Matt Calkins: Mariners placing pennies above pennants is swaying yet another offseason

Matt Calkins, The Seattle Times on Jan 11, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — This is a column in which being wrong would be welcomed. If the Mariners are stacked when the season begins, or 20 games above .500 in August, or winning a division title in October, I will welcome the emails with “You were saying???” in the subject line.

Seattle deserves a World Series run. An MLB championship might mean more to this town than a Super Bowl ever did.

But we’re talking about the Mariners — an organization notorious for not ponying up the type of dough necessary for a title. And here we are in another offseason where no significant roster moves have taken place.

There are conspicuous needs at first, second and third base. Those needs have not been addressed. There remains a stench from last season’s offensive impotence. That stench has not been mitigated.

Consecutive years with one of MLB’s best pitching staffs — maybe the best — have ended sans a postseason appearance. Does anyone really think the M’s are going to get better?

This isn’t a shot at Jerry Dipoto, the team’s president of baseball operations. Dipoto has made moves worthy of criticism during his nine-season tenure, along with those that deserve praise, and a separate column detailing such transactions could be written. This is about the folks at the top of the ownership group — namely billionaires Chris Larson and John Stanton — whose reputation for placing pennies above pennants perpetually hangs over this organization.

A warranted reputation? It’s just getting harder to think otherwise.

Their defenders might argue the following: The Mariners did sign Robbie Ray to a five-year, $115 million contract in 2021, just after he won the American League Cy Young Award. The Mariners did sign center fielder Julio Rodriguez to a deal guaranteeing him a minimum of $209 million and upward of $470 million at the end of his rookie season. And the Mariners did ink starting pitcher Luis Castillo to a five-year, $108 million deal shortly after trading for him in 2022.

None of this is Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge or Juan Soto money, but it isn’t insignificant. Even so, if we’re looking at all 26 spots on the roster, it simply hasn’t been enough.

Seattle was 21st in MLB payroll in 2020, 24th in ’21, 22nd in ’22, 18th in ’23, 16th last year and 16th as of now this year. Perhaps a few (a select few) would applaud the fact that the Mariners keep climbing the payroll list, but they are still in the bottom half of the league.

This isn’t the first or last time I’ve written the following: It’s easy to tell people how to spend their money when it’s not yours. At the same time … this ownership group isn’t poor. Its Regional Sports Network situation might be tightening wallets out of caution — but that isn’t unique to the Mariners. Are we going to see another underwhelming offseason?

At this point, why expect anything else?

Longtime Mets first baseman Pete Alonso has made four All-Star appearances and is a free agent presently. Does anyone believe the Mariners are going to shell out the necessary cash to try and lock him down? Longtime Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, also a free agent, has had at least a 4.1 WAR in each of his past three seasons — which is exemplary production. Does anyone in Seattle think they would make a move?

ESPN’s Jeff Passan weighed in on that very notion earlier in the week, writing:

“Seattle is two bats away from being a genuinely dangerous team. Prices and years are dropping. Bregman would be perfect. Alonso would bring middle-of-the-order juice. This should not be hard. That’s not how it works in Seattle. The Mariners spent most of the winter seeing what they could get for one of their starters, Luis Castillo.”

It’s true, the M’s have been shopping Castillo — one of the better pitchers in baseball over the past several years — this offseason. And though “La Piedra” had a less-than-stellar 2024, he is still a vital piece to a rotation that led MLB in ERA last year.

Remember, the Mariners’ other members of that rotation — George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo — don’t yet earn what Castillo does combined. This is the chance to strike by adding some bats. Good luck seeing that happen.

This isn’t to say that Dipoto can’t get creative and add some value. It’s also essential for Rodriguez and shortstop J.P. Crawford to bounce back from their lackluster 2024 seasons.

But this offseason doesn’t feel like the Mariners simply lying in wait. If you think that, you’re probably lying to yourself.

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