattle brought in is former fan favorite Mitch Haniger, who left the previous off season. The Mariners didn't want to pay Haniger what he wanted, and he ended up signing with the San Francisco Giants. After the Giants realized how bad of a decision this was, they flipped him back to the Mariners while taking on Robbie Ray and his contract. Haniger was paid $15.5 million in 2024 to put up an 85 wRC+ along side a .209/.285/.338 slash line with just 12 home runs. He registered a negative fWAR and logged terrible defense.

Unfortunately for the Mariners, Haniger has a player option for 2025 at $15.5 million that he will pick up. Seattle will likely eat the money and release him as Haniger's glory days are long gone. Either way, this is a terrible contract for a team that is constantly juggling payroll.