MLB Tonight Breaks Down the Mariners Signing Josh Naylor
The first major free agent may be off the market and the Mariners are reportedly finalizing a deal with first baseman Josh Naylor Seattle, acquired from the Diamondbacks before the trade deadline and they apparently want to keep him around. The deal is in the range, reportedly between 9100 million over five years will, when the deal is finalized, it’ll be the third richest in Seattle Mariners history only Robinson Cano and Robbie Ray have gotten paid more. So case why is he a difference maker in the Mariners light up? Well, you know what Sarah, when , when you go back to the deadline last last year, you looked at the Mariners, you know , they, they got the pitching again, they got the rotation, they got the bullpen, but they don’t have the bats and Then they went out and got Naylor and Suarez and it turns out Naylor was probably the guy that changed everything and it had that run where they almost got to the World Series. So when I, when I, when I saw that, when I saw this sign, I just thought to myself, man, this makes a ton of sense, you know, for me. Naylor is a guy that, uh, you know, he hits for average hits for power stealing some bases this year, which, which I thought was incredible. And sir, when you look back at the postseason too, he was a guy that, you know, came up with some big hits. So it’s a great sign, Jerry De Poto knew that this was a piece they didn’t want to lose and it’s just a great, great, great sign. So Josh Naylor is just the 4th 1st baseman ever to have a 20 homer and 30 steal season. But Sean, he’s in the third percentile in all of baseball and sprint speed. So can you, can you help me out here? Why is he so sneaky good on the base path? You know, that, that’s a great question. I think the big, the biggest thing with him was just, you know, probably the reads that, you know, reading the pitcher and getting huge jumps if you watch his game for, for him to have 30 stolen bases this year is absolutely incredible. But it was a lot of him just getting big jumps and taking some shots and taking some chances. But his all around game. Sierra, I think, I think we, I think we really, all of us on a national stage got to really look and see, you know who this guy is. I think when you look at his, when you look at him as a hitter , this guy can flat out hit. He’s around 300 every year. He’s a line to line guy, but he started to develop this to hit, hit over 20 home runs this season, right at 20 home runs. This is a guy that can be the ball in the ballpark and you need that in Seattle. I think his power is getting better as he gets older. I really do. And one of the things also too, listen, this guy can play some defense over there some good footwork, you know, not incredible defensive metrics, but when you watch this guy play , you could see he picks it out of the dirt. He does a great job defensively with, you know, listen, as a good first baseman for the guys in the infield, they want to know if they put it in the, in the ground. Can you, can you dig it out for him and he does that and Then, and Then this one right here, man, just to see 30 stolen bases from josh Nelly said, not one of the fastest guys in baseball. As a matter of fact, the metrics say one of the slowest, but that doesn’t matter with base running. He’s one of the smartest and he finds ways to get those jumps and to really get out there. And I think when you look back at this postseason is where we all started to say, man, this is almost a guy. The Mariners can’t lose he had a big double play right there. He had the stolen base here late in against Detroit, had this big home run right here against Toronto and we saw right here game seven with the big single to put him up early. He was doing some things where you had to say, you know what the Potos got to find a way. Look at this right here. This is incredible stat, first baseman with 20 home runs and 30 stolen bases in a single season. Goldschmidt, Jeff Bagwell did it twice and Joe Carter. Good job joe 40 years ago back in 87. So that’s not something you usually see 20 home runs and 30 stolen bases. Has it been down in nine seasons? Exactly. This is a great sign Jerry to, to nailed this one and he’s a long term solution for the Seattle Mariners at first base. But one of the things that you kind of looked at the two guys that went over there between a Eugenio Suarez and josh Naylor, you thought that Gino was gonna continue that toward pace that he was on at first base. And Then you look at free agents and Suarez and Jorge Polanco, they are also free agents. So what are the Mariners other off season needs that they have to address? Well, I think one of the biggest things, you know, if you don’t bring back Geno and this obviously big sign for the Mariners, one of the biggest free agent signs. I mean, you, you, you got to figure out how to replace him at third base. Cole Young is a young kid that came up and did pretty well. You know, he might be a guy that , that, that you give some more time to Jorge Polanco is not gonna be coming back. I mean, you’re losing a lot of production with Polanco and Suarez. If those guys both walk, you know, never know. Polanco could come back and uh you know, you never know. But I think when you look at, when you look at the Mariners and you look at what they have, I mean, look at these free agents, I mean, Mitch Garver is going to be gone. That’s not a big hit. Luke Jackson. Ferguson was a good lefty out of the pen but Polanco and Suarez, but listen, they have eight prospects in the top 100 I think these guys are gonna factor in when you talk about they got a few pitchers. Colt Emerson is a nice shortstop , third baseman there sitting there triple AAA he could get a shot. So they have some real prospects. Sierra that they could either call up or they could trade. Are they done spending? I don’t think they’re done spending. I really don’t, I don’t think they’re done spending. I think they need some other pieces. Jerry knows it and they know they’re close when you have that kind of pitching. They have, listen, there’s a short window. You gotta go, you gotta go for it right now.
MLB Tonight discusses Josh Naylor’s five-year contract signing with the Mariners.
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1 comment
Ferguson was not a good look out of the pen lol.