Mariners President Has Admission About Josh Naylor Signing That Will Fire Up Fans

The M's saw their guy and wasted no time getting him

Oct 16, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor (12) reacts after hitting a single against the Toronto Blue Jays in the fourth inning during game four of the ALCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images | Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

The Seattle Mariners' Josh Naylor signing could remain the biggest move of the Major League Baseball offseason for a while longer.

It's not normal to see premier free agents choose their destinations in mid-November, but that's just what the Mariners did when they officially signed Naylor to a five-year, $92.5 million extension on Monday, inking the deal at a press conference on Tuesday.

There's so much to break down about the signing and what it means from a baseball perspective, but what about what it says about where the Mariners are as a franchise?

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Mariners acted out of the ordinary, per Jerry Dipoto

According to president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, the Naylor signing wasn't an example of how the Mariners would typically behave during the offseason, but they liked Naylor so much that they weren't willing to put it to chance that he would head elsewhere.

“We behaved in a way that’s a little different than we would normally behave,” Dipoto said during hte aforementioned press conference, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. “We would typically survey a market (and ask): ‘Where do we think he fits in in the grander scope?’

"On this one, we just knew we wanted him back, so we were willing to do something uncomfortable very quickly.”

To the Mariners' credit, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Tuesday that the Pittsburgh Pirates were sniffing around Naylor, and if a team with one of the lowest payrolls had a competitive offer on the table, imagine what a big-market suitor who whiffed on someone like Pete Alonso or Kyle Schwarber eventually might have offered.

The most important takeaway, though, is that the Mariners are starting to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Whether they can loosen ownership's purse strings remains to be seen, but even if the budget remains medium-sized, Seattle is entering a championship window.

They'll need to continue making aggressive moves this offseason, but acting so definitively on the Naylor front gets the Mariners off to a picture-perfect start.

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