The Seattle Mariners lost Jorge Polanco to the New York Mets last weekend, with Polanco signing a two-year deal worth $40 million.

Losing him is a big subtraction from the M's lineup, and the Mariners made it known publicly how badly they wanted him back in 2026.

Without Polanco, Seattle is being forced to pivot, and they've been connected to both Brendan Donovan and Ketel Marte on the trade market. However, we are hearing that the M's have real competition in the Donovan sweepstakes, with the Tampa Bay Rays now involved.

As Mariners fans officially say goodbye to Polanco, it's worth noting that he made history with the club in 2025. Mike Petriello of MLB.com did a great deep dive on him recently, pointing out that Polanco dropped his strikeout rate from 29.2 percent in 2024 to 15.6 percent in 2025. That 13.6 percent drop is the biggest season-over-season drop in baseball history.

More Mariners stories

Julio Rodriguez given solid projections by ZIPS

Three-team trade has major implications for Mariners

Here's how much each Mariners player made during playoff run

A few things...

As Petriello astutely noted, players strikeout more than ever before, therefore they have the biggest opportunity to drop their strikeout rate. In previous iterations of baseball, you'd never see a strikeout rate as high as 29.2 percent, so you'd never have a chance for a major drop-off.

Petriello also noted some stance changes for Polanco, and it's also fair to point out that he was far healthier in 2025 than he was in 2024. Polanco spent time on the injured list in 2024 and had knee surgery after the campaign. He re-signed on a one-year deal with the Mariners for 2025, staying mostly healthy and hitting .265 with 26 homers and 78 RBIs. His production will be very hard to replace.

Polanco's legacy

As I discussed on the most recent Refuse to Lose podcast:

...then he picked it back up again. And you get to the playoffs and he hits two home runs off Tarik Skubal in Game 2 of the ALDS, right? They're down 1-0 in the ALDS. They've lost an extra-inning game in 11 innings against the Tigers at home. They're on the verge, right? They've lost Game 1 at home and Skubal's pitching in Game 2. And if you lose Game 1 and 2 at home, you're not winning the series. And Polanco hits two home runs, right-handed, off of Skubal and helps lift them to a victory. And then he walks it off in Game 5. And then he gets the game-winning hit in both ALCS Game 1 and ALCS Game 2. Some of the biggest hits in franchise history belong to Jorge Polanco."

And those memories will live on forever in Mariners' lore.

Join the Conversation

Remember to join our MARINERS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Mariners fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!