The MLB 2025-26 offseason is already here! We bring you analysis and grades of every major move, whether it’s a million-dollar signing or a blockbuster trade. We’ll keep you updated on what these moves mean, both for next season and for the future. Keep an eye out for the latest news and analysis leading up to the start of spring training.
Mariners secure Naylor
The Mariners begin the offseason with Naylor’s renewal. The agreement: Five years Rating: A-If there were an award for predicting the most likely free agent signing, Naylor’s return to the Seattle Mariners would be the favorite, so it’s no surprise that this is the first significant signing of the offseason (pending medical clearance). As soon as the Mariners’ season ended with that painful loss in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, the management made it clear that Naylor’s renewal was their top priority. Such public displays at that level are rare, and the Mariners backed them up with a five-year contract.
It’s easy to understand why they wanted Naylor back. The Mariners have been looking for a long-term solution at first base for, well, almost 20 years, really, since they traded John Olerud in 2004. Ty France gave them a couple of solid seasons in 2021 and 2022, but since 2005, only the Pirates’ first basemen have produced a lower OPS than Seattle’s.Meanwhile, Naylor arrived in the trade window from Arizona and provided a great spark down the stretch, batting .299/.341/.490 with nine home runs and 33 RBIs in 54 games, which equates to 2.2 WAR. Including his time with the Diamondbacks, he finished with .295/.353/.462 with 20 home runs in 2025. Given the pitcher-friendly nature of T-Mobile Park, it’s not easy to attract free agent hitters to Seattle, but Naylor talked about how he loves to hit there. The numbers confirm it: in 43 career games at T-Mobile, he has hit .304 and slugged .534.
Important for a Seattle lineup that has a lot of strikeouts, Naylor is a high-contact hitter in the middle of the order; he finished with the seventeenth-best strikeout rate among qualified hitters in 2025. Naylor’s entire game is a bit contradictory. He ranks in the seventh percentile in chase rate, but still had a nearly league-average walk rate (46th percentile) with an excellent contact rate. He can’t run (third percentile!), but he stole 30 bases in 32 attempts, including 19 of 19 after joining the Mariners. He doesn’t look like he’s fast on the field, but his Statcast defensive metrics have been above average in each of the last four seasons. Not a star: 3.1 WAR in 2025 was the highest point of his career, but he’s a safe and predictable player to count on for years to come. This deal extends to his age 33 season, so there may be some risk at the end of the contract, but for a team with World Series title aspirations in 2026, the Mariners needed to bring Naylor back. The management will be happy with this signing and so will the Mariners fans.
