Seattle Mariners fans infuriated by team owner John Stanton: "The Mariners organization are all frauds" "All billionaires are bad people"
Maybe it's the constant rain, maybe it's that the Seattle Mariners aren't performing up to expectations, but fans are not happy about team CEO John Stanton.
A Friday tweet from "Mariner Muse," which covers the team and boasts 11.6 thousand followers, attacked Stanton for not investing enough profit in free agents as well as not investing in upgrades at the Mariners' Triple-A ballpark in Tacoma.
The tweet called Stanton "a fraud."
$81 million in 2022 profit.
~$10 million committed to MLB free agents.
Not paying for Tacoma/Everett minor league stadium upgrades so the money is being reallocated from athletic venue upgrades FOR KIDS.
John Stanton is a fraud. https://t.co/Yl4vgKjYoG
The tweet served its purpose of acting as a sounding board for the grievances of Seattle Mariners fans towards the majority owner of the ballclub. Many of the gripes are the same for fans from around MLB, just with a particular Mariners flavor.
Baseball fans generally don't care for their particular team's owners. From coast-to-coast, owners are constantly called out by the fanbase for not spending enough, or spending incorrectly, or any one of a myriad of reasons.
@MarinerMuse My opinion is that all billionaires are bad people. You let yourself accumulate that much money, you're not a good person. Hate that being a sports fan necessitates cheering for something so heavily impacted by a billionaire.
@MarinerMuse The Mariners organization are all frauds. From top to bottom
@MarinerMuse Been saying it since his group took over the majority of the team. The rebuild stage was always just a facade. They’re going to do everything in their power to be cheap, find deals, and pray that “diamonds in the rough” are hiding under the Diamond Club at T-Mobile Park.
But with the Seattle Mariners sitting at 8-11 on the young season, 4 1/2 games behind the American League West-leading Texas Rangers, fans from the Emerald City are feeling particularly creased these days.
Who ever heard of owning an MLB ballclub as a business-minded investment anyways?
According to Spotrac, the Mariners' total payroll for 2023 is $139.2 million. This does reside considerably below the MLB average of $160 million. So, with the team reportedly making an $81 million profit in 2022, the case could be made that more should be spent on payroll.
@MarinerMuse He remodeled the old Pyramid brewery so he could collect MORE REVENUE for being awarded the all-star game. We should be so grateful
not to mention spending profits on diamond club expansion and Pyramid remodel instead of free agents.@MarinerMuse 💯not to mention spending profits on diamond club expansion and Pyramid remodel instead of free agents.
@MarinerMuse He does not care about winning at all that’s clear..we were so close and didn’t do anything
However, not all Mariners fans are ready to tar-and-feather Stanton. There are teams spending far more than Seattle that are in far worse straits. Take the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies. The Giants' payroll is $185.2 million. The Rockies' outlay is $176.5 million. Both are at the foot of the National League West with very little hope of success in 2023.
@MarinerMuse Stanton is an outstanding CEO. Unlike other owners, he is running the Ms like a business not an ego trip. Easily one of, if not the, smartest CEOs in baseball.
@MarinerMuse In the last 13 months:
locked up Julio for life.
Using player option it’s 13th biggest contract ever, using club option its 2nd biggest ever.
$300-400M Julio
$275M to Robbie/Luis/JP
And took on another $34M via Eugenio
@MarinerMuse Yet, 400 million on Julio, 100 plus on Ray and Castillo each another 10 million for Wong, and 14 million for Teo. But since they weren't free agents it doesn't count, right?
There may be only one fanbase in all of MLB that has a legitimate axe to grind with their owner – the Oakland Athletics. A's owner John Fisher made it official that he will be moving the ballclub to Las Vegas ASAP after stripping the organization to the studs and alienating fans for several years running.
@MarinerMuse Why is everyone acting like we’re the Athletics. This isn’t moneyball. And we definitely made moves in the off-season. Teoscar is a baller. He’ll come around. M’s will go on a run of glorious proportions.
Seattle Mariners not a historically successful ballclub
The Seattle Mariners have not set MLB on fire since the team's inaugural season in 1977. Over 47 years, the team has a 3,434-3,810 record and has made the playoffs just five times.