D.J. Lidyard

John Stanton: "We've increased payroll each of the last five years." Correct. BUT here is the context he doesn't mention: Over the last six years, the #Mariners have also had a payroll averaging $29 million LESS than the AVERAGE MLB payroll (they spent $15.5 million less than the AVG MLB payroll this season). This year's payroll of $167.9 million is only $7.1 million more than the team's payroll in 2017 (a 4.4% increase over nine years). With normal inflation, 2017's payroll would translate to a $220 million payroll today, $52 million more than what the M's actually spent this season: 2021: $83.8 mil (25th, $47.6 mil less than the avg MLB payroll) 2022: $113.9 (22nd, $36.6 mil less than avg MLB payroll) 2023: $128.0 (19th, $38.4 mil less than avg MLB payroll) 2024: $149.3 (16th, $22.6 mil less than avg MLB payroll) 2025: $165.6 (15th, $13.1 mil less than avg MLB payroll) 2026: $167.9 (16th, $15.5 mil less than avg MLB payroll)