The Mariners finished the 2025 season with a payroll within the range of around $165.2MM (as per calculations from Cot’s Baseball Contracts) to $166.2MM (according to RosterResource). Either of these projections stand as the largest payroll figure in franchise history, topping the roughly $161.8MM that Cot’s estimated as Seattle’s season-ending budget for its 40-man roster.
It looks like the club will keep spending at at least this higher level in 2026, as president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto told the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude and other reporters at the season wrap-up press conference on Thursday. When asked what the Mariners’ payroll for next season, Dipoto said “I would say similar to where we ended the year, as a starting point,” with the potential to boost spending during the season for trade deadline additions.
This is exactly what the M’s did at this past deadline, landing Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez in separate trades with the Diamondbacks and also bringing in left-hander Caleb Ferguson from the Pirates. These swaps added roughly $9.5MM to Seattle’s payroll but the money was clearly worth it. Naylor went nuclear during the remainder of the regular season and through the playoffs, Ferguson pitched well in the regular season, and Suarez was a little more inconsistent but had some big postseason moments (like his two homers in Game 5 of the ALCS).
The deadline spending was a notable step forward for a team that has largely kept its spending in check for the last two offseasons, owing largely to uncertainty over TV broadcasting rights. Dipoto has long maintained that ownership would increase payroll as the team got deeper into regular contention, and while this wasn’t exactly the case following the Mariners’ playoff appearance in 2022, upper management did indeed step forward to approve a larger budget this summer.
“This was always the goal, to methodically build toward what we were doing,” Dipoto said. “And I’m comfortable that the resources that we’re given, we’re going to have every ability to go out and put together a championship-quality team. And like we have in recent years, when we get into the right position, I’m certain that we will be aggressive in doing the next thing.”
In terms of money on the Mariners’ books for 2026, RosterResource projects the team at slightly under $132MM in payroll, and Cot’s with a slightly higher total of roughly $132.4MM. This would seemingly leave about $34MM in payroll capacity for Dipoto and GM Justin Hollander to work with this winter, and of course some more money could be freed up by non-tenders or trades.
Dipoto has stated multiple times that the M’s would love to re-sign Naylor in free agency, so assuming that happens, Naylor alone will take up a significant portion of available payroll space. With Naylor as the stated top priority, the perception is that Suarez likely won’t be retained, while Jorge Polanco (who is expected to reject his player option and re-enter free agency) is a bit more of a 50-50 proposition. Chances are that Seattle will focus its energies on Naylor first and then turn to Polanco, or potentially to other first base options should Naylor sign elsewhere.
As always, expect plenty of trade speculation about the possibility of the Mariners trading from their rotation depth. The cost of keeping the starting five together is on the rise, as Logan Gilbert and George Kirby are due significant arbitration raises and Bryce Miller is now arb-eligible for the first time. Dipoto wasn’t as adamant about not trading starting pitching as he was last winter, but it is fair to assume that it would take a huge offer to get the M’s to even consider moving any of their top five starters.