M’s notebook: Seattle signs new lease agreement

Herald News Services

After a delay, a renegotiation, some public outcry and general local politics, the Washington State Major League Baseball Stadium Public Facilities District (PFD) Board and the Seattle Mariners have reached a final agreement on a new 25-year ballpark lease for the venue formerly known as Safeco Field.

The PFD Board on Monday approved the lease and related agreements during the regular quarterly meeting with a 7-0 vote in favor.

While it was unlikely for the Mariners to leave Seattle, the lease and companion non-relocation agreement ensures that the Mariners will remain in the city for the next 25 years.

“We want this ballpark to be our home for a hundred years,” said John Stanton, Seattle Mariners chairman and managing partner in a statement. “This lease continues the public-private partnership that has made this ballpark one of the best homes for professional baseball, a perennial fan favorite. Our agreement continues the Mariners commitment to invest substantial Club revenues to ensure the ballpark remains a first-class facility. Thanks to our partnership with the PFD, baseball fans will continue to enjoy Major League Baseball in a first-class facility for many years to come.”

With the lease finalized, the Mariners are expected to announce a stadium naming rights deal — rumored to be with T-Mobile — in the coming days.

Per the lease, the Mariners are responsible for “performing all the maintenance, operations, and capital improvements and upgrades at the publicly-owned ballpark.” The Mariners will pay all costs beyond the fixed contributions made by the PFD and King County. According to the Mariners, the total investment in the ballpark over the term is expected to exceed $600 million. The Mariners will receive $135 million in public financing, which was lowered from an earlier lease agreement. Per the news release from the Mariners, the new lease “strengthens the PFD’s oversight role, provides increased community benefits, including a ballpark neighborhood improvement fund, and provides long-term incentives to keep the Mariners in Seattle. The non-relocation agreement also requires the club to pay the public damages if they breach their agreement by relocating the team out of Seattle.”

“The new lease not only keeps the Mariners here for another 25 years, it substantially strengthens the PFD’s oversight role and ensures that we have locked in the financial commitments needed to keep this ballpark among the best in the country,” said Virginia Anderson, Chair of the PFD in a statement. “The club will continue to upgrade this publicly-owned facility, and — with our new non-relocation agreement, one of the strongest in Major League Baseball — we are protecting the public’s investment in the facility. We appreciate the Mariners’ desire to keep our ballpark among the top in Major League Baseball, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with the Club as we steward this facility in the years ahead.”

M’S PLAN TO MAKE TWO-WAY PLAYER OUT OF WAIVER PICKUP

Of all the unorthodox moves Jerry Dipoto has made in his time as the Seattle Mariners’ general manager, this has to be up there.

Kaleb Cowart has never pitched in the big leagues, nor at all in his nine total professional seasons. But the Mariners announced after claiming the 26-year-old off waivers from the Angels on Monday that they intend to bring him to spring training in February as a two-way player.

Yes, a two-way player from the Angels not named Shohei Ohtani.

The thought is that if Cowart’s struggles with the bat — the switch-hitter batted .134 over 47 games in four stints with the Angels last season and is a career .177 hitter over 162 career major league games — then maybe his pitching arm can add value. He was the Angels’ first-round pick in 2010 as a third baseman out of Cook High School in Georgia, but many teams were considering him at the time for his pitching.

And this isn’t the first time Dipoto has considered converting Cowart to the mound.

Dipoto told the Orange County Register when he was the Angels’ GM in 2014 that he had discussed the idea with Cowart, even though his defense has been considered exceptional. The majority of his time in the pros has been at third base, but he’s also played first, second, shortstop and some left field.

The Register also asked Cowart in September on his thoughts on potentially converting to the mound.

“I personally haven’t thought about it,” he said. “No one has approached me about it. I don’t know how it would play out, health-wise, but I think it’s very interesting.”

Cowart is among the stockpile of former first-round draft picks Dipoto has collected for the Mariners this offseason, along with left-hander Justus Sheffield, outfielder Jarred Kelenic, right-hander Justin Dunn, shortstop J.P. Crawford and veteran outfielder Jay Bruce.

That’s been Dipoto’s mantra. That’s why he added Mitch Haniger in a trade with the Diamondbacks about this time two years ago, and Marco Gonzales near the end of the 2017 season. Both are former first-round draft picks who have started to pan out for the Mariners.

Dipoto said he learned that from John Hart, a former president of baseball operations for the Braves.

“When I retired as a player John said this to me, that you will be a general manager and I want you to look back when you’re building rosters and look back at the guys who have ones and twos next to their draft status, meaning first and second rounders,” Dipoto said earlier this year.

“If they are struggling in some area, at some point some team thought enough of that player to pick them in the first two rounds. I’ve used that guidance so many times.”

So now he’s hoping maybe there’s some reward left in Cowart.

The Mariners’ 40-man roster is now at 36 players after the addition of Cowart.