The Mariners announced the signing of outfielder Rob Refsnyder to a one-year contract. It’s reportedly a $6.25M deal with another $250K available in incentives for the PSI Sports Management client. Seattle’s 40-man roster is now at capacity.
Refsnyder adds a potent right-handed platoon bat to Dan Wilson’s outfield. He has teed off on left-handed pitching as a member of the Red Sox. Refsnyder carries a .312/.407/.516 batting line with 19 home runs, 28 doubles, and one triple across 509 plate appearances with the platoon advantage over the past four seasons. He has a middling .235/.315/.355 slash in 435 trips to the dish against right-handers in that stretch.
It’s a limited profile, but few players are better in that role. Among hitters with 400+ PAs against southpaws going back to 2022, only Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt have a better on-base percentage. Refsnyder is sixth in batting average and 16th in slugging. He’s seventh in OPS — trailing Judge, Yordan Alvarez, Goldschmidt, Yandy Díaz, Jose Altuve and Ketel Marte.
That production has earned Refsnyder some decent earnings in the back half of his career. He was a journeyman minor league signee when the Sox added him over the 2021-22 offseason. Boston was the sixth team to give him some big league time when they called him up midway through June the following year. Refsnyder hit well enough to earn a little over $5MM on a pair of contracts covering the 2023-25 campaigns. He now secures his most significant payday for his age-35 season. Refsnyder is coming off a .269/.354/.484 showing in 70 games and had been a highly regarded clubhouse presence in Boston.
Refsnyder came up as an infielder in the Yankees system. He has been a full-time outfielder since 2020 and has been exclusively in the corners over the past two seasons. He could probably handle first base if the M’s wanted to give Josh Naylor an occasional breather against a tough left-handed opponent. Most of his work will come in right field and/or at designated hitter. Seattle has Randy Arozarena locked into left field, while righty-swinging Victor Robles should get a decent amount of right field playing time. Lefty hitters Luke Raley and Dominic Canzone could see time out there and are currently lined up for the bulk of the DH at-bats.
The signing pushes Seattle’s projected payroll to $157MM, as calculated by RosterResource. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said at the beginning of the offseason that the M’s were likely to open next season with a payroll close to this year’s season-ending mark around $166MM. The M’s don’t have a ton of glaring needs but could look for a multi-positional infielder who could provide a higher floor than Cole Young, Ryan Bliss, Ben Williamson and potentially top prospect Colt Emerson at second and third base.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported the $6.25MM base and $250K in incentives. Images courtesy of Mark Rebilas, Imagn Images.
Later Ref… class guy. And a monster vs LHP.
We’ll miss ya
Wow I thought he was definitely going back to Boston. I guess getting Wilson hurt those chances
He didn’t really have the clearest spot.
Willson had nothing to do with it..they have 5 healthy outfielders ahead of him currently on the mlb roster..duran,abreau,rafaela,Anthony and Yoshida with Campbell and others waiting..they signed him for 2025 mid 24…when several of those guys weren’t even in the conversation…alot has changed..if anything romy took his job as designated lefty masher
+Eaton who played a lot at the end of last year and may fill a similar need
+Romy who could get more playing time at DH/OF this year with the addition of Contreras
Roman and Duran can hit lefties and Abreu did much better against them last season so the pure platoons don’t seem as necessary. Contreras and Romy will definitely be in the lineup against Lefties, Campbell too if he’s on the roster
@Rsox I think it’s more fair to said ‘Roman and Duran play against lefties’.
Duran has always been very bad vs lefties (70 wRC+) but last year he was awful (61 wRC+).
I’m sure Roman will figure it out, but he struck out 38.8% of the time last season.
Cora has been pretty clear that he wants to play Abreu more against lefties. His 85 wRC+ last year was a big improvement as you mentioned.
@mlbnyyfan- Yeah it’s funny, I thought he could sign with the Yankees. He’s murders left handers. I’m ok, with Harrison Bader if we lose Belli or don’t sign Tucker. Bader comes along with his very own walking boot.
Let’s not go to Bader again. I’d rather give Jasson and Jones a shot in left with Grish in center.
Love it.
I’ve always liked Ref. It’s amazing how much he struggled to find his way until he landed in Boston and became a solid hitter. Good luck to him.
Mostly it was funny watching Boston fans suddenly having to embrace him. That’s why I never crap on another team’s prospects.
Was never about crapping on him, we were making fun of how absurdly Yankees fans overrate their prospects and acted like every one of them was the next Mantle or something.
Happy that Ref has carved out a nice career for himself. Loved having him in Boston, best of luck to him in the PNW!
I know what it’s about DirtyWater but in order to make fun of the fans, y’all were crapping on Ref. FWIW it’s never really bother me any.
Jerry, stop with the shenanigans and bring Marte home
Marte is a pipedream.
Probably. But it’s Christmas time, where hopes and dreams are supposed to come to reality.
RR is money against Lefties, the current M’s lineup needed help hitting Lefties due to the amount of LH batters. This is a savvy signing imo
It is since we need guys that can hit off of skubal or crochet
It is a little risky since he is 35 and 6 million is a lot of money for Seattle but he seems better than Donovan Solano
No, not Rob!
Love you Ref, happy you got paid a nice chunk of change!!! 🙂
Low key good addition
Noooooo!!! (literally only made an account to comment on this)
This guy knows ball and he’s a stud. But that’s a big chunk of change for a weak side platoon elder statesman.
Good luck to Ref. Lot’s of jokes about his former prospect pedigree but he was nothing but professional with the Sox.
Let’s go a lot of Rangers fans wanted him but I did not. Solid player
Perfect, a 1 year commitment to help cover 2nd if Cole doesn’t work out. Resign Geno for DH and part time 3rd and let Williamson and Emerson fight it out. Bring the rest of the top prospects up later this year and give Gilbert and woo extensions. If you can trade Castillo for a decent prospect, do so.
Refsnyder is soon to be 35 and hasn’t played 2B since 2017. Only covering 2nd he is doing is if he collapses there…
Yeah he’s no longer an infielder but his pop will be appreciated in Seattle. Good move
What pop?
Go read his baseball savant page. He hits the ball hard. Often. As a platoon guy. Hard-hit. Barrel %. And exit velo all 85-90 percentile. Plus he was pretty clutch in Boston for us.
A slugging % near .500. I’d consider that pop.
GTR – .312/.407/.516 batting line over the last four years vs lefties. He’s got the pop that the M’s need. Solid move.
He had a 468 foot bomb this past year. Some pop…
Great Add! Welcome, Sir!
Welcome to the AL West brawl!
Not really a brawl anymore as the Mariners own the Stros
Mariners when they play the Astros. Rangers, A’s, and Astros are still capable teams that can win.
It’s not like the Mariners are going to win the AL West by a wide margin. The Astros are still competitive, whether you like it or not.
Well the Astros will first need to build out their starting rotation, then we can talk. They have a #1 , and a #4, and and another #4, and and and…
They have No.1, who is better than anyone else in the Seattle rotation. I think Javier has No. 3, and a No.2 when healthy. Still,
No. 1 (Hunter Brown)-True No. 1
No. 2 (Cristian Javier)-No. 3
No.3 (Mike Burrows-No. 3 or 4
No. 4-(Spencer Arrighetti)-No. 3 or 4
No. 5-No 5
All are righty starters but we need lefty ones too. We also have too many left handed relievers. Offense needs help but maybe hittting coaches can help.
I think the Mariners have Hunter Brown’s number, don’t they? I think we beat him every time he started last season just like we beat Skubal four times.
Bravo Ignorant SOB!!!!!!! Bravo!!
I hope the Astros are banking on hitting coaches solving the issue.
Solid pickup.
Lots of people used to use his name as a joke, but he has carved out for himself a decent career as a major leaguer even if it has been that of a role player.
“More to come” feels like it refers to the article and the Mariners transactions. This move makes Robles redundant. A perfect platoon bat that would go with Canzone in RF and backup Arozarena and Rodriguez when they need days off.
Pretty great signing tbh. Guy deserves at minimum a platoon spot on a winning team. Hes been clutch and his pop hasn’t gone anywhere.
Good for him. Get paid!
Solid gritty player. Always liked Ref even when he was playing against my team. Good pickup for the M’s.
This surprises me. I thought he’d retire with the Red Sox.
This likely means Seattle’s preparing for platoons in RF and at DH with Raley, Robles, Canzone, and now Refsnyder.
I would have preferred Andujar because of his ability to fill in at third and first as well as the OF corners, but this is good, too.
Now, hopefully they can get Marte. I’d argue there’s room for an additional bat, but I certainly don’t expect two more.
One of the other three will go I’m betting. Too many to cycle through DH and RF since they us DH to give others a blow too.
They all fit at the moment, but it’s still hard for me to believe they’d carry two LHHs that have to be platooned. I’ve believed that Raley was the most likely to get the squeeze.
But if they get a second baseman, they could let Mastrobuoni go or option Rivas.
Stevil as far as I know, I believe Andujar was just too limited defensively to be viable anywhere but DH. Yes, he has played those positions in the past, but he is abysmal at them all.
Not talking about a regular role, I’m talking about insurance.
And I disagree about him being abysmal. Did you see Polanco at third?
Andujar played 3rd against the M’s this year and I thought that he looked fine.
Happy for Ref, Mariners are getting a quality individual
I am not happy about this but good luck to him.
Christmas Wishlist down to Marte, Donovan; and Geno and then I will be a happy camper and leave Santa Claus something for his kindnesses.
That is a great signing by the Mariners.
the future HoF on the move again 😉
He is always a lock to hit lefites and our left handed Outfield with Abreau and Duran both have an ops under 400 against lefties. Not getting some of these moves., why not protect against the good lefties with someone like ref.. So on the roster now are 4 lefty outfielders along with cedaenne.
I thought he could have had a starting job with full-time ABs but he signed with a winning club in a town with a good Asian community, good spot for Refsnyder and a winning addition for the Mariners.
Kind of like it when you don’t see moves like this coming. Makes sense. Makes more sense if you go and get B. Donovan and a RH Relief pitcher. But I wonder if the asking price in prospects is too much for Donovan and it is too much cash $$ for Martre and they pivot to Willy Castro. Hope not. Need a better bat.
Great signing for them. M’s could use a good RH bat against lefties to replace the Mitch Garver sort of role.
Donovan or Hoerner and one more reliever would be a nice cherry on top for the offseason
Going to miss this guy in a Red Sox uniform. Great hitter, great leader. Definitely future coach material. Have a great time on the west coast, Ref. You’re always welcome back in Boston!