7:50pm: Seattle announced agreements with all seven players in their arbitration class. That includes a $10.927MM deal with Gilbert, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’d been projected at an even $10MM. Gilbert is coming off a 3.44 ERA showing across 25 starts. He’ll go through arbitration once more before reaching free agency.
12:37pm: The Mariners and slugging outfielder Randy Arozarena are in agreement on a one-year, $15.65MM contract, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. He’s entering his final season of arbitration control before becoming a free agent next winter.
Acquired from the Rays at the 2024 trade deadline, Arozarena has been an impactful source of power in the heart of Seattle’s lineup since that trade. He had a slow start to his Seattle tenure but in 2025 slashed .238/.334/.426 with a career-high 27 home runs and 31 steals (the second-highest mark of his career). By measure of wRC+, which weights for the pitcher-friendly confines in Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, Arozarena has been 22% better than average at the plate since landing in the Emerald City.
Heading into 2026, Arozarena will again play a key role near the top of manager Dan Wilson’s lineup. He’ll be joined by MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez and the recently re-signed Josh Naylor atop what should be a quality Mariners lineup. The M’s have been continuing their search for more bats, looking particularly hard at adding another infielder to the mix. They’ve reportedly shown interest in trading for Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan and D-backs star Ketel Marte, and they haven’t yet closed the door on a reunion with slugger Eugenio Suarez.
Arozarena was the Mariners’ most expensive arb case this winter. They’ve also reportedly agreed to a deal with George Kirby ($6.65MM) and have pending cases with Logan Gilbert, Gabe Speier, Luke Raley, Matt Brash and Bryce Miller. Arozarena had been projected for a heartier $18.2MM salary by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. He’ll clock in about 14% lower than that mark, leaving the Mariners with more flexibility as they continue to look for additional help on the offensive side of things and in their bullpen.
I wonder why his estimated arb figure was so different from the actual. Generally the estimates are much closer. Could it be that they are negotiating a deal so that he doesn’t hit free agency, and the deal will be slightly backloaded?
I have often wondered if they would be interested in extending Randy. The problem is, he isn’t a long-term answer for left field and he hasn’t handled the DH role well.
That said, Maybe a two-year extension (2027-2028) would make some sense. I don’t think it would need to be backloaded, though.
Have to imagine Arozarena is going to look for a 4 year deal being a free agent at 31
He’s a good, but not great, hitter with rapidly declining defense.. He’ll be a free agent at age 32.
Teoscar Hernández got 3 years. with vesting options and he was heading into his age 32 season last year. He was also coming off a great postseason and World Series performance.
That’s a good comp. I could see Randy even taking a pillow contract (with another club), but a two-year deal (extension or otherwise) doesn’t seem like a stretch.
Doubt he gets 4 years but I’d be surprised to see him sign a 2 year extension in his walk year.
I figure they’d need to at least go 3 for him to pass up the opportunity to be a FA at this point.
He never got to the arbitration hearing. He decided to settle.
This is good. I’m curious if others think they should/will extend him further? GO M’s
As with most things concerning the M’s… the money will matter. At the right price, I think they’d love to have him back. They certainly can’t overpay with the other contracts mentioned in the article above looming, however.
Unlike other positions on the field, I don’t see a LF prospect who’s in immediate proximity to the MLB in their pipeline. I think he’s worth looking into locking up. Remember how long they had a revolving door in LF? I guess, at the very least they give him a QO and he declines and they get draft compensation (Unless that changes with upcoming CBA) For 2026, I don’t see them finding a better LF option, so letting this play out is probably their best play right now. I also do a little Mariners podcast, other than my main podcasting job, maybe I’ll put out an episode and discuss Randy, the off-season so far, etc..
Reports are Arroyo is moving to the outfield
Awesome! But, not on the immediate horizon as an MLB player like there are for several IF’s
MLB.com assigns Michael Arroyo an ETA of 2026:
mlb.com/milb/prospects/top100/
What happened to that guy? He usually shows up in the playoffs but 2025 was abysmal. I guess he’s getting old…
a few dozen ABs, good or bad, never tell the whole story
56 plate appearances in the 2025 playoffs is a pretty decent sample size. He actually had a positive WPA for the series against Toronto.
It’s two weeks worth of PA’s
Even Judge occasionally sucks for 2 week stretches.
The “it’s a small sample size” chorus is sung too often and lots of times it’s not actually too small or insignificant. A positive WPA indicates non-suckage against Toronto…
He had a great season. Career high 27 HRs, 4.0 bWAR. Playoffs are small sample bs usually.
Old York- Randy was really good in 2025, not an MVP but still a high quality all star. 4 war, 27 home runs, and a 119 ops+.
The infield chase is getting old. It’s pretty obvious that AZ is not trading Marte for anything less than Ruth, Koufax, and Jackie Robinson. Chaim Bloom is holding on to Donovan like he’s his last nickel, and Geno wants his last hefty contract (and he didn’t do all that well in Seattle). If the Cubs surprise and sign Bichette, they might consider trading one year of Nico Hoerner to the Ms for a top MiLB prospect like Jurrangelo Cijntje and either Luke Raley or Victor Robles (or both) to be their RF, assuming the Jays sign Tucker. But at this point, it looks a lot like the team will start the season with Young and Williamson and hope for the best. Maybe Emerson, but he’s only 20 and I’d hate to Dustin Ackley him by bringing him up into a pressure situation.
a QO to Polanco would have been a decent move in hindsight.
Not at 22 million.
Maybe even so. He likely would have rejected it still. No, I wouldn’t have wanted him back for $22Mm, but I think their point here is considering he got $40 mil for two years and the fact that NY is close to where family such as his father live was apparently important to him, it might have been a reasonable gamble knowing why we know now
The thrifty Mariners save a few million. Arozarena hit very well in 2025, thank you, considering his home ballpark, a hitter’s Death Valley. Maybe he should have gone to an arb hearing and squeezed out a few more dollars. But nobody like those hearings.
Speaking of arb hearings, I expect my hometown Rangers to avoid any hearings with their small arb class. They just don’t go to the arbitrator. Ever.
And just as I type this, the Dallas Morning News says that the Rangers have reach agreements with each of their four remaining arb-eligible players. So as always, no arb hearings for Texas.
-CaseyAbell-
You do know that your posts on MLBTR (1:36 CDT & 1:48 CDT) and the DMN post (1:14 p.m. CST) have timestamps, right?
If you are going to act like you know how the Rangers organization operates like the back of your hairy hand then at least make sure your timestamps are correct.
And no one in this comment section cares about the Rangers arb class.
Go post that if MLBTR ever post another Ranger story or even at the 2026 Arbitration Tracker comment section since as of 2:43 CDT, your Nostradamus prediction isnt posted there yet.
dallasnews.com/sports/rangers/2026/01/08/texas-ran…
Maybe you should read my post. I don’t claim to know anything more about the contract negotiations than what appears in public media. And it’s hardly a secret that the Rangers haven’t gone to an arb hearing since 2000. Again, it’s public knowledge.
If you don’t care about the Rangers, well, that’s your right. But the MLBTR post lists them and I was responding to the post.
Toss the fake “just as I type” act out the window. The DMN report was public at 1:14. You didn’t even bother to post your first comment until 1:36, then you come back at 1:48 with that pathetic “mid-sentence news break” routine.
You aren’t an insider, just a little guy hitting refresh who’s 20 minutes behind the real reporters. Actual insiders beat the news, they don’t lag behind by 22 minutes then stage a one man show in a comment section just to feel important. It’s honestly embarrassing to watch a “grown” man beg for a gold star sticker like a toddler in a Mariners thread.
If it’s all “public knowledge” like you’re backpedaling with now, then stop with the budget Passan routine and take the Rangers word vomit back to a Rangers story. We’re here to talk about Seattle’s arb class, not to watch you try to farm clout in a thread where you aren’t even relevant in just because you’re desperate for a “win” you didn’t even earn.
That’s your real motivation, you’re so insecure that you have to pretend to have a “feel” for the front office just to feel relevant for five minutes. You got caught faking a scoop that everyone else already read. Just take the L, stop massaging your own ego, and go back where someone actually likes you.
The timestamps don’t sneeze, but you’re clearly allergic to the truth with all the BS you’re coughing up.
Death Valley? Naylor hit just fine here and let me think who was the homerun leader this year. Julio is doing just fine, Polonco earned a big pay day from his time here etc. Just because there have been a few failures it does not paint the whole picture. Please come up with a new narrative.
No to mention they had a nearly everyday C hit 60 HR playing half of his games in “Death Valley.” Having said that, Doubles are what T-Mobile erases the most, however.
Check the Baseball-Reference ballpark factors for the Seattle park. They’ve always favored pitchers and in 2025 dropped all the way down to 92, which really is Death Valley territory for hitters. Raleigh had an unbelievable season in the face of that ballpark bias. One more reason he should have been the MVP, but that’s another discussion.
Hoping we don’t extend him and give him the QO instead. Maybe he goes crazy (5 WAR season) since it’s his walk year
How doea randy get more then bohm when he bats .240 and strikes out 190 times. Thats bush league AAA stuff
You’re kidding, right? Randy, with his 27 home runs (and his walks and his stolen bases), has produced much much more offense than Bohm in 2025, and consistently throughout his career.
Randy is a borderline All-Star every year.
Bohm is a borderline starter.
Thats a great point. But also Bohms single most negative cherry picked stat is also worse than the most positive cherry picked stat of almost all major leaguers.
Are you suggesting that I cherry-picked the stat called “offense”?
Randy had 4 bWAR (3 fWAR) in 2025.
Bohm had 1.5 bWAR (1.7 fWAR) in fewer games.
For their careers, Randy leads 17 to 6. In bWAR, 15.5 to 9.3 in fWAR. Fangraphs’ metrics like Bohm much better, but still not as much as Randy.
Bohm is a better fielder at a harder defensive position to fill, but he isn’t a great fielder. And Philly has been trying to trade him for more than a year. It’s very hard for an average hitter to match the value of a 120 wrc+ hitter.
Not you. The first idiot who only looked at batting average.
Good job, M’s!
The Cards have been looking for a decent outfield for years. They should have never let him go to the Rays. Check out the Cards outfield production over the last few years ….
Good job.
Mariners press release is saying they didn’t reach an agreement with Bryce Miller
mlb.com/mariners/press-release/mariners-agree-to-t…
Link the right Julio Rodriguez
You know the Angels never have enough pitching, and the mariners never or seldom have enough hitting.
Im not all that on board with Randy and his hefty contract on any other contending team he might be overlooked but then the M’s are glade to have him even at 18 mil.?
Lotta k’s for 15mil. Hopefully they move on from him after this season.