Rangers hope Mariners' latest long-term extension hamstrings their payroll

It just so happens for the Texas Rangers that one of the best catchers in Major League Baseball resides in the American League West and will continue to do so until the start of the next decade.

Cal Raleigh and the Seattle Mariners officially agreed to a long-term extension on Tuesday to keep the 28-year-old in the Pacific Northwest through the 2030 season. Raleigh was currently in the middle of his arbitration years but the two parties decided to forgo that with a six-year, $105 million deal.

He received a $10 million signing bonus and by 2028 he will be earning at least $23 million per year from 2028-2030, with a $20 million vesting option in 2031. Now that's not great news for the Rangers who will have to face Raleigh for at least another six seasons. However, it's not terrible what the salary commitment could mean for the Mariners' payroll in the future.

Seattle already faced heavy scrutiny over the winter for being a game shy of the playoffs and sleepwalking through the winter by not putting up money to improve the team. Going into the 2025 season, the Mariners payroll is projected to be just shy of $150 million, which sits middle of the pack in MLB.

The AL West is expected to be a three-horse race over the next couple of years featuring the Rangers, Mariners and the Houston Astros. The Astros' core is getting older, the Rangers' core is ready to take flight and Seattle is attempting to put the puzzle pieces together with a strong pitching staff but a not so great lineup.

Looking into the next five years of the AL West title, Texas might have the upper hand as their main core is either still under rookie contract or waiting in the wings in the minors. Seattle, while they have seven Top 100 Prospects, will have to navigate Rodriguez and Raleigh's deals, find a way to keep their rotation in tact, then find their missing pieces which will have to require the ownership spending money.

The Mariners haven't spend much since John Stanton took over as CEO in 2016. This past offseason, there two biggest adds were Jorge Polanco and Donovan Solona and the year prior was Mitch Garver's two-year, $24 million deal. Both years they were only a handful of games away from making the postseason, so if they didn't shell out the money to improve then what makes you think they'll do it in the future?

The Rangers know that starting right now, they can really take over the division and hopefully even the American League. The Astros can never truly be counted out and unless Seattle finds offensive magic, they might be the odd man out of the three. Texas better be taking advantage of the next few years because they are easily the team with the most to gain in the division.