We are nine days from the July 30 MLB trade deadline at 2pm ET and my mind keeps going back to a certain quote from Seattle Mariners owner and chairman John Stanton from a 2016 interview with Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times:
“We’re committed to winning. We are committed to treating our fans well and part of that is doing everything we can to win. It’s a very important part of what we do. Our responsibility to our fans is to deliver a great product on the field, a great experience in the stadium. And it’s hard to say it’s a great product on the field if winning isn’t involved.”
Committed to winning — The message was simple. The Mariners have a chance over the next several days to deliver on that message by committing to improving the roster substantially on offense, which will surely be more difficult than it would have been in the last two off-seasons with a multitude of free agent bats being available to supplement the struggling lineup.
They chose to add in a way that kept payroll down by signing an aging DH (that hasn’t worked out), trading Robbie Ray for a post-prime Mitch Haniger (that hasn’t worked out) and Jorge Polanco seemingly forgot how to hit a baseball. Now, it’s going to take two to tango on the trade front, and Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander are going to have to navigate trading valuable young prospects in addition to spending the money it will take to take on the bats they are looking for.
Could the front office work some payroll voodoo again and offload the contracts of Mitch Haniger, Jorge Polanco or even Mitch Garver? Sure — but that’s going to cost you valuable player assets, and selling valuable prospects for payroll room is bad business (see, Jarred Kelenic).
John Stanton has been rambling on about how Seattle is a mid-market team and how the TV deal changed the nature of their business and has them scrambling to come up with funds to spend on player assets. But that is a lie. Seattle is still one of the most profitable markets in all of baseball. ROOT sports may have lost a few subscribers after Comcast changed their plan — just don’t let ownership fool you, the difference in dollars is no where near enough to justify being 17th in the majors in team salary with a team that is cresting in talent. From Forbes:
Enough of ownership, the front office owns some blame too. Despite doing a darling of a job rebuilding the pitching staff to this point, Jerry Dipoto has had plenty of opportunities to make this team better offensively and has chosen a series of sideways, lateral moves that haven’t come to fruition. Plucking talent from one area of the major league squad to add a little more over here, and missing on veteran player evaluation when they do choose to add. The Mariners have a higher payroll five teams with a better record than them. Roster construction is extremely important and i’m not sure this front office has shown they have the ability to put a competitive offense on the field on a consistent basis.
Seattle should be looking at the trade deadline like they just met the woman of their dreams and she’s walking right toward them. They have a pitching staff ready to compete for a world series, an offense that sorely needs help, and a farm loaded with talent to go get that help.
“[W]e will look at the [July 30] deadline,” Stanton said. “I’ll spend time with Jerry and Justin as we approach the deadline, and we’ll talk about where we are. Jerry and Justin are 10 times smarter about what it takes to have a successful baseball team. My job is to make sure they have the resources available to get there.”
That quote is from Mariners owner John Stanton in June 2024. It leaves no room for excuse from the front office. The team is set up to chase the division title with a more robust offense.
Names like Luis Robert Jr. Brent Rooker, Randy Arozarena, Vlad Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, Isaac Parades and Taylor Ward could all be available to some degree. Jerry Spoke on Seattle Sports Radio this week and mentioned that availability of bats has been limited thus far, but the notion that nothing of impact is available at the deadline to help this lineup is a fallacy. What he is more than likely meaning is he doesn’t want to pay the premium price that is put on such a bat that would make an impact on improving this lineup, which shouldn’t be too difficult considering they rank No. 28 in MLB in runs per game.
If John Stanton truly believes in his own words and it really is the responsibility of ownership and front office to deliver a great on the field product, it’s time to cash in a few chips. Remember, John, you said it best. It’s hard to say it’s a great product on the field if winning isn’t involved.
Enjoy Baseball!