The Mariners and first baseman Josh Naylor are within the closing phases of understanding a five-year contract, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reviews. The deal will turn out to be official when Naylor passes a bodily, in accordance with The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. Naylor is represented by ISE Baseball.
Assuming the deal crosses the end line, Naylor turns into the primary headline title of the 2025-26 free agent class to land a brand new contract, simply two weeks after the World Collection concluded. It counts as a shock to see any main free agent signal their subsequent contract this rapidly, even earlier than the gamers who acquired qualifying provides have made their selections. (Naylor was notably not eligible for a QO, since he was traded from the Diamondbacks to the Mariners in the course of the season.)
That mentioned, there was such mutual curiosity between Naylor and the Mariners that Seattle actually appeared like a favourite to retain the primary baseman. M’s president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto was open in telling the media — together with Darragh McDonald on the MLBTR Podcast again in September — that re-signing Naylor was a precedence for the group, and Naylor himself was simply as effusive in how a lot he loved enjoying in Seattle.
Contemplating how Naylor carried out after arriving within the Pacific Northwest, it’s straightforward to see why each side moved rapidly on a long-term deal. Naylor was already having fun with a powerful season with the Diamondbacks, however with Arizona falling out of rivalry, the D’Backs dealt the slugger per week earlier than the commerce deadline, touchdown rookie left-hander Brandyn Garcia and pitching prospect Ashton Izzi.
Naylor proceeded to hit .299/.341/.490 with 9 homers and 19 stolen bases (with out a single caught stealing) over 210 regular-season plate appearances for the M’s, and he adopted that up with a .340/.392/.574 slash line over 51 postseason PA. Including the sort of pop into the lineup was maybe the first cause the Mariners gained the AL West, after which outlasted the Tigers within the ALDS earlier than falling simply wanting the primary World Collection berth in franchise historical past in shedding the ALCS to the Blue Jays in seven video games.
This sort of success made the Mariners need to roughly carry the band again collectively for 2026, which was no small feat since Naylor, Jorge Polanco, and Eugenio Suarez (amongst others) have been all set at no cost company. Re-signing Naylor is the primary main domino to fall, and it how stays to be seen if both Polanco or Suarez will also be retained within the wake of the crew’s sizeable funding in Naylor. The M’s entered the offseason with roughly $34MM to spend, in accordance with Dipoto’s statements after the playoff run was over, with extra money doubtlessly out there on the deadline if extra in-season reinforcements have been required.
Extra to come back…
