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# ‘We Knew Where We Wanted to Go’: Early Josh Naylor Signing Projects Confidence For Mariners
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/we-knew-where-we-wanted-to-go-early-josh-naylor-signing-projects-confidence-seattle-mariners/
- Published: 2025-11-19T00:54:54.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:17:14.000Z
- Author: Callaghan Bluechel
- Tags: Features, News, Mariners, Josh Naylor, Jerry Dipoto, Justin Hollander, 2025 MLB Offseason

SEATTLE, Wash. — It’s not Kevin Mather’s ball club anymore.

Those words were never said in Tuesday morning’s press conference, but that’s the message Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto is blaring from a bullhorn with every move his guys make. Making a club more desirable to players, like filmmaking, is a matter of showing, not telling. That message isn’t yet complete, but the Mariners signing [Josh Naylor to a five-year, $92.5 million contract](https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/home/mariners-re-sign-josh-naylor-five-year-deal-mark-biggest-offseason-item-off-checklist) puts a sturdy brick in that wall.

After all, the decade that began with Mather’s admission of service time manipulation - and his subsequent dismissal as team president - will end with Josh Naylor, Cal Raleigh, and Julio Rodríguez anchoring the offense and with a star-studded pitching staff holding down hitters on the other end. Acquiring players is one thing; organizations across baseball do that every year. But keeping them is another, and when guys up and down the roster constantly talk about the positive environment, there’s clearly something being done well - and that is heard across the baseball world.

“It means a lot, I think that doesn’t happen overnight, that happens with real belief from coaches, from trainers, from front office people, most importantly from players,” Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said. “The best sales pitch we can make as an organization is what the players think about the environment we’ve created. In the clubhouse, that starts with Dan and our coaches and filters through the players and how they feel about it. I think they set the tone the right way.”

Hollander interspersed his comments with a story about the players’ uproarious reaction to hearing the news from him that Naylor would be returning. In a world where players often find out they’ve been traded through online reports, that forward communication means a lot, and Naylor commented on that forwardness. 

“The owner called me, which was super great,” Naylor recalled about his signing process. “I was super grateful for everything - the communication was key.”

Things haven’t always worked that way on Jerry Dipoto’s Mariners. The same year Mather was fired for his comments, the team inexplicably (and apparently a year ahead of schedule) took off on a run, looking like a potential contender by mid-July. A heroic comeback against the Astros on July 26, 2025, seemed like the start of something magical. And then, without explanation from the front office, their best reliever wound up on those selfsame Astros mid-series. Players complained about the distant, cold front office, and the vibes declined with two losses to round out the series. The Mariners missed the playoffs by two games that season, and it was the second of three times that Dipoto traded the team’s best reliever to an eventual pennant-winner. The magic wasn’t there.

But the magic was there for Naylor. As he was signing his contract to remain in the Emerald City for five more years, the Mariners’ returning first baseman fondly reflected on his lifetime of baseball from Mississauga to maple flags to his years-long career in the pros and the Show.

“It brought back a lot of memories as a kid, my dad coached us when we were younger, so it brought back those memories of playing on the field on our hometown and trying to win a ballgame with your little 10-year-old friends around the corner,” Naylor said. “It brought back memories of playing amateur baseball with the Ontario Blue Jays, who I was fortunate enough to play with, and the national team, I got to travel around the world with them. So, just a lot of nostalgia.”

In many ways, Naylor hadn’t chosen Seattle; Seattle had chosen Naylor. The Canadian first baseman had opened the year with dreams of getting the Arizona Diamondbacks into the playoffs again after their Planck length playoff miss in 2024, but once that team began to wither, he immediately became a piece that Mike Hazen could send off for a future return. Dipoto bounced on the opportunity to get a player he had been tracking for years and Naylor found himself spinning in the winds of change.

“It was kind of a whirlwind of a year. I started in Arizona and then I ended up getting traded, and getting traded is not easy at times - you gotta move stuff around, you gotta worry about family and stuff,” Naylor said. “But they just accepted me right away, they helped me in every single way they could, teammates embraced me right away, the fans embraced me right away, and at the end of the day, they deserve the World Series that we’re shooting for here.”

Things clicked with Naylor almost as soon as he set foot inside Angel Stadium’s visiting dugout. He had already known some of the players from his previous years in the big leagues, which helped him adjust, but the players’ friendliness extended from their day one introductions through the rest of the year. Upon reaching the friendly confines of T-Mobile Park - where he would end up slashing .360/.408/.607 over the regular season - that sense of newfound home was cemented, from the cheering crowd to the Mariners’ clubhouse dog Tucker.

“Me and Muny \[Andrés Muñoz\] had experiences in San Diego together, me and \[Carlos\] Vargas, we rehabbed in Cleveland together, so I knew a few guys coming into it, so it kind of helped it be more comfortable. And then coming here at home and getting loud cheers and just feeling love right away was, honestly, it’s hard to describe in words, you just feel so blessed,” Naylor remarked. “And when I found out we had Tucker, Tucker was just like, he put me over the edge. I love that little guy, I love feeding him every day and just playing with him whenever I can.”

Seattle wanted Naylor back for his production with the bat, sure, but the intangibles of his game probably netted him a notably bigger payday. His unexpected base-stealing prowess is well-observed, but it is a result of his drive to succeed and to study his opponents for that purpose. That attitude and baseball IQ gives the Mariners some bucketfuls of hope that Naylor will outperform his projections well into his early 30s.

“Every year, I try to grow one percent better than I was the year before. I try to learn from my failures and try to capitalize on my successes,” Naylor said. “Experience has taught me a lot. It taught me how to be a little bit more mature, it taught me how to handle pressure a little bit better in big game scenarios, it taught me how to keep my heart rate down.”

“Obviously, Josh played for the team during the highest point, the most pivotal months of our season and through the drama of a postseason but hadn’t really been around to see the way we operated over time,” Dipoto said. “Sharing our story, what our plans were for the organization, how we got here, what we planned on doing going ahead, we shared that with Mark \[Pieper, Naylor’s agent\] and Chantel \[Collado, Naylor’s wife\] … this was an opportunity to get to know one another better and put our best foot forward.”

Naylor, for his part, expressed a desire to “run it back” after the team’s gut-punching loss in Game 7 of the ALCS. A sense of unfinished business permeated the clubhouse in the wake of that moment, one that could have so easily been avoided and yet came from the most hard-fought of opportunities. The city of Seattle did not get just desserts for their long-vain suffering in 2025, and like many on the team, the city beckoned him to finish what he started.

“I felt like that last loss, not that I had to come back, but I wanted to come back to give this fanbase and this city and my teammates and their families a World Series in the next five years, or multiple World Series, or multiple pennants,” Naylor said. “Just the best thing I could give back, and I want to give back.”

That desire was evidently strong. Baseball’s free agency can be pricier than many around sports, given the game’s long club control early in players’ careers, their subsequent desire to make up that value once they can, and the MLB’s lack of a salary cap. The game’s biggest stars generate Jupiterian media frenzies as they hit the market, holding out for months as their agents - often big names in their own right - spark conversation in front offices from coast to coast. The Emerald City drew Naylor in like a magnet, and so leaving for another town was seemingly a distant second option.

“Obviously, I could have tested the open market, that’s what most other free agents do. For me, I think, talking to my agent, talking to my family, we knew where we wanted to go, and we got a deal done at a fair rate that we wanted,” Naylor said. “As great as it is to get the most you can, I’m more than comfortable here. I love this place, I love this fanbase, I love this city, I love my teammates, and I’m super thankful to be back.”

With the biggest priority out of the way, Dipoto expressed a lot of confidence for the upcoming winter as the team looks to build for the 2026 season. Crucially, he indicated that he had the “flexibility” to fill the remaining holes in the roster. Naylor, meanwhile, observed that his early signing offered Seattle a chance to lock down a roster that can get the team over the hump.

“There’s always more to go, in my opinion, you could always get better,” Naylor commented. “And I think me signing early helps that opportunity of them going for other players and possibly getting this team a little more, let’s say one percent better … this team’s crazy good.”

But the Mariners have to take that chance, otherwise it will be just another in a long line of wasted opportunities for baseball in Seattle. There is no opportunity for resting on the team’s laurels with glaring holes still present in the lineup, even if those at the press conference downplayed the remaining issues to an extent. 

If there was anything that rained on the parade - a specter of Mather and many others before that still haunts T-Mobile Park - it was a comment by Dipoto that carried a faint but observable tone of premature accomplishment, like the proverbial hare believing he has already beaten the tortoise.

“We have what is close to a complete 26-man roster. We will continue to focus on getting better this offseason, but we have a pretty robust farm system, we’re excited about the present and the future of the organization,” Dipoto said.

That remark can easily be lost in the fanfare, but those who remember offseasons drier than the Atacama know how little this organization has moved in free agency. Naylor’s contract was by far the biggest offered to a free agent position player during Dipoto’s tenure, as potential good fits slipped through his grasp and went to other clubs while the team missed out on the postseason by miniscule margins, year after year. 

The 2025 season did a lot to rescue the reputation of Dipoto and his staff, as they surgically added impact bats that brought the team to a Game 7\. Naylor’s quick return has further bolstered the image of a new Mariners, one that can stake its place in the sun among the greatest organizations in baseball. But in order for Mather’s ghost to truly leave SoDo’s confines for good, Dipoto will have to prove his seriousness with more, whether by trade or by signing, over the rest of the offseason.

One man who can see the new Mariners as clear as day is Josh Naylor. With his new contract, he all but bleeds Mariner blue, and his job is the same that was left incomplete in 2025 - win it all.

“Just the love I’ve gotten from the fans, from my teammates, the help I got right away from the whole entire organization, it was kind of set in stone - I didn’t want to go anywhere,” Naylor said. “I really would love to spend the rest of my career here, and raise a family here, and have my family come to Seattle more often and watch baseball games, and hopefully win a World Series here.”