The Seattle Mariners are near re-signing first baseman Josh Naylor to a five-year contract on the free-agent market, ESPN studies. If finalized, it will likely be the primary main free-agent signing of the offseason.
Naylor, 28, is coming off a 2025 season by which he slashed .295/.353/.462 in a mixed 147 video games for the Diamondbacks and Mariners. Seattle acquired Naylor from Arizona main as much as the commerce deadline. After the commerce, Naylor had an OPS+ of 138 in 54 regular-season video games for the Mariners en path to their successful the American League West title for the primary time since 2001. Naylor within the ALCS batted .417 with three residence runs. The Mariners misplaced that collection in seven video games to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Naylor in 2024 as a member of the Guardians earned his first and so far solely All-Star choice. For his profession, he owns an OPS+ of 116 with a WAR of 8.4 over components of seven MLB seasons.
Coming into the offseason, CBS Sports activities ranked Naylor as the No. 23 obtainable free agent within the class. Here is a part of R.J. Anderson’s write-up:
To oppose Naylor is to develop weary of his excitable, borderline vexatious qualities. To embrace him is to develop appreciative of his expert offensive recreation, significantly towards righties. Naylor has a knack for squaring up the ball that, when mixed together with his energy and pull-and-lift tendencies, permits him to launch 20ish residence runs yearly. It is to be seen if his subsequent employer lets him run as freely because the Mariners did, however even when not he ought to stay a worthy most-days choice on the chilly nook.
Seattle this winter is aiming for as a lot roster continuity as doable as they continue to be in contending mode. “Similar objectives, identical priorities,” common supervisor Justin Hollander instructed reporters on the current GM conferences in Las Vegas. “I believe No. 1 for us is ideally retaining as a lot of the group that we had final yr, that we actually believed in, collectively. After which filling in the remainder of the roster as required. Our offseason is basically going to begin with the blokes who had been on the workforce final yr and attempt to carry as many again as doable.”
With Naylor now again within the fold, the M’s might flip their consideration to their two remaining notable free brokers, third baseman Eugenio Suárez and infielder Jorge Polanco.
