With an agreement in place for Jorge Polanco to return to Seattle for the 2025 season, the Mariners’ roster is effectively set going into Dan Wilson’s first spring training as the club’s manager.
The Mariners will continue to monitor the market for potential roster upgrades, but trading veteran right-hander Luis Castillo — their highest-paid player — is less likely now than it was early in the winter, according to multiple major-league sources with direct knowledge of the club’s plans.
Polanco and the Mariners agreed to a one-year, $7.75 million contract on Thursday that includes $3.5 million in performance incentives and a vesting option for 2026, sources said. The deal won’t be official until Polanco passes a physical.
The Houston Astros had also expressed strong interest in signing Polanco, according to multiple reports.
The 31-year-old Polanco, a switch hitter, was the Mariners’ No. 3 hitter to open the 2024 season. He has spent the bulk of his career playing second base, but the Mariners plan to move him to third base this season in hopes of keeping him healthier throughout the year.
Hamstring and knee injuries limited Polanco to 118 games during a disappointing first season in Seattle win 2024. He had surgery in October to repair damage to the patellar tendon in his left knee.
Polanco is the second free agent to agree to a major-league deal with the Mariners this offseason. The club signed veteran infielder Donovan Solano to a one-year, $3.5 million deal on Jan. 13.
The two infield additions means the Mariners have spent a little more than $11 million of the roughly $15 million they had available to spend this winter, sources said.
The Mariners front office explored various trade scenarios this winter, but with so few teams in a rebuilding phase — that list starts and stops with the Chicago White Sox and Miami Marlins — the Mariners couldn’t find a suitable trade partner willing to swap prospects for proven major-league talent.
The Mariners are now more likely to enter the season holding onto all their top prospects and the roughly $4 million in available payroll space — with the idea that they could use those resources to make roster upgrades this summer, as they’ve done in recent years to acquire Castillo and Randy Arozarena in trade-deadline deals.
Around the horn
With Polanco back in the mix, here’s what the Mariners’ lineup could look like for their March 27 season opener against the Athletics:
1. Victor Robles, RF
2. Julio Rodriguez, CF
3. Cal Raleigh, C
4. Randy Arozarena, LF
5. Luke Raley, 1B
6. Jorge Polanco, 3B
7. Donovan Solano, DH
8. J.P. Crawford, SS
9. Dylan Moore, 2B
The 37-year-old Solano is expected to split time with Raley at first base and be part of the rotation at designated hitter.
As things stand, Mitch Garver and Mitch Haniger are likely to get the bulk of their plate appearances at DH, though their exact roles are not entirely clear.
The 32-year-old Moore is entering his seventh season with the Mariners, and he won his first Gold Glove as a utility player last year.
Entering the offseason, the Mariners planned to employ Moore as a regular at either second base or third base, and his diverse skillset gave the club some flexibility as it searched the market for infield upgrades. Defensively, Moore’s strongest position is probably second base, but his real value is being able to play so many positions at a high level.
Despite hitting just .201, Moore was one of the Mariners’ most valuable players last year, posting a 2.4 fWAR (fourth-highest on the club). He also had extreme home/road splits, posting a .503 OPS in 197 plate appearances at T-Mobile Park and an .840 OPS in 244 plate appearances on the road.
A chance for young players
The biggest winners of the offseason are the Mariners young infielders.
The likes of Ryan Bliss, Leo Rivas, Tyler Locklear, Cole Young and Ben Williamson will all be given a long runway in spring training to impress the major-league coaching staff.
Bliss and Rivas will be factors in the second-base mix, and Locklear will be given every opportunity this spring to win a part-time role at first base.
The Mariners have long viewed the 21-year-old Young as their second baseman of the future, and he’s on the cusp of reaching the majors after spending all of 2024 at Class AA Arkansas.
Young has been lauded as a polished athlete with a mature approach at the plate, and the Mariners officials are open to the idea of Young coming into spring training and performing so well that he forces their hand and simply wins the second-base job.
The most likely scenario, though, is that Young opens the season in Triple-A Tacoma with the possibility of a mid-season call-up. One talent evaluator who has closely monitored the Mariners farm system said Young would be best served by spending a full season in Triple-A, with an eye on an MLB promotion in 2026.
That timeline is also most realistic for Williamson, a third baseman who has risen quickly through Seattle’s system.