Seattle Mariners Will Have Limited Time to Sign Japanese Free Agents

Free agency is officially underway, and there's been much speculation on what the Seattle Mariners could do to get back to the contenders many viewed them as entering 2026.

First on the priority list for the Mariners will be finding a manager, which has reportedly been in the final stages for over a week now.

Seattle will be looking to find a new skipper by the time MLB General Manager meetings take place Nov. 9-12 in Las Vegas.

After that point, the Mariners will have three weeks to make any additions to the major league roster before the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the MLB and MLB Players Association expires at 8:59 p.m. PT on Dec. 1.

In addition to the typical class of established major leaguers, there will also be several intriguing international players who will be eligible to sign with major league teams.

Pitchers Kaima Taira and Hiromi Itoh and third baseman/corner outfielder Teruaki Sato were posted by their respective squads in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball earlier this week. Seattle has been reported to have interest in Sato and has been confirmed to have scouted Taira.

Corner infielder/corner outfielder Roh Si-hwan was also posted by the Hanwha Eagles in the Korean Baseball Organization and would satisfy the team's need for a third baseman and a right-handed bat.

However, the Mariners will have limited time to sign any of the international players.

Players posted from the NPB have 45 days to sign with a major league team, or return to their respective clubs in Japan. Players from the KBO have 30 days to come to terms with a team or else the same result occurs.

In 2021, when that edition of the CBA expired prior to the 2022 season, MLB installed a rule that allowed players to pause their negotiating window at the expiration of the CBA and resume it once a new one was agreed upon.

According to a report from Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic, Itoh, Sato, Si-hwan and Taira will not be permitted the same luxury. That means those clocks will be done once the presumptive lockout hits.

Seattle has holes in left field, third base, shortstop and the bullpen to fill and only $30-35 million to spend on those needs. The club has in-house options to find replacements at shortstop (Colt Emerson), left field (Michael Arroyo, Brendan Donovan) and third base (Donovan). But, with Donovan's ability as a utility player, the Mariners would benefit to find an outside target for at least one of those spots.

It's unclear how the lack of a pause on the international players' negotiation windows affects their contracts. It could lead to teams panicking and spending more than they otherwise would have, or it could lead to negotiations stalling at a certain number, which would allow those potential deals to fit in with the M's' price range.