The MLB 2025-26 signing season is already here! At Alofoke Deportes, we keep you informed with analysis and ratings of every important move this winter. Whether it’s a free agent signing that changes the course of your team or a shocking trade, we’ll provide you with key information on what these moves mean for next season and beyond. Stay connected for the latest analysis as we head into the start of the season.
Sailors secure Naylor
The Seattle Mariners have started the winter on the right foot by re-signing Josh Naylor. The agreement: 5 years, $92.5 million Rating: A-If there were an award for the free agent prediction most likely to come true, Josh Naylor’s return to the Seattle Mariners would have been the favorite. Therefore, it is not surprising that this is the first significant signing of the offseason, pending medical examinations.
As soon as the Mariners’ season ended with that painful defeat in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, the management made it clear that re-signing Naylor was their top priority. Such public statements 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 at the trade deadline from Arizona and provided a great spark down the stretch, batting .299/.341/.490 with nine home runs and 33 RBIs in 54 games, earning him 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 back it up: in 43 career games at T-Mobile, he has hit .304 and slugged .534.
Important for a Seattle lineup that has many 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 of a contradiction. 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 stole 30 bases in 32 attempts, including 19 of 19 after joining the Mariners. He doesn’t appear to be fast on the field, but his Statcast defensive metrics have been above average in each of the last four seasons.
It’s not a star: 3.1 WAR in 2025 was the highest of his career, but he’s a safe and predictable player to count on in the coming years. 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 aspirations in 2026, the Mariners needed Naylor to return. The management will be happy with this signing and so will the Mariners fans.
