SEATTLE — Free agency officially kicked off on Thursday, and Justin Hollander came out swinging big in an interview with MLB Network Radio a few hours before it officially opened.
Specifically, the Mariners’ general manager was asked about Josh Naylor — who as of 2 p.m. PT was free to sign with any team — and where the first baseman stands in Seattle’s plans.
“It was a great fit and it’s definitely a priority for us this offseason — if not one, I don’t know what else would be, he’s No. 1 right now,” Hollander said.
The comments on Naylor were a reiteration of what Hollander said during the Mariners’ end-of-season media availability. Yet now that the dust has settled after that stinging loss in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, Hollander is doubling down on the slugger — signaling just how much they want to bring him back and making no secret about it.
“I don’t really see a reason, there’s no advantage to hiding the ball, to telling people, ‘It was just fine.’ It wasn’t just fine. It was awesome,” Hollander said. “It was a great fit for the two months, and we’d like to make it last a lot longer.”
“He fits in our clubhouse, positionally he fills a position of need,” Hollander said. “It’s a real left-handed bat that plays an excellent first base, that runs the bases well. He does a lot of things well. Why wouldn’t you say that this would be awesome if we can have Josh in the long term, he fits great and he’s our priority?”
Naylor is the top free-agent first baseman behind only Pete Alonso, who recently opted out of the final year of his deal with the Mets to hit the open market in an effort to seek a more lucrative contract than the two-year, $54 million deal he signed last offseason. While Alonso, on paper, has looked like a great fit, he’s also almost three years older, is not nearly as defensively sound or as strong of a baserunner as Naylor and will likely cost much more.
Naylor, who turns 29 next June, is expected to net a deal of four to five years potentially in the range of up to $20 million per — a lofty raise from the $10.9 million he earned in his final season of arbitration eligibility in 2025, when he hit .295 with an .816 OPS, 20 homers, 29 doubles, 92 RBIs and 30 stolen bases in 147 games.
As such, bringing him back would represent, far and away, the richest free-agent contract for a position player that the Mariners will have delegated since Hollander joined president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto’s staff at the end of the 2016 season. Dipoto was hired one year earlier.
“This was always the goal, was to methodically build toward what we were doing,” Dipoto said. “And I’m comfortable that the resources that we’re given, we’re going to have every ability to go out and put together a championship-quality team. And like we have in recent years, when we get into the right position, I’m certain that we will be aggressive in doing the next thing.”
Hollander has seen his public profile grow greatly since being promoted from assistant GM to GM at the end of the 2022 season, while also orchestrating some of the Mariners’ highest-profile transactions since the club emerged from its rebuild in 2021.
It was Hollander who spearheaded contract extensions for Cal Raleigh and Luis Castillo, the free-agent deals for Ray and Garver and the trade acquisitions for Suárez and Naylor in July. So when he spoke so candidly on Thursday, it came straight from a decision-maker who will have as much influence on Seattle’s negotiations with Naylor as anyone.
