SEATTLE -- For most players in any professional sport, free agency is an ultimate goal. The chance to truly negotiate on your own behalf for the first time, be courted by potentially every team and sign for -- most likely -- more money than ever before is a life-changing opportunity.
And while Josh Naylor certainly felt that way in his first foray into free agency, he also was deliberate about his desire to return to the Mariners after just three short -- but wildly impactful -- months last season.
“Obviously, you could have tested the open market,” Naylor said on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park. “That's what most of the free agents do. For me, I think -- talking to my agent, talking to my family -- like, we knew where we wanted to go, and we got a deal done at a fair rate that we wanted.
“And as much as it is, as great as it is, to get the most you can, I am more than comfortable here. I love this place. I love this fan base, I love this city, I love my teammates and I'm super thankful to be back. We got a fair deal done, and I'm just grateful. I'm blessed. I'm not very greedy in that sense. I just want to win baseball games. I want to win for the city.”
Naylor was speaking after being formally reintroduced as the Mariners’ first baseman for 2026 and beyond, moments after putting pen to paper on a five-year contract that sources have said is worth $92.5 million. It includes a $6.5 million signing bonus and a full no-trade clause, making it the richest for a position-player free agent in Seattle since president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto took over after the 2015 season.
The value and length of the deal is commensurate with what most industry forecasts speculated Naylor would net on the open market. Yet, this is free agency, where there are no spending limits, and in this specific market, there were a number of teams that, on paper, would’ve been a strong fit to sign Naylor.
That’s where an emotional tie reeled him back to the place where he rapidly became a clubhouse and fan favorite over the final two months of the regular season and the Mariners’ playoff run to the American League Championship Series, which ended in a heartbreaking defeat in Game 7.
“I felt like that last loss, not that I had to come back, but I wanted to come back,” Naylor said, “to give this fan base and this city and my teammates and their families a World Series in the next five years, or multiple World Series, or multiple pennants.
“The best thing I could give back, I want to give back. They deserve it. My teammates deserve it. My family deserves it. Their families deserve it. The head office and their families deserve it. All the coaches deserve it. So I just had such a blast where I wanted to run back with these guys and do it all again.”
The bond between Naylor and Seattle looked like much more than a summer fling after he was acquired from the D-backs ahead of the Trade Deadline in exchange for Minor League pitchers Brandyn Garcia (Seattle’s No. 13 prospect at the time) and Ashton Izzi (No. 16). Naylor quickly endeared himself to fans and teammates for his hard-nosed style of play and high baseball IQ.
Signings & Trades
• Latest free-agent and trade rumors
• Top 30 free agents | Every free agent, by position
• Tracking every team's offseason moves
• FA guides: Tucker | Bregman | Valdez | Alonso
• Offseason dates, rules & terms explained
And it turned into a marriage when negotiations began shortly after the World Series, when Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander visited Naylor at his home in Arizona for a sit-down that lasted nearly four hours. Mariners chairman and managing general partner John Stanton also called Naylor.
“It went well enough that we almost missed our flight on the way back,” Hollander said. “We just kept talking about the future and about sharing the same vision for what this team could be. I was blown away by how much thought Josh had put into what was important to him.”
From there, Hollander spearheaded negotiations with Naylor’s representatives at Independent Sports & Entertainment. The Mariners were bold with their offer from the start, creating credibility with Naylor to the club's very public desire in a reunion -- because Seattle did not want to let him get away.
“We behaved in a way that's a little different than we would normally behave,” Dipoto said. “If we didn't know Josh, we would survey a market. 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.”