Seattle Mariners' Jorge Polanco declines 2026 player option

Jorge Polanco is adding his name to the list of Seattle Mariners entering free agency.

The 32-year-old switch-hitter has declined his player option for the 2026 season, the Mariners announced Wednesday.

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MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer, who covers the Mariners, reported “there will be interest for the Mariners to bring the veteran back.”

By accumulating 450 plate appearances during the 2025 season with the Mariners, a player option for a $6 million salary with Seattle next year vested for Polanco. He also had the potential for the option to increase to $8 million if he had reached 550 plate appearances, but he finished the year with 524.

Polanco seemed to outplay either player option in 2025, though.

He hit .265 with a .326 on-base percentage and .495 slugging mark for an .821 OPS with 26 home runs and 78 RBIs in the regular season. Then he had a big postseason for Seattle with multiple clutch hits, including a walk-off RBI single that won Game 5 of the American League Division Series in the 15th inning over the Detroit Tigers, a two-homer performance against AL Cy Young Award front-runner Tarik Skubal earlier in the ALDS, and a go-ahead three-run homer in the Mariners’ Game 2 win at Toronto in the AL Championship Series.

Polanco was somewhat of a surprise returnee to the Mariners for 2025, re-signing with Seattle last February on a one-year, $7.75 million deal. He initially came to the M’s prior to the 2024 season in a key trade with the Minnesota Twins, an organization he had been with since his signing as an international free agent in 2009 out of the Dominican Republic and who he had played his first 10 MLB seasons with. The one-time All-Star hit just .213 in 118 games in 2024 while playing through a knee injury that didn’t become public knowledge until after the season.

The Mariners’ reunion of Polanco paid off almost immediately this year. In his first 24 games, he slashed .394/.434/.816 for a 1.250 OPS with nine homers, five doubles and 25 RBIs, and that was despite being limited mostly to just designated hitter duties and hitting solely from the left side of the plate due to an oblique injury.

Polanco won AL Player of the Week honors in late April.

Though Polanco scuffled at points in the middle of the season, he caught fire once again – this time fully healthy and even playing sparingly at second base – to have a strong second half. Over his final 69 games of the regular season, Polanco slashed .286/.351/.563 for a .914 OPS with 15 homers, 21 doubles and 40 RBIs.

Polanco earned an additional $2.5 million in incentives that were tied to the number of plate appearances he had in 2025, per Spotrac.

While Polanco has reportedly declined his player option, the Mariners still have one day where they are exclusively allowed to negotiate with the veteran infielder before MLB free agency officially opens at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Previously: This is a big week for the Mariners and Polanco’s future

In addition to Polanco, the Mariners have first baseman Josh Naylor, third baseman Eugenio Suárez and catcher Mitch Garver going to free agency.

Seattle Mariners’ Jorge Polanco declines 2026 player option

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