Seattle has already offloaded one of these contracts in Carlos Santana, dealing his two-year, roughly $40 million commitment in exchange for the one-year, $25 million commitment of Edwin Encarnación. Jerry Dipoto’s strategy this offseason, and going into the regular season, is simple enough: continue working down the ladder, shed more payroll and collect more value along the way.
Value is always relative, however. The amount of money you successfully shed certainly plays into the value of a deal. The kind of contract you get back and the talent of the player the contract is attached to also plays a major role, which is why the Mariners hit an absolute home run with the Encarnación acquisition.