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Seattle Mariners

Mariners don’t offer contracts to two key players, freeing up payroll

Seattle Mariners third baseman Josh Rojas gets Detroit Tigers’ Justyn-Henry Malloy at first off the broken bat grounder in the fourth inning on Aug. 6 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.  (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times)
By Ryan Divish Seattle Times

With 10 players eligible for salary arbitration, including a handful earning significant raises, the Mariners opted to not tender 2025 contracts to two contributing players from last season.

A few minutes after Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline to offer contracts to players currently on the 40-man roster and under club control for the 2025 season, the Mariners announced they had offered contracts to 29 players.

Infielder Josh Rojas, who started 119 games last season, including 106 at third base, and right-hander reliever Austin Voth, who appeared in the second most games last season, were both non-tendered and are now free agents.

Sam Haggerty, who had season-ending surgery after suffering a ruptured Achilles while playing with Triple-A Tacoma, was also non-tendered. The Mariners also technically non-tendered reliever J.T. Chargois, who was designated for assignment earlier this week and had yet to be claimed off waivers.

Rojas, 30, posted a .225/.304./.336 slash line with 19 doubles, two triples, eight homers, 31 RBI, 10 stolen bases, 46 walks and 108 strikeouts in 476 plate appearances. He posted a 1.9 WAR.

When the Mariners traded Eugenio Suarez to the Diamondbacks last offseason to free up payroll, they opted a use a platoon of Rojas and Luis Urias at third base, believing they could combine to provide above average production. It never happened. Urias was awful and was optioned to the minor leagues in late May.

Rojas got off to an unsustainably hot start, posting a .330/.395/.482 slash line with four doubles, two triples, three homers, nine RBI, 12 walks and 23 strikeouts in his first 34 games of the season. But over his final 108 games, he posted a .187/.272/.284 slash line with 15 doubles, five homers, 22 RBI, 34 walks and 85 strikeouts.

Rojas is going into his third season of arbitration eligibility. He achieved “Super 2” status with the Diamondbacks, which meant he received four years of arbitration instead of the standard three.

He and the Mariners agreed on a $3.1 million contract for 2024. Based on an algorithm used by MLB Trade Rumors that is based on the arbitration numbers used by teams and agents, Rojas was projected to receive somewhere between $4-5 million in 2025.

Given the roster needs and the availability of utility players, the Mariners opted to not pay that much to a part-time player, though they did pay Urias $5 million in 2024 in arbitration.

Voth, 32, pitched in 68 games out of the Mariners bullpen with only Trent Thornton (71) appearing in more games.

He posted a 2-5 record with a 3.69 ERA. In 61 innings pitched, he struck out 61 batters and walked 18.

A standout at Kentwood High and the University of Washington, Voth signed a 1-year, $1.25 million contract in January to return home after spending most of his MLB career on the East Coast, pitching for the Orioles and Nationals.

While he was expected to be a middle reliever that could work multiple innings, Voth was forced into pitching in high-leverage situations due to injuries to Matt Brash, Jackson Kowar and Gregory Santos.

In his third year of arbitration eligibility, Voth was projected to make just over $2 million in 2025.

A switch-hitting utility player that was popular with the fanbase, Haggerty was projected to make $900,000 for 2025. But with the severity of the injury and the lengthy recovery, he wasn’t likely to be back until midseason.

Seattle was going to non-tender Chargois, but instead they designated him for assignment earlier in the week to make room on the 40-man roster for infielder Austin Shenton, who they acquired from the Rays.

The Mariners started the offseason with 12 arbitration eligible players, but they quickly rid themselves of Urias, who had to make at least $5 million again this season, Chargois, Rojas, Haggerty and Voth, saving roughly $13 million in projected salary that can be used on other players, specifically the remaining seven arbitration eligible players on their roster, who are projected to cost more than $30 million.

The arbitration projections per MLB Trade Rumors:

• Trent Thornton (3rd year): $2.1 million

• Randy Arozarena (2nd year): $11.7 million

• Logan Gilbert (2nd year): $8.1 million

• Tayler Saucedo (1st year): $1 million

• Cal Raleigh (1st year): $5.6 million

• Gabe Speier (1st year): $900,000

• George Kirby (1st year): $5.5 million

Usually, teams and players will settle on a figure somewhere between what each party filed for in the arbitration process. That process can happen quickly while others can be more drawn out.

The Mariners typically try to reach agreements with all of their arbitration-eligible players before spring training, wanting to avoid the process of an arbitration hearing. But in recent years, they’ve gone to salary arbitration with Teoscar Hernandez and Adam Frazier, both of whom were acquired in offseason trades, and won.

There was some speculation that Raleigh, who could set a record for the highest salary in a first year of arbitration by a catcher, might reach the point of a hearing, particularly with agent Scott Boras representing him and pushing the limits.

However, Raleigh confirmed reports that he changed agents recently and is now represented by Excel Sports.