Seattle Mariners Roster Given Great Grade Heading into Offseason

After going 76-86 and finishing third in the very mediocre American League West in 2026, it's easy to be negative with regard to the Seattle Mariners.

However, one person who is not? Mike Petriello of MLB.com, who ranked the M's as having the third-best current roster in baseball on Saturday.

Now, the caveat is, of course, that free agency has only just started and these rankings don't account for the idea that Tarik Skubal will sign somewhere, or that Seiya Suzuki will sign somewhere. These players are currently free agents, so just because the M's have a better roster today doesn't mean they'll have a better roster in a week, or a month, or by Opening Day.

But regardless, you take optimism where you can around here and there seems to be a good amount of optimism after the Mariners hired Jason Kanzler as their new manager and Tanner Swanson as their new bench coach.

There's reason to feel good about Cal Raleigh still, who got very hot over the final six weeks of the season. There's also reason to feel good about Julio Rodriguez, who had a down-year and still managed a 20-20 campaign. There's reason to feel good about Brendan Donovan, who showed what he could do in an injury-plagued season, and there's at least hope that the strides made by Dom Canzone and Cole Young were real and can last.

And that doesn't even mention the pitching staff, which is getting Matt Brash back in the bullpen, as well as a full season of Carlos Vargas. 

Blaming injuries for what happened in 2026 would be disingenuous, but injuries were certainly a part of the story.

And optimism is high around the M's pitching staff, especially as Kade Anderson settles into a full season role with the big-league club. And Ryan Sloan isn't far behind him.

The Mariners will look to improve their roster in the month leading up to the MLB lockout (Dec. 1), and they can start to do that this week at the upcoming general manager's meetings. The 30 organizations will gather in Las Vegas and it will be the first meaningful chance for front offices to connect on trade talks, or for front offices to meet with agents for free agents.

The Mariners could use an outfielder to replace Randy Arozarena, as well as multiple bullpen arms to help lengthen that group overall.