There I was enjoying the offseason, watching the Seahawks lose to the Rams and forgetting all about baseball for an afternoon, when suddenly my phone began buzzing like crazy. Four different people all trying to text me at once with very important news. The first Passan bomb of the offseason. Josh Freakin’ Naylor is back.
I got a chance to talk to John Stanton himself very briefly at the Mariners stadium employee end of year party (I stood awkwardly next to him for like 30 seconds deciding how to introduce myself), and made a joke about Josh Naylor, to which he responded “I’ve heard that name a lot tonight”. Naylor has always been a top priority for the front office, they made that very clear.
Let’s talk about the contract. 5/92.5 is a damn near perfect contract in my eyes, a good chunk of money to show the Mariners will actually spend money, but it doesn’t eat the whole offseason budget up. Additionally, Naylor will only be getting $10mil in 2026, leaving around $40 million for Jerry Dipoto to play with in the next couple months. The Mariners could still have the money to look into bringing back Jorge Polanco or try to make a bigger splash on one of the higher-end free agents (less likely but imagine if the Mariners make a push for Schwarber or someone). This is the largest contract given out to a free agent hitter in the entire Dipoto era, possibly the most pathetic record to beat given that the previously largest contract was Mitch Garver for 2/24.
This is an ideal start to the offseason just in comparison to the last decade of Mariner offseasons. Dipoto getting such a fan favorite deal done early in the offseason, shattering his own record for contract size, and Naylor himself grinning ear to ear his whole press conference, this really couldn’t have gone better for the Mariner locker room and for the fanbase.
With Naylor locked up with a full no-trade clause, the Mariners will have Josh Naylor, Julio Rodrigeuz and Cal Raleigh until 2030, and it really feels like the window for contention is wide open in Seattle. Hopefully this is not the only move for the Mariners this offseason, as there are still a few holes that need to be patched. The bullpen is a concern, along with question marks at second and third base. The front office needs to keep their foot on the gas right now because right now, the Mariners are going into the offseason only a few pieces from a World Series winning team. The first step is complete, but it’s not time to rest on your laurels yet.
Go M’s
Henry “Do I Buy a Naylor Jersey or Save My Money For Once” Neiman