Commentary: Why the Mariners got what they paid for in 2024

SEATTLE – So there’s this former Seattle Times sports columnist named Larry Stone. You might have heard of him. He wrote Edgar Martinez’s autobiography, won Washington state sports writer of the year and doesn’t spill things nearly as often as people say.

He texted over the weekend to tell me he still saw thousands of merry Mariners fans at T-Mobile Park, even with Seattle having been eliminated from playoff contention after blowing a 10-game division lead.

A couple of conclusions can be drawn from the observation. The first is that, regardless of the resources poured into this organization, it’s still just a game meant to entertain and bring joy. As the late, great Los Angeles Times sports columnist Jim Murray once said: “I’ve never been unhappy in a ballpark.”

But there’s a second conclusion to be drawn as well – one that’s less Pollyanna and more pragmatic. And that’s that some fans, after decades of frustration, have simply learned not to expect much from this team.

It has been several days since this Mariners season came to another disappointing end, and relief doesn’t appear to be on its way. Mathematics tricked fans into thinking Seattle was in contention through the end of September, but this season was lost weeks ago.

It’s true that the M’s have put together four consecutive seasons in which they’ve won at least 85 games – the victory totals being 90 in 2021, 90 in ’22, 88 in ’23 and 85 in ’24. But the idea of an imminent playoff run? The thought of ending this 23-year American League West title drought? There is little reason for hope.

On Saturday, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto fielded a spontaneous Q&A with reporters. He acknowledged that payroll was likely to go up – just as it has over the past couple of seasons – but part of that was due to the increased salaries waiting for players such as Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh and Logan Gilbert, among others. This confirmed the sourced understanding that Mariners chairman John Stanton had promised he would increase payroll.

Does anyone think this will translate to a newfound commitment to winning, though?

For one, payrolls generally increase across the league simply because more and more money is being poured into the game. And though it’s notable that the Mariners’ payroll has gone from 25th to 21st to 18th to 16th over the past four years, they are still in the bottom half of MLB.

I’ve criticized Dipoto a number of times in this space over the past few months. His big offseason acquisitions – Jorge Polanco, Mitch Haniger and Mitch Garver – contributed almost nothing despite their sizable salaries. I’ve also criticized the likes of Rodriguez and other Mariners mainstays for underperforming this season. If J-Rod put together another in-the-MVP-conversation season, the M’s may have made the playoffs.

But this team’s problems start with ownership. That doesn’t mean Stanton directly – he’s the chairman, not the emperor – but a group that has yet to dole out top dollar for a potential World Series-winning roster. And that is the goal, right?

Right now, the Mariners’ “natural rival” – the San Diego Padres – are in the midst of a playoff run themselves. This marks the third time they’ve been in the postseason in the past four years, and that’s largely due to the financial commitment from deceased owner Peter Seidler.

Seidler was beloved in San Diego, in part because of his perpetually positive demeanor but also due to his dedication to the Padres. That team was in the top five in MLB in payroll in ’22 and ’23, and top 10 in ’21. He was all-in, so perhaps it was no surprise to locals when, upon clinching a playoff berth with a triple play last week, Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. said, “We are definitely doing it for Peter.”

Do you see anyone in the Mariners’ front office getting that kind of love anytime soon?

In an interview with the Times during the season, Stanton noted that the team had increased payroll in each of the past three seasons.

“Maybe not as much as you would like us to,” he added. “But we all deal with constraints, right?”

Yes, most of us do. But the winners are usually the ones willing to push beyond those constraints.

I predict that the Mariners do increase payroll slightly but not to any noticeable degree. I also suspect they will field another roster that will win more than half of its games next season, namely thanks to a young, top-tier pitching staff that carried the team in 2024.

But this organization has showed its fan base that it is a true midmarket team. And when your spending is middling, the results will be, too.