New Graphic Proves Why Seattle Mariners Fans Are So Mad at the Team's Ownership Group
Heading into another long offseason, the frustrations of Seattle Mariners fans are fairly easy to understand.
1) M's fans are upset that they root for the only team in baseball to have never appeared in a World Series.
2) M's fans are upset that the current ownership group doesn't seem to care about that fact, and that it isn't going out of its way to change it.
Mariners fans would like to see the ownership fully invest in the roster so they can capitalize on this historically good pitching staff and actually make a run at the World Series.
While the M's have spent in recent years on Julio Rodriguez, Luis Castillo and Robbie Ray, they've also seemingly forced the organization to play with one hand tied behind its back. The ownership group has clearly forced the team to work on a strict budget, which has led to the shedding of Ray's contract. Jerry Dipoto also shed the commitments Marco Gonzales, Evan White and Eugenio Suarez last offseason. Money was also a likely driving force behind not giving Teoscar Hernandez even a qualifying offer last offseason.
While the M's have let those players go, they've brought in bargain-basement guys like Tommy La Stella, AJ Pollock and Luis Urias since a playoff berth in 2022. They didn't appear to make any real effort at signing Shohei Ohtani last offseason and don't appear willing to go after Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman or Juan Soto this offseason.
M's fans have long assumed that the ownership group is more concerned with making money than winning baseball games, and this new graphic from Travis Sawchik of The Score only proves their point.
How cheap or generous is your team’s owner? The Scrooge index: https://t.co/wrQ1KrvtUz pic.twitter.com/g7Y8KHS4W0
— Travis Sawchik (@Travis_Sawchik) October 26, 2024
While Sawchick admits that the numbers are not exact, he says that the Mariners made about $374 million for the 2023 season. The organization then turned around and spent just 44 percent of that ($163 million) on players in 2024. That ranks the M's in the bottom half of revenue-payroll spending in the league.
The Mets and Dodgers, who spent the highest portion of their revenue on player payroll, both made the National League Championship Series.
As the offseason ramps up, M's fans will once again be looking for John Stanton and Co. to spend. We'll see if they actually do it.
The Mariners missed the playoffs by 1.0 game this past season.
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