Earlier this week, Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik said that he felt he would have more financial resources to work with, and today Mariners president Kevin Mather confirmed as much in an appearance on 710 ESPN’s Brock and Salk show (Brady Henderson of 710 ESPN has transcribed some of the highlights). Mather explains that the Mariners spent $16MM more than they had budgeted for in 2014 (a total payroll of $107MM), but ownership has no intention of scaling that back after seeing the team’s performance this season:
“They’re fans and they seemed extremely pleased with the competitive nature of the games and September, meaningful baseball, and not one of them has said, ’What are we going to do to get that $16 million back?’ They were all saying, ’What are you going to do to get us six more wins next year?'”
Fresh off the signing of Robinson Cano to a 10-year, $240MM contract, the Mariners posted an 87-75 record — their best since 2007 — and cleared two million fans at Safeco Field for the first time since 2010, which Mather says will help him to acquire more resources for Zduriencik.
If you have time to listen to the audio of the full interview (it’s roughly 21 minutes long), Mather’s interview is well worth hearing in its entirety. The first-year president was insightful and candid throughout as he discussed the extension of Zduriencik, the relationship between Zduriencik and manager Lloyd McClendon, his own role with the team and the club’s approach at the trade deadline as they weighed a run at David Price.
Mather feels that Zduriencik’s contract extension was turned into a bigger deal than he’d expected. He echoed a story told by Zduriencik shortly after the extension, stating that he simply broached the topic casually at the end of a business lunch, asking the GM, “Does your wife like it in Seattle?” Zduriencik responded that she loves it, and Mather recalls, “I said, ’Well, your contract’s up at the end of the year. Why don’t we talk about getting that extended?'” Mather does admit that Zduriencik’s rebuilding effort took longer than it should have, but he called the decision to extend him after the club’s success an “automatic.” Asked about Zduriencik’s best ability, Mather did not hesitate to say “personnel evaluation,” referring to evaluating young players.
Beyond that, he recalled his first test as a president — asking ownership for increased funding to sign Fernando Rodney late in the offseason. Unhappy with the asking prices of remaining starting pitchers and bats, Zduriencik suggested the idea of shortening the game. “The first thing I really tried to sell to ownership was, let’s take the ninth inning off the board,” said Mather, adding that he received little resistance on that front.
The team’s biggest desire moving forward, Mather says, is to avoid going through a “dip” like the Mariners went through from 2004-14:
“We need to be 85 to 95 wins every year, which means we need to draft well, we have to get our draft picks signed, we have to be strategic with our free agent signings, but we need to be competitive year-in, year-out. And you don’t do that by signing broken-down, middle-of-the-road free agents and hoping.”
Regarding the club’s summer interest in Price, Mather emphasized that with the team looking at a Wild Card spot, it was too difficult to mortgage the future. “Will you give up — and I shouldn’t use names — but will you give up [James] Paxton, or [Taijuan] Walker, or [D.J.] Peterson for David Price?” he asked, rhetorically. “…I want to be competitive in 2015, 2016, 2017 — these are young players that we control.”
Lastly, he discusses the impact that the team’s strong performance will have on attracting free agents. While he says it’s a selling point, the biggest red flag for the Mariners in attracting free agents, in Mather’s opinion, is the team’s travel schedule. Mather says he’s been assured by new commissioner Rob Manfred that MLB will look at the travel schedule in order to avoid scenarios like the one that came up this year where the team went from California to Houston to Toronto and back to Seattle without an off-day. He’s reminded Manfred about it multiple times, though he acknowledges that it may take a year or two in order to truly alleviate that pain for West Coast teams.
Assuming the Mariners pick up Iwakuma’s option which is for $7MM and Jackson and Seager arbitration combined come to another $10MM +/- their commitments for 2015 come to about $87MM for just 9 players at that point. That still leaves them needing to sign 16 players to fill out their 25 man roster. No way they stay under $110 to $120MM even with no “big name” FA signings this winter.
Any significant FA signing say like Melky Cabrera or someone else could easily bring their 2015 opening day payroll in the neighborhood of $130 to $140MM.
Are the Mariners willing to jump their opening day payroll from what is was to start the 2014 season of $90MM to about $130 to $140MM to start the 2015 season? That’s the question.
The Mariners can pay Victor Martinez to DH for 20M next year and still keep their payroll under 115M.
The M’s tv deal is going to push them to that 150. Also for those who think the M’s or Seattle isn’t a good place to play they were only 1 game away from making it. They are a really attractive team. They need another starting picther and two more bats to push them into the playoffs and beyond. V Mart makes a lot of sense.
So the Mariners are going to go to $150MM because you say so?
The world doesn’t work like that. You think they are suddenly going to add $45MM in additional payroll easy? A team owned by a publicly traded company is just going to add that amount of salary because you say so? I can see them going up higher, but if you are thinking like that you are going to be incredibly disappointed.
Hey with the new Smash Bros out today, Nintendo should have plenty of future Mariners money flowing in, right??
Yes the M’s Tv deal ‘could’ push them to $150m, but I don’t think they go over $130m in 2015.
1 game from making what? The wild card game?
Important point. There’s usually a relationship between investing in players, performance, and attendance. It’s up to management to decide how to best leverage their dollars. The Yankees obviously spend too much, and unwisely, and Tampa just can’t draw, but usually there’s a big difference for the fan when a team goes from, say 81-81, to 86-76. Add a few wins to make the team competitive for a playoff slot, and you can usually get it back in revenues.
Desperate Needs: DH & Corner power OFer
Luxury Needs: Adding one more top SP (Scherzer Or Lester Or Shields)
Infield: I don’t thin Seattle will mess with 1B with LoMo’s 2nd half amazing success I think Seattle will run with LoMo during the 1st half to see if he can continue his success in the 1st half of 2015…with JD Peterson being a mid-season Callup. So we don’t have to worry about 1B in 2015. The rest of IF is pretty set.
Bullpen: Pretty much set for 2015. Beimel is the only question. Sounding like Z is going to try and pull off a top SP which would probably move Elias to BP & backup starter.
Rotation: Felix, Iwakuma, Paxton, Walker, Elias (looks set but as we saw this year with injuries to Iwakuma/Paston/Walker we truly need another top SP). Chris Young was a low cost wonder for 2014, but he’s not worth the $6-7m in 2015 that it will take to retain him.
Trade Candidates: Ackley, Saunders, Mauer, Medina, E-Ramirez
lol you guys are hilarious…with all your pipe dreams
M’s don’t need more power bats!!! They were ranked 15th in HRs which isn’t bad considering they play half their games in arguably the most pitcher friendly ballpark in the AL. What they do need is players who can get on base. They ranked 27th in OBP. Only 3 players were able to muster an OBP of over .300, that’s just ridiculously bad. So please no more ball hackers, strike out machines, permanent DH players!!!
Also M’s don’t need starting pitching!!! They are set for next year! They have a good rotation especially 1 and 2 not to mention Hultzen should be ready for 2015. Why the heck would you want to blow 20million+ on Lester or Price when your rotation is fine???
1 King Felix
2 Iwakuma
3 Walker
4 Paxton
5 Ellias
Was prepared to hate this comment after the first line. But everything you said is true. The M’s need players that can simply avoid making outs. And who can hit lefties. They were very nearly the worst team against LHP.
The rotation should be pretty good, but I would love to add a decent, mid-range starter as insurance against the kind of mystery illnesses that have plagued us the last couple years. I agree this is not the place to spend big.
I’m actually pretty excited for the Mariners. McClendon is a solid manager and the team’s got talent.
I’m personally going to stash this quote for later, in case we see more Morse/Bay/Hart/Morales/retread/injury-flyer nonsense:
“… we need to be competitive year-in,
year-out. And you don’t do that by signing broken-down,
middle-of-the-road free agents and hoping.”
I’d be perfectly happy with two of: VMart, Michael Cuddyer or Melky Cabrera. I agree that getting a top flight starter might be overkill. I would go the route of a veteran pick up in the Chris Young vein, not expecting it to pan out quite as well, but it would be for insurance purposes anyway. Also, expecting Hultzen in the MLB rotation before September call-ups next year is probably wishful thinking. Still, he is a nice wildcard to have. If he can stay healthy and get back to where he was, it will give us several options and be a luxury.
The only major move the M’s need to make is to add Victor Martinez. They should also add a veteran innings-eater type starting pitcher as insurance. But the M’s had just a .611 OPS at DH making an addition at that spot a gigantic upgrade. And it won’t hurt their defense like replacing one of our good defensive corner outfielders with a plodding slugger.
Why are any of you talking about a Lester signing? I understand Seattle is the closest team on the same parallel as Boston but, Lester will be wearing those Red Socks once again in 2015. BB’s blackest mark on his remarkable GM career