Mariners Re-Sign Josh Naylor to Five-Year Deal; Mark Biggest Offseason Item Off Checklist
The Seattle Mariners lit the stove up hot on Sunday evening, as Jeff Passan broke the news of first baseman Josh Naylor - a trade deadline addition who mashed at T-Mobile during his time with the team in 2025 and was a big piece of the deep playoff run - re-signing with the team on a five-year deal, pending a physical on Monday. Although the team has not officially confirmed the signing, this development has been publicly corroborated by multiple sources.
Naylor’s return had been deemed a “priority” by the front office immediately after the season came to a close. The 28-year-old slugger had slashed .299/.341/.490 with a 138 OPS+ over 54 regular season games with Seattle and balled out in the postseason, with a .340/.392/.574 slash line over 12 playoff contests. His shining moment was a stolen base off a powerful Tarik Skubal-Dillon Dingler battery in Game 5 of the ALDS that ended up allowing the team to make it to extras and set up their marathon 15-inning victory, and it wasn’t a one-off: despite being one of the slowest sprinters in the game, Naylor stole 30 bases out of 30 attempts in 2025 and went 19-for-19 with Seattle.
The pot is sweetened by the fact that this deal was done early in the offseason, well before the Winter Meetings in early-mid December. The message the front office is looking to send is that they aren’t playing around, and although Naylor’s full-season 128 OPS+ isn’t exactly world-beating among first baseman, his clear intelligence, ability to improve (as evidenced by his newfound baserunning prowess and potential improvements on defense), and all-around hustle offer as good of indications as any that Naylor still has room to grow over the next few years.
That aggressive, championship-seeking message has been loudly heard from Anchorage to Medford to Missoula, but there is also a sense that the M’s can’t stop here. The idea that Seattle means business means that the team can entice other high-end players to look at the Mariners as a potential winning franchise, but in order to cement that idea, they have to actually do that. It’s circular in a way, but getting any kind of positive cycle going will be a welcome development in the Emerald City.
This is a developing story, and the exact structure of Naylor’s new contract is currently unknown. This article will be updated with that information when it is available.