Seattle Mariners Division Rival Apparently Operating in Way That Could Help M's in 2025
The Seattle Mariners are apparently getting some good signals early on in this offseason from one of their division rivals.
According to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, the Texas Rangers are looking to stay under the Competitive Balance Tax threshold of $241 million next season. The Rangers won the World Series because of a massive spending spree a few years ago and apparently don't want to be penalized further by going back over the tax.
Per Grant:
This much, however, appears clear: They want to reduce payroll below the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) threshold of $241 million for 2025. It means they’ll have precious little to spend on filling a bunch of holes on the roster. All of which leads to lots of questions for you
MLBTradeRumors predicts that the Rangers already have $189 in payroll commitments next season, leaving them less than $50 million to improve a team that finished third in the American League West last season.
Fifty million is a decent amount of money to make improvements, but the Rangers could need multiple new starting pitchers and could need to replace almost half their bullpen. Furthermore, the offense slumped in 2024, but perhaps some of those upgrades can be made by having a healthy Evan Carter and a second-year uptick from Wyatt Langford.
As for the Mariners, they are constantly dealing with their own financial issues and will work to overcome them this offseason as well. The M's finished 85-77 this past season and missed the playoffs by one game.
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