Howard Lincoln on the Mariners’ outlook, state of the organization

PEORIA, Ariz. – Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln sat down with “Brock and Salk” Monday morning at the team’s spring training facility for a wide-ranging interview that touched on a number of topics regarding the present and past. Lincoln has noticed the buzz around camp and believes that the team that won 87 games last year is poised to take the next step.

“I’m really excited about this team, its prospects for the coming season,” he said. “We came awfully, awfully close to the playoffs last year. We were in the fifth inning of the 162nd game and that was with great pitching and great defense but our offense was not so good, but in the offseason we made some significant moves with guys like Nelson Cruz and Seth Smith and (Justin) Ruggiano. We’ve got a really good chance of going to the playoffs and that is the goal.”

Listen: Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln on “Brock and Salk”

Cruz, of course, was a major addition to the player payroll, which has made a significant jump in the last two years. The team finished last year at $107 million, and while the Mariners do not share payroll figures for competitive reasons, it is clear that they have gone well above that figure in 2015. According to Lincoln, there is a possibility they could spend more before the season ends.

“There’s always going to be money available at the trading deadline,” he said. Whether we will spend that money is a different question, but certainly there is flexibility.”

We saw this last year with the late addition of Fernando Rodney and the dollars that were taken on at the trade deadline. While there are no guarantees that ownership will allow general manager Jack Zduriencik to go over budget for a particular player, the door is open.

With the money that has been spent, co-host Brock Huard wondered how Lincoln reacted to the negative comments that have been made by some about the perception of this team not spending. Is that payroll conversation overblown?

“I kind of think it is, quite frankly,” Lincoln answered. “We have not made any kind of distribution of any kind of profits we have made since we took this team over in 1992. The owners have got nothing. All of the money that we have made has been poured back in to the franchise, and if somebody says you are not spending enough money, well, we are not taking it out. And the best way to take it out is to reduce payroll and then take it out, but we are not doing that. We are pouring it all back into the team and we have done that since the day in 1992 that we acquired the team from Jeff Smulyan.”

Of course, there have been a lot of changes with the Mariners since that day and one major change in ownership when Hiroshi Yamauchi transferred his majority ownership to Nintendo. There have been questions about the possibility of Nintendo selling the Mariners since the death of Mr. Yamauchi in September 2013, but Lincoln quieted the speculation.

“Nintendo does not have any present plans to sell all or any of its interest in the team,” he said. “It is an investment that continues to grow in value. The value of these franchises not just in baseball, but in sports in general, are going through the roof.”

The Mariners’ value has a chance to climb even more if this team can get to where Lincoln wants to see it. To that end, he believes he has the right people in place to get them there and that starts with Zduriencik, who was brought in to remake the organization from top to bottom. It has taken time, but that was the expectation, according to Lincoln.

“We hired him knowing he did not have experience as a general manager,” Lincoln said. “We hired him with the idea that he was a good evaluator of talent and at the end of the day, that’s what counts. He’s had some bumps along the road as he has learned to grow into the GM position, which is a tremendous amount of responsibly. I think in recent years he’s grown, and when we extended his contract it was with that in mind. I think he would be the first to say it has taken a little bit longer than he anticipated to build the team both at the major leagues and minor leagues, but I think that’s there now and I have all the confidence in the world in Jack.”

As for speculation before last season that Zduriencik’s contract would not be extended, Lincoln said that despite the struggles, that was never a plan.

“I think you have to stay patient. There are so many factors that are beyond Jack’s control. There really was no question in my mind that we would extend Jack’s contract, it was just a matter of when we would do that,” he said. “It wasn’t a situation, ‘are we going to go this way or that way?’ We have invested heavily in Jack. We came into this knowing it was going to take some time to build at the major-league level, the minor-league level, and as you look, the body of work that he has done, he certainly deserved a contract extension.”

As the organization appears to be heading in the right direction, a direction that should land the Mariners in the playoffs this year, expectations rise. Lincoln believes it is important that those expectations do not become a distraction.

“There’s always pressure. At the end of the year, 29 teams will go home disappointed,” Lincoln said. “There certainly is a lot of pressure and certainly there is high expectations on the part of fans who have been very patient over the years, but the admonition that Lloyd McClendon makes to the players, that expectations are fine for the fans but for our team and front office we can’t focus on expectations, we have to focus on preparation and execution.”

Lincoln also addressed a number of other topics in the interview, including his interactions with team president Kevin Mather, his relationship with Felix Hernandez, his involvement in the signing of Robinson Cano – who he has enjoyed watching in camp – and what his future plans are. He also talked a little bit about the involvement Mr. Yamauchi had with the Mariners, which included an interesting anecdote about his reaction to a gift the Mariners once tried to give him. All of this can be heard on the podcast.

In closing, Lincoln was asked if he had any words for Mariners fans.

“Thank you. Thank you very much for your support, for your patience and for your understanding,” he said. “I know at times it has been very frustrating but the best is yet to come and it is going to be coming this season.”

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