This offseason will have a different feel than many of the others over the past 20-plus years for the Seattle Mariners.

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For just the second time since 2002, the Mariners are coming off a playoff berth. And unlike when they broke their postseason drought in 2022, they have established stars and a slew of proven core players under club control for the foreseeable future.

Seattle is no longer the team looking to break though for success. Rather, it’s the club looking to sustain it while defending a division title.

“This is honestly a start of a good run – if they can fix some of the things around the margins,” Mariners analyst and former MLB pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith told Seattle Sports Bump and Stacy on Thursday. “This is a team that got to Game 7 of the ALCS, and the core of this roster is not going anywhere.”

But that doesn’t mean the M’s don’t have work to do during the offseason.

While many of their key players are set to return, there are the impending free agencies of first baseman Josh Naylor and third baseman Eugenio Suárez, the club’s two big additions at the trade deadline. And second baseman/designated hitter Jorge Polanco could become free agent as well. He has a $6 million player option for 2026, which he may decline after a huge turnaround in 2025.

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The Mariners also have a talent-stocked farm system set to start feeding highly regarded prospects to the big league roster.

The M’s have a league-high eight prospects in both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America’s top 100. Catcher Harry Ford is the lone player of that group to make his MLB debut, but Pipeline projects three more (shortstop Colt Emerson, outfielder Lazaro Montes and second baseman Michael Arroyo) to reach the big leagues at some point in 2026. Additionally, 2025 No. 3 overall pick Kade Anderson, a left-handed starting pitcher, is thought to have a chance to do the same.

With a core group of players in tact and touted prospects in the farm system, Rowland-Smith believes the Mariners will be better suited to add through trades than through free agency this offseason.

“The Mariners, in my opinion at this point, can get a little bit more flexible, potentially with a trade now in regards to some of the pitching they’ve got,” Rowland-Smith said. “What I mean by that is the easiest way for them to really bring on and recruit exactly what they want – and you don’t have to overspend on years on one of these contracts that in three years you’re just like, ‘Oh, God, we have to deal with an aging free agent – is a situation where you can now look and say, ‘Alright, this is what we’ve got in (Luis) Castillo. This is what we’re got in Brian Woo, (George) Kirby, (Logan) Gilbert and so on, this is what we’ve got coming up (from the farm system).’”

It was heavily reported last offseason that Seattle was willing to listen offers on members of its talented starting rotation in order to acquire a difference-making bat. However, the M’s weren’t able to find a deal they were comfortable with and chose to keep the rotation in tact.

Rowland-Smith was happy the Mariners didn’t deal from their rotation last offseason, but he believes it may be a more viable option this offseason with the potential of Anderson making his debut in 2026 and the continued development of right-handers Emerson Hancock and Logan Evans, who combined to start 31 games in 2025.

“In my opinion, you’re in a situation (where) you can be a little bit more flexible with that because you’re a year on. Some of the values have changed a little bit,” Rowland-Smith said. “… Pitching, everyone wants it. Everyone knows what these guys are made up of, so now you get a little bit more aggressive. So I think the biggest impact you will make is via trade, not so much via free agency.

“And I know everyone wants to roll their eyes with that. But I’m telling you in order to get that good, controllable player that is going to make an impact in 26′ and 27’, stick with that course so you can have that good run as opposed to just dismantling the team at the end of 2026.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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