Pending physical, Josh Naylor is headed back to the Seattle Mariners on a five-year deal, per numerous reports on Sunday night. He’ll be getting $90-100 million guaranteed. It never seemed plausible that the former Miami Marlins top draft pick would reunite with his original organization, but the news is nonetheless notable around these parts because of how it may impact other first basemen on the market.
Ryan O’Hearn, for example, was a very comparable hitter to Naylor in 2025, albeit with far less impact as a baserunner. O’Hearn, 32, isn’t a candidate for a long-term contract, but his representatives figure to be aiming for an annual average value in the same neighborhood as Naylor’s $18M-20M.
There are also trade market ramifications. The Mariners have the high-end prospects—seven of them included on Just Baseball’s new MLB Top 100 list—worthy of headlining a package for practically any controllable big leaguer who might be available. Now, Miami won’t have to worry about those assets being used to drive up the price on potential first base solutions like Alec Burleson (St. Louis Cardinals) and Tyler Soderstrom (Athletics).
On Sunday in winter ball, Jared Serna (Mexico) went 2-for-4. His ninth triple established a new all-time Mexican Pacific Winter League single-season record. In addition to Serna, Deyvison De Los Santos (Dominican Republic), Chris Arroyo (Puerto Rico) and Eric Rataczak (Australia) are still actively playing internationally, as shown in our Fish On First tracker. SuperSub ForeverMarlins has notes on every Marlin who participated in the just-completed Arizona Fall League.
Only 129 days away from Marlins Opening Day.
🔷 Marlins catching coach Joe Singley has been hired by the Baltimore Orioles, as first reported by The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka, where he’ll be working double duty as both their catching coach and field coordinator.
🔷 Kevin Barral and Sean McCormack combined to select 10 notable minor league free agents who they’d like to see the Marlins target.
🔷 77.8% of Marlins fans who participated in this poll expect the club to spend more in free agency this offseason than they’ve done on average during Bruce Sherman’s ownership tenure.
🔷 DYM explains why he is optimistic about Marlins prospects Chris Arroyo, Colby Martin, Aiden May, Julio Mendez and Andrés Valor having breakout seasons in 2026.
🔷 Congratulations to Cloie and Braxton Garrett, who got married on Saturday. Former Marlins teammates Trevor Rogers and Nick Fortes were among the guests in attendance at the wedding.
🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Kyle Hendricks announced his retirement. A soft-tossing right-hander out of Dartmouth, Hendricks spent 11 of his 12 MLB seasons with the Chicago Cubs. In 2016, he led the National League in ERA, finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting and helped the Cubs snap their 108-year championship drought.