Seattle Mariners Payroll

Using Cot's Contracts as the reference source, the Seattle Mariners are on the hook for just under $68 million, not including the arbitration cases for right-hander David Aardsma and lefty Jason Vargas. I projected a $5 million salary for Brandon League and $750,000 for Shawn Kelley, the other two arbitration-eligible players on the roster.

I also, to make the math easy, assigned the players under team control a $500,000 number, even though they could all make a little less, or perhaps a tad bit more in a few instances.

With Vargas' projected salary the payroll would sit a shade over $72 million. Aardsma's situation is difficult to project; he's hurt and won't pitch until next summer, if at all. I imagine something gets worked out, but it'd be a total guess job to project the payroll number for him.

Vargas could very well be traded this winter if the M's feel good enough about Blake Beavan and Charlie Furbush as rotation candidates, and the club can always go out and grab this year's Tim Redding -- a pitcher that will be cheap and has some upside. Spending $4-5 million on Vargas isn't prohibitive in the least, but that money could spent on other areas so I wanted to include a version of the payroll with that in mind. For the sake of this exercise, however, we'll assume Vargas is back.

Aardsma made $4.5 million last season and the league rules say the biggest pay cut he can take is down to $3.6 million. I can't imagine the M's paying that so I fully expect them to non-tender Aardsma and work out a free agent deal for much less, perhaps a low base with incentives. For now, to be safe, we'll give Aardsma a number around $1.5 million and call the M's payroll a $75 million venture right now.

That includes raises to Felix Hernandez, Ichiro's $16.1 million number, the $5.81 million to Franklin Gutierrez, Chone Figgins' $9.5 million, the $1.75 million to Brendan Ryan, Dustin Ackley's $1.5 million and the $3.75 to Miguel Olivo, as well as my assumption that Luis Rodriguez, who is arbitration eligible, will be non-tendered. The M's do not owe money to any non-roster players going forward.

The $75 million includes $500,000 numbers assigned to the following team-control contracts: Justin Smoak, Kyle Seager, Tom Wilhelmsen, Mike Carp, Casper Wells, Charlie Furbush, Blake Beavan and Adam Moore. It also includes the projected figure for Danny Hultzen. It does not include the rest of those on the 40-man roster -- this is Opening Day payroll we're talking about.

In 2011, the club opened with $94.6 million committed to players, including monies owed to other clubs from trades, such as Carlos Silva. A little under $85 million of that went to those on the 25-man roster on Opening Day.

The Seattle Mariners have set not limits on payroll, at least not publicly. They have not come out to say "we will spend" this much or "we will not be exceeding" a certain amount. They spent $117.7 million in 2008 and $106 million in 2007, suggesting when they are convinced it makes sense, payroll can and will increase to figures well over $100 million.

There is no reason to expect the M's to be stingy right now. The ownership clearly trusts GM Jack Zduriencik and his staff, having extended his contract last month, and if he finds a player or two worth handing loads of money to, I have every reason to believe he will be given the funds to make competitive offers.

So as the postseason continues and the Hot Stove League nears, the possibilities for the Seattle Mariners are aplenty, and money isn't going to hold them back. I guess that's both good and bad. Good because, well, it gives them a chance to make impact additions. Bad, maybe, because there are expectations to get some of that done, and it's not entirely in their hands.

The next trick to clearing payroll space is finding the right players to accept their money. That's not an easy task.

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