Technology
Serious Free Agent Defections Could Cripple Seattle Mariners
Seattle's power troika of Josh Naylor (left), Eugenio Suarez (center), and Cal Raleigh could be broken up by the lure of free agency this fall. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Are the 2025 Seattle Mariners the second coming of the 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates?
Like the Pirates, who came within a whisker of a World Series berth before blowing a Game 7 lead in the seventh and deciding game of a League Championship Series, the M’s could almost taste the Dodger dogs they would have smelled at Dodger Stadium during the final round – had they won that elusive pennant.
Three cornerstones of the 1991 Pirates – Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Doug Drabek – rode the gravy train of free agency out of town and plunged the team downward in a division it once dominated.
Stars Could Walk
Now three key players on the 2025 Mariners could also jump ship. If corner infielders Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez depart, along with jack-of-all-trades Jorge Polanco, Seattle would have a hard time plugging the holes created in the lineup and the infield.
Less than a week has passed since Seattle blew a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, losing a one-run game when George Springer hit a three-run homer. The ‘92 Pirates also fell a run short.
When star starter Doug Drabek and two other stars departed the Pittsburgh Pirates for free agency, the team started a 20-year skid. (Photo by Owen C. Shaw/Getty Images)
Getty Images
MORE FOR YOU
Thirty-three years ago, Pittsburgh turned a 2–0, ninth-inning advantage into a 3-2 defeat when a double, error, walk, and pinch-single not only drove Drabek from the game but plated the tying and winning runs with two outs.
After that season, Bonds signed with San Francisco, where he later became the single-season and lifetime home run leader. Drabek jumped to the Houston Astros, where he started 30 or more times in three of the next four seasons. And Bonilla had already completed the first of a five-year stint with the New York Mets, who are still paying off his deferred free-agent contract.
Still No Pennant
Nobody knows yet where Naylor, Suárez, and Polanco will land – or if they will entertain bids to stay in Pennant-Less Seattle. The Mariners remain the only team in the majors that has never reached the World Series – a trip that invariably follows the winning of a pennant.
When the Pirates won the 1992 National League East title – their third straight – it was also their ninth and their last. Without Bonds, Bonilla, Drabek, Gary Redus, and traded starter John Smiley, the Bucs watched their bubble burst into thousands of shards.
Placed into the newly-created NL Central in 1994, the Pirates have never won it. Nor have they reached the Championship Series since Sid Bream, a former Pirate, stole their hearts in 1992 by lumbering home with the pennant-winning run.
In fact, the cost-conscious club followed its 96-66 season of 1992 with a 20-year string of losing seasons, not even reaching the playoffs until 2013. They’ve been in post-season play 17 times in 139 seasons but none over the last 10 years.
The Mariners, a 1977 expansion team, have been to the Championship Series four times but never won it. The first time Seattle advanced that far, in 1995, it lost to Cleveland, four games to two. The New York Yankees beat the M’s both in 2000 and 2001 – even after the M’s won a league-record 116 games. And then came 2025, following an exhausting 24-year drought.
Considering that Seattle has been home to Hall of Famers Ken Griffey, Jr., Edgar Martinez, and Randy Johnson as well as prolific power hitter Alex Rodriguez, the results could have been different.
Now the vanquished ballclub wonders what the future holds.
Money Talks
Suárez earned $15 million in 2025 but hit 49 home runs, including four in one game, while playing for teams in both leagues. Naylor’s work for Arizona and Seattle resulted in a .295 batting average with 20 home runs and a career-peak 30 stolen bases. He earned $10.9 million but has the advantage of youth over the 34-year-old Suárez: he’s still just 29.
Polanco is almost certain to pass on his $6 million player option, take his $750,000 buyout, and seek greener pastures. Naylor and Suárez, both acquired from Arizona in pre-deadline deals, figure to wind up as two-month rentals who walked. Garver has a $12 million mutual option likely to be rejected by the team after his so-so season.
Seattle knows its 2026 roster will include Cal Raleigh, who had 60 regular-season homers plus another four in the playoffs; star center-fielder Julio Rodriguez, coming off a 30/30 campaign; and a strong pitching staff led by starters Bryan Woo, Luis Castillo, and George Kirby and backed by closer Andres Munoz.
Beyond that, manager Dan Wilson has to wonder where he’ll find replacements for Naylor, Suárez, Polanco, and catcher/DH Mitch Garver, who can also walk this winter.
Heading into the off-season, Seattle’s biggest advantage could be baseball operations chief Jerry DiPoto, known for his frequent and sometimes daring deals. He broke into the big leagues as a relief pitcher in 1993, when Pittsburgh’s decline began.
DiPoto holds the purse-strings of a $195 million payroll that ranks right in the middle – 15th – among the 30 current clubs, according to Roster Resource. If he spends more – and maybe a lot more -- this winter, he might be able to keep the Mariners from sinking into Puget Sound.
Seattle is virtually certain to face challenges from Arte Moreno’s Los Angeles Angels plus both Texas clubs, the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers, all of whom have a history of investing heavily in the free-agent market. Texas went all the way to a world championship in 2023 after big-time spending on free agents, while Houston’s 2024 title was its seventh in eight years since winning the 2017 World Series.
Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
