According to ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney, people in baseball think that the M's have already had a successful offseason, but have they really?
Earlier this week, the Seattle Mariners officially signed first baseman Josh Naylor to a five-year contract worth $92.5 million. It's the biggest free agent contract given to any offensive player in the decade that Jerry Dipoto has been in the front office, and it has M's fans excited about the team's chance of repeating as American League West champions in 2026.
As I've said many times on the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast, signing Naylor was a necessity for this organization, but there are still other things left to do: They need another bullpen arm and they need to bring back or replace Eugenio Suarez and Jorge Polanco.
Apparently not everyone sees it that way, with some MLB executives saying the Mariners have already done enough this offseason.
The following came from ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney, who is a weekly guest on the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast:
"And I texted you as soon as the deal went down. I mentioned to you that no matter what, and I ran this past some executives with other teams after I texted you, I said, 'no matter what the Mariners do the rest of the winter, they've had a good offseason.' And everyone's like, 'yep, that's right.'
They don't really have to do a lot because their rotation is fine as it is, and their everyday lineup now with Naylor is fine as it is. Maybe you go after Suarez. Maybe you monitor that market. I mean it's pretty clear they want to re-sign Jorge Polanco, who's a good player for them, but let's say everything else fails, because you got Josh Naylor to be that other guy in the middle of the order along with Cal (Raleigh), along with Julio (Rodriguez). I think they've had an excellent winter."
ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney on Naylor Signing + Skubal Trade Possibility + Felix HOF
Refuse to Lose - a Seattle Mariners Podcast · Episode
Naylor hit .295 last season between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Mariners. He hit nine home runs for Seattle while also stealing 19 bases in his two-month cameo. He also popped three home runs in the American League Championship Series as Seattle got to Game 7 of the series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
What's next
The baseball world will reconvene at the winter meetings from Dec. 7-10. At that point, we might see some of the bigger deals go down. Kyle Tucker, Framber Valdez and Bo Bichette are three of the biggest names on the free agent market.
The M's have been linked to Polanco, who has been projected to get a two or three-year deal.
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