NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It's not what they wanted to do. It wasn't what they intended to do. But it's what they had to do to have any hope of success.
Many a sad country song has been penned on the back of a cocktail napkin here in the capital of country music, and the ballad of the Seattle Mariners has a melancholy feel.
Right now, it has tinges of Merle Haggard singing, "If we make it through December."
I don't mean to hate December
It's meant to be the happy time of year
And my little girl don't understand
Why daddy can't afford no Christmas gift
On Monday afternoon at the Gaylord Opryland Resort, the Mariners' leadership — specifically president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais — confirmed what was suspected and reported in the days leading up to the annual MLB winter meetings and verified with Sunday's salary-dumping trade to the Braves — they needed to free up money on their roster to spend money this offseason.
Of course, neither came out and said publicly that the Mariners ownership group, led by chairman John Stanton and influential minority leader Chris Larsen, dropped an unexpected lump of coal into their offseason plans, giving them a severely reduced payroll budget.
They can't say it publicly or even privately. But it was there in their comments.
"Things shifted maybe a couple of weeks into the offseason on where we were headed and why we were headed there, based on different circumstances that came up," Servais said in his required media session. "Some of it was within our control, some of it's not within our control, on how you're going to shape your team going forward."
On Oct. 10, Xfinity announced that it was moving ROOT Sports NW to its highest-tier Ultimate TV package.
It meant that subscribers wanting to watch the Mariners, Kraken and Portland Trail Blazers had to upgrade their cable package — a monthly increase of $18.50.
The increase was met with anger and frustration, offering another reason for die-hard viewers and fans to cut the cable cord like so many others have.
For the Mariners, who own more than 70% of ROOT Sports NW, the backlash from the immediate and continued decrease in subscribers was alarming. Besides their own broadcasts, they paid healthy amounts for the rights to broadcast the Kraken and Blazers. The valuations for those contracts were based on the previous cable structure and projected subscribers.
"The Seattle Mariners are disappointed that Xfinity has moved ROOT Sports into a package that is more expensive and less accessible to fans," Mariners senior vice president of marketing Kevin Martinez said in a release after the announcement. "Xfinity is the largest television provider in the Pacific Northwest, and their decision makes it harder for those who live here to watch their favorite teams."
While the exact or expected losses due to Xfinity's decision aren't known, it was enough for the Mariners ownership to exercise caution with their own expenditures.
Dipoto's initial offseason plan that featured a much higher payroll budget after a season where the team drew 2.7 million fans had to be amended.
"We've had two avenues that we could've tried," Dipoto said on Monday. "One was if we didn't do some of the things that we've done recently, and the other was if we did some of the things we've done recently."
So basically if Dipoto and GM Justin Hollander wanted to spend money to improve the team's roster, they needed to free up money by removing some contracts already on the roster.
It's why they traded Eugenio Suarez, who was owed $11 million in 2024 and a $2 million buyout for the club option in 2025, to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
While that trade had the scent of a salary dump, Sunday's trade that sent Jarred Kelenic, Marco Gonzales and Evan White along with $4.5 million to the Braves in exchange for right-handed pitchers Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips had obvious intentions.
While Dipoto mentioned payroll flexibility after the trade, Servais was more blunt. He didn't want to see Kelenic go but spoke to the reasons behind it.
"Situations come up, you're trying to give yourself options to get your club better," he said. "Moving on from those players frees up some things for Jerry and Justin. If you look at the trade and where our team is at as we try to build it out going forward into 2024 and 2025, you needed some flexibility. That's probably what forced the trade as much as anything."
With the two trades and the projected salary figures earned by the players acquired, including a $4.7 million projected salary for arbitration-eligible third baseman Luis Urias, who was acquired in a nonsalary dumping trade from the Red Sox, the Mariners will have freed up roughly $20 million in projected payroll for 2024 and $13 million in guaranteed money for 2025.
Per FanGraphs, Seattle finished the 2023 season with an estimated $140 million payroll. It now projects the roster to have a $119 million payroll for 2024.
"Our offseason, I want to say it really began today in earnest," Dipoto said. "We are excited it could come to pass, but we have a lot of work to do."
How will they spend that money?
"As you go into an offseason, every team has limitations on what the resources are going to be, and how much money they can spend," Servais said. "But we do need to add to our club. I talked about the core that we have and which we really like. We've got a ton of pitching, and we don't want to lose any of that or lose sight of who we are there. But we need to add offense."
They are searching for hitters to upgrade an offense that was inconsistent and too strikeout-prone last season. They aren't searching for specific positions. But a corner outfielder is at least one positional need.
"We'd like to add at least two if not three bats, depending on what we are able to access positionally," Dipoto said.
They didn't have that capability before the trades.
"We've had a variety of names on boards throughout our offseason and this dates back to the season's end — players that we like, that we feel like fit our needs," Dipoto said. "I think we can expand that [list] to a degree and that's the part that is exciting. It's thinking about the possibilities that are available to us that we thought weren't quite as available a day or two ago."
Servais knows the team as presently constructed can't compete for a playoff spot let alone a division title — the stated goals the past two seasons.
"Hopefully the salary that we have cleared allows us to go out, and whether it's making a trade or signing a couple of free agents to help out," he said. "That's where we're headed with it. I don't do the books. I coach the team. We need to get better. Our lineup is not complete right now. But it's early December; it's not early April."
He's often spoken directly to fans about coming to the park and believing in his team. His message now was different.
"There is a lot of skepticism," Servais said. "Expectations have risen dramatically over the last couple of years on our team. That's a good thing. We do have a young team that is exciting. We do want to take the next step to win. We're trying to do the best with the cards that we've been dealt. I guess is the best way to say it. I'm hoping over the next few weeks we continue to add."
