The Mariners and first baseman Josh Naylor are within the remaining phases of figuring out a five-year contract, ESPN’s Jeff Passan stories. The deal will change into official when Naylor passes a bodily, in line with The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. WHDH’s Ari Alexander stories that the contract is within the vary of $90MM-$100MM. Naylor is represented by ISE Baseball.
Assuming the deal crosses the end line, Naylor turns into the primary headline identify of the 2025-26 free agent class to land a brand new contract, simply two weeks after the World Collection concluded. It counts as a shock to see any main free agent signal their subsequent contract this shortly, even earlier than the gamers who obtained qualifying gives have made their selections. (Naylor was notably not eligible for a QO, since he was traded from the Diamondbacks to the Mariners throughout the season.)
MLB Commerce Rumors ranked Naylor eleventh on our listing of the offseason’s high 50 free brokers, and the five-year time period matches our projection that Naylor would obtain a five-year, $90MM deal. The five-year size of Naylor’s contract additionally matches the longest free agent deal the Mariners have given out throughout Jerry Dipoto’s decade answerable for Seattle’s baseball operations division. The M’s inked Robbie Ray to a five-year, $115MM pact throughout the 2021-22 offseason, and Ray’s contract and Yusei Kikuchi’s four-year, $56MM deal in January 2019 had been the one free agent offers of the Dipoto period to exceed even two years.
There are a number of causes behind the dearth of massive free agent strikes. The Mariners’ notorious 10-year, $240MM cope with Robinson Cano from December 2013 might’ve led to some organizational wariness over blockbuster signings. Since John Stanton’s possession group purchased the crew in 2016, the M’s have solely as soon as completed a season with a top-10 payroll, and are solely shifting again into the center vary of spending league-wide. There may be additionally “Dealer Jerry’s” personal private choice to construct rosters through trades moderately than free brokers, as Dipoto has change into identified for being very energetic in negotiating swaps. Gamers could have had misgivings about becoming a member of a Mariners crew that has two simply postseason appearances within the final 24 seasons, and hitters specifically weren’t precisely lining as much as play in a notoriously pitcher-friendly atmosphere.
With all of this in thoughts, there was such mutual curiosity between Naylor and the Mariners that it definitely appeared just like the crew was very prepared to stretch past its standard free agent consolation zone. Dipoto was open in telling the media — together with Darragh McDonald on the MLBTR Podcast again in September — that re-signing Naylor was a precedence for the group, and Naylor himself was simply as effusive in how a lot he loved enjoying in Seattle.
Contemplating how Naylor carried out after arriving within the Pacific Northwest, it’s straightforward to see why each side moved shortly on a long-term deal. Naylor was already having fun with a powerful season with the Diamondbacks, however with Arizona falling out of competition, the D’Backs dealt the slugger per week earlier than the commerce deadline, touchdown rookie left-hander Brandyn Garcia and pitching prospect Ashton Izzi.
Naylor proceeded to hit .299/.341/.490 with 9 homers and 19 stolen bases (with no single caught stealing) over 210 regular-season plate appearances for the M’s, and he adopted that up with a .340/.392/.574 slash line over 51 postseason PA. Including one of these pop into the lineup was maybe the first motive the Mariners received the AL West, after which outlasted the Tigers within the ALDS earlier than falling simply in need of the primary World Collection berth in franchise historical past in shedding the ALCS to the Blue Jays in seven video games.
This type of success made the Mariners need to kind of carry the band again collectively for 2026, which was no small feat since Naylor, Jorge Polanco, and Eugenio Suarez (amongst others) had been all set at no cost company. Re-signing Naylor is the primary main domino to fall, and it how stays to be seen if both Polanco or Suarez may also be retained within the wake of the crew’s sizeable dedication in Naylor. The M’s entered the offseason with roughly $34MM to spend, in line with Dipoto’s statements after the playoff run was over, with extra money doubtlessly out there on the deadline if extra in-season reinforcements had been required.
For now, the Mariners and their followers can at the least benefit from the concept of Naylor suiting up at T-Cell Park for the following 5 seasons. Naylor turns 29 in June, so his contract will run by way of his age-33 season. There was some league-wide hesitancy in recent times about giving main contracts to first base-only gamers (particularly as these gamers enter their 30’s), but Naylor’s manufacturing outdoors of simply his stretch run with the Mariners makes him a stable selection for a five-year funding.
Naylor’s 128 wRC+ in 2025 was a profession excessive, narrowly topping the 127 wRC+ he posted with the Guardians in 2023. Since rising as a daily with Cleveland in 2022, Naylor has hit .275/.336/.464 with 88 house runs, translating to a 123 wRC+ and 9.9 fWAR over the past 4 seasons. His barrel and hard-hit ball charges are okay however uninspiring, and his stroll charge from 2022-25 was beneath common, so Naylor doesn’t precisely match the profile of a traditional slugging first baseman.
His greatest offensive weapon is his skill to make contact, as Naylor is among the many league’s tougher gamers to strike out although he’s vulnerable to chasing pitches off the plate. There may be additionally the amusing oddity of Naylor’s 30-for-32 report at stealing bases in 2025, which speaks to his talent as an opportunistic baserunner regardless of being one of many slowest gamers in baseball. Defensively, public metrics are combined on his glovework. The Outs Above Common metric has him solidly above common with +12 OAA, whereas his -6 Defensive Runs Saved paints a less-flattering image of his work at first base.
Naylor joins Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez as Seattle gamers locked up by way of at the least the 2029 season, and Rodriguez’s deal might truly lengthen by way of 2039 relying on an advanced set of choices following the 2029 marketing campaign. These three All-Star place gamers, veteran righty Luis Castillo, and a core of homegrown starters (George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, Bryce Miller) have change into the constructing blocks of an AL West title crew that appears to stay aggressive for at the least the remainder of the last decade.
Extra to return…
