Shohei Ohtani free agency: Mariners will consider superstar, but focus on developing 'young player,' says boss

The Mariners are more interested in developing young players in their own system, John Stanton said

The Seattle Mariners have catapulted themselves back into the American League wild-card race by winning seven games in a row. The Mariners, who entered Thursday's off day two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, have plenty to look forward to between now and the end of the season. Still, that reality hasn't stopped some folks from looking ahead to the offseason, and wondering about the possibility of Seattle getting involved in the bidding for Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.

Taylor Soper, the managing editor of the Seattle-based GeekWire publication, interviewed Mariners owner John Stanton on Wednesday. One of the questions Soper asked of Stanton was about the chances of Seattle pursuing Ohtani.

"We focus on developing great players. We believe that the best player for us over time is going to be a young player that we're able to have all the way through our system and develop," Stanton said. "We will look at free agents every offseason to fill needs. From our point of view, Ohtani is the unicorn. We'll clearly look at him, we'll clearly be in the conversation. But I think we've got a great team with or without him."

While Stanton can say only so much about another team's player without violating the league's tampering policy, he did a solid job straddling the fence. It's hard to read too much into his comments.

It should be noted the Mariners were one of Ohtani's finalists back during the winter of 2017. The others were the Angels (duh), Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, and Chicago Cubs. It's unclear if Ohtani will be more open to joining an east coast team this winter.

What is obvious is that Ohtani is in for a massive payday. Industry insiders recently estimated to CBS Sports that Ohtani's contract will clear the $500 million mark, making it the most lucrative deal in the sport's history. 

Will Stanton be willing to pony up to that extent? That's to be seen. The Mariners haven't ranked in the top half of the league in payroll since 2019, or just a few years after Stanton purchased the franchise from Nintendo of America. The Mariners, of course, employed several notable Japanese players during Nintendo's ownership reign, including Ichiro Suzuki, Kenji Johjima, and Kazuhiro Sasaki.