So The Seattle Mariners Increased Payroll By $31 Million

For as long as there have been Seattle Mariners fans, there have been calls for the team to increase payroll. They were there when the team was brand new a long time ago, and they were there when the team had it’s highest-ever payroll in 2008. And every year since, and every year before that. This is true of all fan bases, probably – the ownership group obviously has money, and money makes the team better. So spend! Spend the money!

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This has been a particularly contentious point for the Jack Zduriencik era teams, which started with a sharp decrease from 2008’s $117 million and bottomed out at $72 million in 2013, which ranked 24th out of 30 teams. Many argued this was okay; many more argued this was not okay. Two years later and it’s all irrelevant.

See, the Mariners are good now. Or at least, they were good last year, after increasing spending by a grip to get there. Having tasted success, the team again opened the checkbook and let the money flow. Robinson Cano was just the start. We figured the M’s had spending capacity, and now they’re using it.

Check this out, from Craig Edwards over at FanGraphs. Edwards looked at team payrolls going into 2015 and how they compare to where those teams were at a year ago. Surprise, surprise: the Los Angeles Dodgers saw their payroll increase more than anyone else. Now here’s the actual surprise: the Mariners came in second, and they’re poised to spend more on player salaries in 2015 than ever before.

The Mariners are up by $31.3 million over where they were at this time last year. Suffice to say, the team wasn’t lying when they said they had the capacity to increase payroll. As suspected, they were waiting for the timing to be right. With the team winning but still in need of reinforcements, the time was absolutely right. And now they’re around $120 million, eleventh-highest in baseball.

How did this happen without any of us really noticing? Nelson Cruz, most obviously. Nick Franklin and his minimum salary became Austin Jackson and his $9 million salary. The team took on a bunch of new money when they acquired J.A. Happ. Seth Smith and Justin Ruggiano aren’t being paid like stars, but they’re definitely being paid. Oh, and all the arb guys got raises. Funny how that works.

It’s to the team’s credit that we hardly noticed this increase. They didn’t make a big stink about payroll, which is nice since that’s really not their job. The focus is on the team, not the salaries, and this front office didn’t feel the need to divert attention towards the money. There’s no point in saying “see, we told you so, neener neener.” They sure could have done that, but they chose not to. Which is awesome, really.

What’s been suggested is there’s room to spend even more, if the situation is right. By increasing the payroll in this particular situation, we have new insight into the team’s ability to assess whether or not it’s the right time to spend. Cano basically forced us to speculate to the contrary, but things like the Kyle Seager extension seem to validate the M’s philosophy. They’re not giving their money to just anybody, see. But if they find a guy who’s worth the money, he’ll get paid. And that’s how you build a good team: paying the right guys.

There’s still room for this to blow up, of course. Look no further than 2008 for abundant proof of that. But this year feels different than that year. The team looks young and potent, ready to sustain it’s success on field by wisely using the revenue streams it has access to.

The Seattle Mariners have responded to their first winning season since 2009 by dramatically increasing payroll. They didn’t make a big deal of it, and, in fact, most of us hardly noticed. All of this is good news that paints a rosy picture of the baseball operations department. Oh yeah, and spring training just started. Life is swell.

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