Mariners GM Justin Hollander talks about striking a balance in the Seattle lineup

The man behind the blueprint banters about building a Seattle squad that looks to repeat as AL West Champions in 2026

Oct 2, 2022; Seattle, Washington, USA; Justin Hollander, the new Seattle Mariners General Manager is interviewed prior to the game against the Oakland Athletics at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Seattle Mariners general manager Justin Hollander had plenty to say on a popular Seattle sportscast this week, as he discussed the construction of the 2026 version of the team. He talked about players who were injured from the division-winning unit of a year ago, and how having them back to form will help set up the lineup. Particularly outfielder Victor Robles and Luke Raley, who the GM insists are more than just typical platoon players.

“He’s not just a platoon guy, he’s like the best platoon guy,” Hollander said Tuesday on The Hot Stove on Seattle Sports. “He’s done it year after year after year. A perfect fit for our roster with (Luke) Raley and (Dominic) Canzone and some of the other left-handed hitters that we have on the team, in that we really need to provide ourselves, our lineup, with balance.”

“Luke and Dom would play a ton against right-handed pitching. Victor and Rob Refsnyder would play a lot against left-handed pitching,” Hollander said. “Those four guys together, in sort of pairs of two and two, I think make a ton of sense on our roster.”

Players returning from injury must return to form

Oct 5, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners right fielder Victor Robles (10) breaks his bat in the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers during game two of the ALDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Hollander further assessed what the team's productivity would be like if Robles looks like his old self. While he hasn't played a full slate of games in a while, even getting near his past performance would be valuable for the M's.

“If Victor’s more like 2024 Victor and someone has an injury, Victor is fully capable of going out there and playing every day,” he said. “The same thing for Dom. Luke has played some against left-handed pitching. I think providing more options for (manager Dan Wilson) and more depth is a good thing because you just don’t know, like what Luke went through last year, having an oblique strain to be down for a while. And just making sure that the options that we provide are deep enough that we’re not caught shorthanded.”

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Hollander is pulling for those guys to be big parts of the team this year, but he also didn't rule out making moves between now and then. So, the roster may not be constituted quite the same as it is right now.

“I don’t know if it’ll look different than that when we get into spring training or not,” he said. “We do, as a group, want to provide runway for our young players to show us what they can do. I think that’s really important for our roster. It’s how you figure out how good Cal Raleigh can be. It’s how you figure out how good J.P. Crawford can be, is to provide guys runway to show us what they can be.”