Can the Mariners increase payroll without going to owners for more money?

One of the bigger questions to come out of our story on Mariners minority owner Chris Larson last week was whether the team can increase payroll without a capital call. In other words, could payroll go higher without Larson and other owners putting in more? The short answer is yes. The detailed answer is far more complex. As I've mentioned on my weekly KJR AM 950 "Talkin' Baseball" slot, the Mariners could go out and sign Prince Fielder while taking payroll down. All you have to do is move Jason Vargas, Brandon League and Franklin Gutierrez and you'll knock roughly $15 million off the payroll. If you assume Fielder will cost $20 million to $25 million per season, then you apply the $15 million towards that, replace those three with in-house solutions and pay for the rest with money coming off the books from the departures of Milton Bradley, Jack Wilson and company. You could probably do all that and still keep Gutierrez, so yeah, nothing going on with Larso...