Reacting to Josh Naylor’s five-year deal with the Mariners | Hot Stove

Reacting to Josh Naylor’s five-year deal with the Mariners | Hot Stove

And while you were watching something else, there was a big free agent signing and rare is the occasion when a club trades for a guy and Then loves him so much. They give him another five years this from Mark Feinstein, Josh Naylor and the Mariners finalizing a five year contract deal pending a physical. Jeff pass was on first. This is not a surprise if you just looked at the need because Josh Naylor was so good with the Mariners. Look, he was good with everybody. He was with the backs. He was good with the Guardians, but look at the postseason numbers and in addition to what you’re seeing on the screen, he was 19 for 19 in stolen bases last year between his two employers really good in the postseason. Fit. Well, um, defense was nice. I mean, this makes nothing but sense. Right. No money out there yet. There’s some, there’s some people that are tweeting dollar figures, but it’s all guesstimates and we’re not gonna , we’re not gonna go there because we don’t have anything official yet. You know, the first thing that came to mind for me too when Josh got traded there he’s Canadian and having played in Seattle, how many people come down from Vancouver particularly? We see it a lot when they play the Blue Jays. When Toronto comes to Seattle, his touch to reach Canada is an important reach for the Mariners that gives them another market that’s only 2.5 hours away from Seattle. I think it’s important. But on top of that, the baseball side of it, man, this is a great sign. I love it. The energy he brought to that team, the offense clearly was needed, the protection. I think he got every made everybody better on the roster. He clearly must have fit in. They liked him and defensively, I think it was, it’s really if you’re talking about locking this guy up, he’s three years younger than Pete Alonzo. His numbers are comparable. He’s not gonna hit the as many home run, but he does certainly hit for plenty of power and average and the left handed bat to protect that guy who just gave him the title. It’s good. That’s a big deal. You know, if, uh, like the lay fan wasn’t as familiar. You’re with Josh Naylor. They certainly became familiar after the postseason. He had, we saw the numbers a moment ago, 340 batting average , hit three homers in the postseason in the World Series or in the L CS he had at bats where you always felt like he was gonna move the rally along. It was just, it said you can’t quantify that. There’s no number. That’s a very vague thing to say. But he has that, uh, that ability. I just wrote down here. Now, the Mariners have julio locked up, you have Cal Raley locked up, Naylor JP Crawford. You got four of your cornerstone players under deals as far as the rest of this in. Those are the contracts the largest in the Mariner history. Yeah, his is gonna be commensurate, we’re hearing dollar figures around where you know, and Raley is, yeah, nobody’s gonna go to that to that cano level in this franchise history yet. That was a big one. But let’s take a look at the dejected lineup and how Josh Naylor fits in right in the middle. Of course, he is the run producer in a, in a lineup with other great run producers, notably Raleigh and Rodriguez. One omission from this list is a Eugenio Suarez who is still out there, the other big bat that the Mariners acquired at the deadline in 2025. Um Does this impact some work to do? What do you think though on specifically on, on Geno? Does he come back there or is somebody else knocking on his door? He’s gonna have a few people knocking on his door because he brings the power and there’s some clubs are gonna need that. Um I don’t know if it fit this time around with Seattle. I know community wise personality all that he didn’t produce. He didn’t, he didn’t swing real well. The last bit of, of the run that the Mariners were hoping for after the trade deadline. So I think that might impact him and, and so we’ll see what they decide to do at third base moving forward and he could come back, but he’s gonna, he’s gonna command some money. I don’t think they wanna sell, not to mention if you’re spending money like this on a few guys which they have at some point, you have to look for value and they’ve got Colt Emerson who’s a top 10 prospect in the game, perhaps ready to fill those shoes at third base. Here’s the next question for you and it always seems to go back to Pete Alonso. You mentioned him already. What does this do to his market? Does this do anything for his free agency? And, and, and regarding the first base position in general, he was the one a to begin with, right? I mean, he and Naylor were probably the two most attractive names on the first base free agency list. What next for Alonso does do anything for him? I, I don’t think it affects him at all. He’s already above that number. Uh, he’s not taking a step down , let’s just say he got a qualifying reid his contract. He’s still making more money. It’s two, you know, we’re making a big deal out of two year difference or a three year difference, what Pete has been able to do in the New York market on a team and he, he’s got a resume that’s legit. So I don’t think this affects his money, uh moving forward. That’s just my personal opinion. I’m sure whoever’s negotiating against him will say, hey, look at the Naylor deal, he’s two or three years younger than you. Here’s all he got. I’m sure they will try to use that, but I, I don’t think that has any bearing at all.

Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds react to Josh Naylor’s five-year deal with the Mariners.

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