2020 salary terms are set to be hammered out in the coming days. But what about what’s owed to players beyond that point? The near-term economic picture remains questionable at best. That’ll make teams all the more cautious with guaranteed future salaries.
Every organization has some amount of future cash committed to players, all of it done before the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe. There are several different ways to look at salaries; for instance, for purposes of calculating the luxury tax, the average annual value is the touchstone, with up-front bonuses spread over the life of the deal. For this exercise, we’ll focus on actual cash outlays that still have yet to be paid.
We’ll run through every team, with a big assist from the Cot’s Baseball Contracts database. Next up is the Mariners:
(click to expand/view detail list)
Mariners Total Future Cash Obligation: $115.45MM
*includes Yusei Kikuchi 2022 player option
*includes buyouts of club options
Other than Kikuchi and Seager, the Mariners aren’t paying huge salaries past this season. Plenty of cap space to play with to support young players in the future and hopefully net the Mariners a World Series trip for the first time.
Oh boy.
What does that mean?
13yearoldbaseballfanatic… sadly, as a Mariner fan… I know exactly what it means. And I do like where Dipoto is taking the team.
Trust in
the
process!
Captain Obvious
in the house!
I am
confused!
@13yearoldbaseballfanatic ..welcome to the internet, where keyboard warriors will take any chance they can get to discredit your comments or call out what you have to say negatively. Somehow this makes their sad, sad existence a little brighter for a moment. Haha but yes the future of the M’s payroll is looking alright indeed. I am new to Washington so only seen the wheeling and dealing of DiPoto from the outside so far but I know he’s as active as any GM or more so really you need to put faith in his decisions which I’ve heard can be troubling. Hope I’m wrong, Twins will always be my number one team but now that I live in Washington, certainly wouldn’t mind some awesome PNW baseball for years to come!
Mill City welcome to Washington. If you need anything as far as recommendations for places to camp, eat, ballpark
accommodations etc let me know. Dipoto is a good gm. And this breakdown shoulda been done years ago. Btw I use the twins in MLB the show PS4. Great team. Hit me up. Rick oppelt at g mail dot
They’re not going to contend with just young players. They will have to invest in veterans as well.
Luckily, there should be money for both.
Don’t forget Evan White’s $24MM -although it’s not a huge salary if he doesn’t pan out it will seem bigger.
Evan White is factored in
My comment is a reply to our resident 13 year old baseball fan’s comment re: Seager and Kikuchi as the only large contracts.
White’s most expensive year is less than half of the QO. So when he says Kikuchi ans Seager are the only large contracts he is correct.
I have lots of hope in the M’s farm right now (the most hope of any farm in the MLB). Rodriguez, Kelenic, and White to name a few. I don’t hate the M’s despite them being an AL West team (That’s saved for the A’s and Angels… oh and the Astros), I think highly of this rebuild, and I hope the money they have can be spent wisely.
I think a lot Mariner fans developed respect for the Rangers in the Pudge-era. Then there was that WS loss. That was something M’s fans could easily empathize over with Texas fans, though Seattle never made it that far.
Speaking for myself, I’m a fan of the game first, Seattle second (Atlanta third) and I appreciate rivalries strictly on a (fair) competitive basis.
All good.
The Mariners have the option and financial ability to bolster their young group when they feel that they are ready to compete. With that being said, they will have to figure out where to bolster. Are Crawford, Long, Raleigh, and Smith starters on a truly competitive team? Should Kikuchi be in the rotation for a truly competitive team?
Probably TBD, but at least they can buy some upgrades if needed.
Excellent questions. I’ve thought about each of those as well and I think the answer is no for most of them. Kikuchi might be fine and Raleigh should be perfectly fine as the backup if not the regular. But the question regarding him is whether or not he gets a 2020 season. He shouldn’t be on any taxi squad. He just made it to AA.
If it were my call, I would invest in a starter and a catcher this coming offseason, specifically Bauer and Realmuto; give Kikuchi, Long, and Crawford another year to prove themselves, and if all doesn’t go well, look for a SS, another starter, and try to bring in Yamada from Japan (he’ll qualify for international free agency in 2022) the following offseason. They could feasibly plug Nola in at 3B or 2B if he isn’t depended on behind the plate.
Seattle’s going to have to spend, but even with 4-5 stars at AAV’s in the 25 million range, they wouldn’t be in danger of crossing the threshold and they’d still have room to add and for extensions. And that’s somewhat of a worst-case scenario.
I truly hope ownership gives Jerry plenty of flexibility this coming offseason, because they’ll probably need to start adding immediately if they wish to contend in 2022 or 2023.
I know some die-hard Raleigh fans will balk at my suggestion of investing in Realmuto (if he were even interested in Seattle), but I don’t want to see him rushed. I think it would be wise to give him 2021 in AA, hopefully 2022 in AAA and reassess periodically
Seattle’s in pretty good shape with Kelenic and Gilbert likely debuting relatively soon, Rodriguez right behind them, and Marte, Kirby, and Williamson in the next wave. They just can’t afford to miss on the bigger free agents they bring in, whenever that may be.
Realmuto and Bauer would cost an aquiring team a high draft pick. A rebuilding team that isn’t particularly close to contention shouldn’t be investing in players with a qualifying offer attached. Also, Bauer has made it clear that he will only be taking one-year deals for the rest of his career (which doesn’t make any sense for a non-contender), and Realmuto will want to sign with a playoff team. Even if Seattle foolishly decided to court him, they’d need to significantly overpay and somehow convince him to come to a very bad team.
Yes, they would have to sacrifice picks, but it wouldn’t be a top 10 pick (which is likely after this season).
If the goal is start pulling out of the rebuild and to contend in 2022, they can’t expect to do all their shopping in one offseason and they’ll have to sacrifice draft picks for good free agents at some point, anyway.
We just watched Grandal sign with the White Sox, who are in the same position, just a year ahead. They’re not a playoff team–yet–but it wouldn’t be a stretch for anyone to believe they could be real quick. Seattle probably would have to pay more to lure Realmuto if he were interested, but it’s not like he would cost 30m AAV.
If Murphy hits RHPs this season beyond a small sample size then the talk of Realmuto would be moot. But he has yet to do that, Raleigh probably won’t debut until 2022 at the earliest, and there’s no one beyond him.
Investing in the game’s best catcher to help mentor and groom a slew of young incoming arms wouldn’t be foolish. It might prove to be one of their better investments.
I doubt they can contend (at least seriously) in 2022. I’d lay my eyes more on 2023 or 2024 as the young players develop into quality big leaguers. I’d compare it to the process of the Toronto Blue Jays, but a few years behind.
One more thing…
Bauer followed up on those comments about one-year deals, stating that he really doesn’t know what’s going to be best for him and that he’ll weigh everything carefully when the time comes.
Obviously Seattle wouldn’t cough up a pick to sign him to a one-year deal and potentially lose him before they’re in contention. That goes without saying.
You don’t seem to think Seattle is that close. I think as they are, 2023 is realistic. But I think they can push that up a notch and players like Bauer and Realmuto would be a good place to start.
I’m getting a little lost in the order of these comments.
To be clear, I think they will likely need to invest heavily over the next to offseasons in order to contend in 2022.
I think I’ve made more typos tonight than I have comments.
Losing this minor league system (and perhaps much of the major league system) is a real blow to the Mariners and teams like the Mariners who are rebuilding. You want to see the guys like Crawford, Long, Kikuchi and Sheffield play to see if they are future building blocks, but you also want to the George Kirbys and Isaiah Campbells progress through the system. You can’t know the free agents to sign until you know what you have/need. It’s a tough year to lose.
It’s not as big of a blow as it is to other teams, but it will affect debuts for prospects a little further back, which should change how they approach the next couple of offseasons.
They would probably be wise to focus on the players identified as the future core and treat the rest as potential bonuses. In other words, I don’t think they should wait for/be dependent on players like Kirby or Campbell.
enough money to lock up some of the youngsters ?
Unless they spend it all on a 10 year, $1 billion dollar deal for Kyle Seager for nostalgia’s sake.
Lmao
Starting a sentence with a numeral is a big time writing clunker.
Go back to feeling sorry for yourself because the Angels really can’t talk playoffs without laughing for many years. The best player in BB and the pasty season is a pipe dream.
That was weird.
Agreed
Small tid bit- Anyone looking to draft cheap speed in fantasy dont draft Dee Gordon-
Will have a huge 14$ mill vest 2021 if he gets a pro-rated 600 abs this year-
Long Lopes and JP should get all the time they can handle up the middle this year in Sea
Lopes is behind Long, Gordon, and Moore in the infield. Assuming he makes the team, he’ll likely see more PA’s in LF. At least initially.
Indeed, point being Dee is not getting many starts at all
Lopes is probably a career Bn player whoes adding versatility and has some major speed-
Poor mans Chris Taylor, less pop more contact/speed
Shed and JP will start with Seager White on the corners –
I see Lopes getting more abs than Dee and Moore this year, not that I am confident in what they will produce or any of the names to be honest,even JP and Long- But Dee’s not the guy thats for sure and for fantasy that matters if you think you can get a cheap 25 sbs outta Dee late
Half joking half not … would the Mets spread sheet still have Bobby Bonilla on it?
July 1 is coming up. Make your plans now!
I may be mistaken but I think the M’s are paying a majority of Jay Bruce’s contract as well to the Phillies.
This is the final year of that contract. Money owed for the contracts of Leake and Encarnacion come off the books as well after this year.