With Jason Kanzler installed as the new skipper out in Seattle, the Mariners have one piece of offseason business checked off the list. There will still be a handful of coaching hires to sort out, but with the GM Meetings underway in Las Vegas, the focus will also turn to upgrading roster. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto chatted with Teren Kowatsch of Mariners Roundtable following last week’s Kanzler introduction and gave a relatively candid assessment of his group’s targets.
“This year’s bullpen market is pretty appealing,” said Dipoto. “There’s a lot of guys out there we feel like could help us. We’ve already identified who they might be. Whether we can land them or not is a different story. But, we’re looking to add to our bullpen. We’re looking for one, maybe two more bats. And we’d like to add a veteran infield presence. Whether that is part of the bats or just a presence is something entirely different.”
The areas of focus listed by Dipoto are all fairly natural ones. Seattle relievers were dominant in 2025 but took steps back across the board in 2026 — particularly closer Andrés Muñoz, whose ERA jumped from 1.73 to 4.24. Muñoz actually threw harder, missed more bats and lowered his walk rate in 2026, but he was astonishingly homer-prone (relative to his typical standards). From 2022-25, Muñoz saw only 9.9% of his fly-balls leave the yard; he averaged only 0.57 homers per nine innings pitched in that time. In ’26, he saw a staggering 23.6% of the fly-balls he yielded become home runs. Muñoz averaged 1.41 HR/9 — about 2.5 times as many homers as he yielded previously.
On the whole, Seattle relievers combined for a 4.46 ERA that ranked 22nd in baseball. Mariners relievers were 14th in strikeout rate and had the seventh-best walk rate in baseball, but they combined for an average of 1.12 HR/9 — tenth-highest in the sport (despite playing home games in an overwhelmingly pitcher-friendly park). Josh Simpson, Eduard Bazardo, Hoby Milner and Muñoz were the most egregious offenders in that regard. Meanwhile, top setup man Matt Brash missed most of the season due to a lat strain, which limited him to only 16 1/3 innings. Gabe Speier, their other top setup option, was down nearly a month early on due to shoulder inflammation.
The Mariners tend to prefer trades to free agency, and Dipoto again acknowledged that reality when chatting with Kowatsch. That said, he also noted that this year’s group of free agent pitchers is more appealing than the position players. It’d still be a shock to see Seattle put down the big multi-year commitments they’d need to sign Adrian Morejon or David Bednar — to say nothing of the associated draft compensation after both received qualifying offers — but there’s a nice group of relievers in the next tier. Any of Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, Bryan Abreu, Emilio Pagán or Steven Okert could be a difference-maker without extending beyond three years; most or all seem likely to be in the two-year range. If the aim is for a big one-year deal, Raisel Iglesias stands as an option.
On the trade front, the M’s could go any number of ways. No one was expecting them to trade for Jose A. Ferrer or Gregory Santos in recent offseasons, but that’s the sort of controllable arm Dipoto has pried loose when dealing for relief help.
As for the lineup needs, it’s only natural to covet multiple bats. The Mariners ranked 28th in the majors in runs scored, 16th in home runs, 29th in batting average, 21st in on-base percentage and 28th in slugging percentage. They were tied for the tenth-best walk rate in MLB but also the seventh-worst strikeout rate. All of that was with Randy Arozarena producing one of the best seasons of his career. He’s a free agent now, as is J.P. Crawford and his 13.1% walk rate.
Beyond Arozarena, corner bats on the open market include Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ and NPB star Teruaki Sato. Rebound candidates include Adolis Garcia, Trent Grisham, Cedric Mullins and Daulton Varsho. The trade market features names like Trevor Larnach, Jarren Duran and Teoscar Hernández, among others — at least, on the outfield side of things.
In the infield, there are ample questions. The organization hopes that top prospect Colt Emerson can be the shortstop of the future after signing an eight-year contract, but injuries didn’t give him a full chance to do so. He was placed on the IL mid-August and underwent season-ending wrist surgery not long after. Cole Young had a solid all-around season at second base but still has room to grow. Josh Naylor rebounded from a slow start to hit well over the final four-plus months. Brendan Donovan was injured more than he was healthy, leaving some doubts at the hot corner.
Dipoto’s mention of adding to the infield is likely both a nod to uncertainty at various positions and the flexibility provided by the versatile Donovan. If the opportunity to acquire a notable third baseman presents itself, Dipoto and his staff could pounce at that and push Donovan into left field work. He and Dominic Canzone would be in line to flank center fielder Julio Rodríguez. The third base market is thin — at least barring a run at international free agents like Sato and the KBO’s Si Hwan Roh. Again, the trade market presents innumerable opportunities, particularly since the Mariners may finally be amenable to dealing from their perennially enviable stock of rotation arms.
As can be seen in MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker, the Mariners have about $67MM committed to six players (Cal Raleigh, Seranthony Dominguez, Naylor, Emerson, Rodriguez, Muñoz). Their massive 14 arbitration-eligible players are projected for about $57MM, though there are some non-tender candidates in the group. Rounding out the roster with pre-arb players and accounting for some money on deferred signing bonuses and 2027 option buyouts bumps them to about $142.5MM in 2027 payroll projections — around $28MM shy of the point at which they ended the 2026 season. That leaves Dipoto some room, especially if he’s open to trading George Kirby (projected $9.8MM salary) or Logan Gilbert (projected $15.4MM), though their openness on either isn’t known.
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