In the wake of losing Jorge Polanco to the New York Mets over the weekend, the Seattle Mariners have real decisions to make, and none of those decisions will be comfortable.

We outlined the situation on the latest 'Refuse to Lose' podcast:

'At some point, the Mariners are going to have to get uncomfortable. They're gonna have to get uncomfortable. And because, look, let's examine it: Is $20 million a year for Jorge Polanco too much? Yes, it is. Could the Mariners have matched 2 for $40? Could they have gone above 2 for 40? Yes, they could have. That would have made them uncomfortable. They could have done it, they didn't.

Okay, if you don't want to do that, then what are the other options out there? All of them will make you uncomfortable in some way. Every single move you can make from this point forward will make you uncomfortable. Either you overpay Polanco, you could go out and you can sign Bo Bichette, you can sign Alex Bregman, you could sign Kyle Tucker, and you can pay massively in free agency, something we know they don't want to do, something that would make the team better, but something they don't want to do. That would make you uncomfortable. You can go out and trade three of your top prospects for Ketel Marte. You could trade a pitcher off your Major League roster to help expedite that deal, a Major League pitcher and multiple top prospects for Ketel Marte. That would make you uncomfortable.

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You can go trade for Brendan Donovan and give up at least one prospect that you really love. So, the thing that I dislike about the Polanco loss, maybe more than anything, is the realization that the next domino that's going to fall is Like, none of them are going to be perfect. They're all going to have questions. The Mariners could do nothing and walk into the season with Cole Young, Colt Emerson, and Dom Canzone in key positions. And you know what? That could work, but the uncertainty would make me too uncomfortable. You can overpay for free agents that will likely regress over the life of their contract. That would make you uncomfortable. You can trade for established players and give up probably far too much and have it really hurt. There's nothing that's coming next that will be easy for the Seattle Mariners. It doesn't mean that it won't work out, it doesn't mean that it can't be good, but whatever comes next, whatever the response is to losing Jorge Polanco, it's not going to be easy..."

You can listen to the full episode here.

And how about pressure?

The M's also have pressure on them to make a move. By losing Polanco, the team has lost 26 homers from a season ago. And that comes in addition to what is lost by seeing Eugenio Suarez (for now) hit free agency and whatever regression Cal Raleigh has from his 60 blasts.

While a full season of Josh Naylor and Dom Canzone, and a better season from Luke Raley, can help alleviate some of those concerns, this team was within an hour of a World Series berth in 2025. They can't afford to be significantly worse offensively, which is where they are trending right now.

Brendan Donovan, Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe, Ketel Marte, Bichette, Tucker, Bregman? They are all out there, and something needs to happen for the M's in order to keep themselves in the big conversation for 2026.

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