Mariners fans holding out hope for a reunion with Eugenio Suárez finally got resolution on that front yesterday when the slugger agreed to a return to a different one of his former homes: Cincinnati. Suárez’s one-year, $15MM deal with the Reds takes another infield option off the board for a Seattle club that has reportedly spent the bulk of the offseason exploring options at both third base and second base. An addition could yet be on the horizon, however. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto hinted strongly on Seattle Sports’ Mariners Hot Stove Show this weekend that another move could yet be in the offing, telling host Shannon Drayer:
“There’s one more move that’s in us, that we want to make, and we’ve been grinding hard for the last handful of days to see if we can bring it through, and hopefully we do. … Our lineup took a huge step forward last year. Obviously we’ll be short a couple of bats that were there with us in Toronto to finish the season, but we get a full year of Josh Naylor. We get the upswing of our players as they get more exposure, especially Cole Young, who I think is going to break out for us this year. And I do hope there’s one more player coming along for the ride that might not be in a Mariners uniform just yet.”
General manager Justin Hollander similarly suggested that it’s “certainly” possible his club makes a move to add a hitter this week, per Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. Jude writes that Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan still feels to be the likeliest target for the M’s, but Hollander stressed that the Mariners are being “open-minded” about ways to improve their lineup.
The fit between Donovan and the Mariners has been explored at length both here and elsewhere, for more than a year. Seattle’s interest into the versatile infielder/outfielder dates back to last offseason. The lefty-swinging Donovan is 29 years old, controllable for two seasons (earning $5.8MM in 2026), can play multiple positions capably (second base, third base, left field) and is a .282/.361/.411 hitter in four big league seasons. Donovan is one of MLB’s toughest strikeouts and is a quality defender who can bounce around depending on which of the Mariners’ young hitters breaks through.
That said, it also bears emphasizing that the Mariners have various spots at which they could pursue an upgrade if they’re indeed “open-minded” to other possibilities, as Hollander indicated. Young is the favorite for at-bats at second base but hit only .211/.302/.305 in 257 plate appearances as a rookie. He’s a former first-round pick and top prospect who’s still only 22, so there’s plenty of reason to be bullish. At the hot corner, Ben Williamson played good defense but hit only .253/.294/.310 in 295 plate appearances. Colt Emerson, one of the top 10 to 20 prospects in the entire sport, looms in the upper minors but only turned 20 last summer. He topped out with six games in Triple-A late last year and could be a third base option later this season.
At the moment, the DH spot will primarily be occupied by a combination of Dominic Canzone, Luke Raley and (on days when he’s not catching) MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh. Canzone was excellent with the M’s in 82 games last year (.300/.358/.481) but needed a .354 average on balls in play to get there and has no prior big league track record. Raley struggled through injuries and a downturn in performance but was a quality platoon slugger for Tampa Bay and Seattle in 2023-24.
There’s also some uncertainty in right field. Victor Robles was terrific down the stretch for the Mariners in 2024 but missed most of last year due to a shoulder injury and hit just .245/.281/.330 in 114 plate appearances when healthy. Canzone and Raley can also factor in out there, as can free agent pickup Rob Refsnyder, but there’s room for an addition there as well, be it via trade or a largely-picked over free agent class.
The flexibility to bring in someone at multiple infield positions or as part of the DH/right field mix creates a wide range of possibilities. Notable names who’ve yet to sign for the upcoming season include Miguel Andujar, Rhys Hoskins, Nathaniel Lowe and Marcell Ozuna (to name a few). Donovan is the most prominent name on the trade market, but the Nationals (CJ Abrams), Red Sox (Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu) and Mets (Mark Vientos, Brett Baty) are among the clubs who have had some prominent players’ names surface on the rumor circuit throughout the winter.
Currently, RosterResource projects a roughly $157MM for the Mariners’ Opening Day payroll. That’s north of last year’s mark by about $10MM but shy of where Seattle ended the season, following deadline pickups of Suárez, Naylor and Caleb Ferguson. Seattle’s franchise-record Opening Day mark was about $158MM back in 2018. Given this past season’s deep playoff run and the clear win-now mode in which they find themselves, ownership will presumably be comfortable with a new record mark for Opening Day, though there’s no firm indication yet as to how far past the current $158MM record they’re willing to push.
Here comes Ty France to play 3rd base!
not according to that one guy
No unless really cheap
Donny and Jojo make too much sense for it not to happen. It just comes down to if Seattle is willing to give up enough prospect capitol to make it work out.
I really hope Seattle doesn’t give away any prospects for Donovan when they literally already have Young sitting on the roster.
Then the deal will never get done!
Good! There’s a solid chance Young equals Donovan’s performance this year alone, let alone future seasons. Young’s profile is similar coming out of the minors to Donovan: low strikeouts & modest power. In the past two seasons, Young walked more than struck out.
In 2025, Donovan hit .287/.353 /.422 with a .135 ISO, 10 HR, and 3 SB, which closely match his career numbers. His 119 wRC+ was also the same as his career number.
Meanwhile, in AAA, Young hit .277/ .392/.461 with 5 HR. Then, at age 21 in the MLB, he had an above average 10.9 BB%, below average 18.3 K%, and a low BABIP of .247, all of which help explain why his projections are to regress to a league average offensive profile this season with room to grow.
There’s just no reason to spend a lot of prospect capital to chase Donovan when you literally already have a projectable clone of him penciled into the starting 2B gig.
That’s how you have a great young roster year after year … and never win anything.
If Cole Young wasn’t on the roster, then it’d make sense to go after Donovan. But if we’re going to spend prospects, it shouldn’t be for Donovan whatsoever.
I am not holding my breath
This is foreshadowing. Dana Brown, hurry up and do something!!!
Jerry Dipoto working on a trade? Imagine that…
This is good news from the standpoint that it has been “crickets” for quite a while now and you had to wonder if Dipoto and Hollander had just decided to run the current roster out there to start the season. Sounds like that is not the case. Again, good news. B. Donovan and perhaps JoJo Romero do seem like such an amazing fit but I would not put it past these guys to come up with an addition that we did not see coming. Either way, we need one more bat!!!!!
Donovan and JoJo Romero for Lazaro Montes and Jurrangelo Cijntje.
No!!! Too much to give up!!!
The better question is why does all of the Seattle fans value a DH only hitter that strikes out over 30% of the time in “A ball”, that as well as being in A ball for parts of three years lol
He hit .213 in AA in over 200 AB’s
If I were the cardinals I wouldn’t want that in a return anyways.
80 grade personality who would be best friends with Julio for 10 years while hitting 40 bombs annually sounds kinda cool
Not enough. :D
Why are we acting like Donovan is worth that much
Brendan Donovan for Konnor Griffin, Jesus Made, & Leo De Vries?
Because he’s averaged 2.6 wins a year his whole career, can play everywhere, and is cheap as hell. That’s a ton of value and they’d consider themselves lucky if Montes or Cijntje is worth that much some day (and that some day will be after Seattle’s great rotation is mostly pitching for the Dodgers and Mets).
I don’t know. It’s mindboggling how many fellow Mariners fans just want to give away multiple top prospects for Donovan when we already have Cole Young.
Donovan had a 124 ops+ his rookie year. Cole had a 76 ops+. I know that Cole is only 22 but we need Wins now.
Donovan was also 25 his rookie year. The projections for Young’s age 22 season have him conservatively producing like 80% of Donovan’s projections. There’s no reason to spend a ton of prospect capital on that kind of marginal upgrade that also blocks your younger players. If Seattle decides to trade away prospects, that’s fine, but it shouldn’t be for Donovan.
Blocks your younger players? Only if you’re an idiot that doesn’t know how to make a lineup. Donovan is so popular because he literally plays every single position except catcher and pitcher. He blocks nobody because you can put him anywhere you need him. You don’t want him to play second cool he can play 3rd, short, first, OF. You can move him around to give guys days off, and when the inevitable injuries happen you have someone that can play that position for an extended period. You over value Young and your prospects too much if you think that is an overpay. Guys that struggle in A ball and you act like that’s someone the cards would actually want 😂 the cards would do you a favor and laugh if that was seattles offer. Then Donovan would go to SF or someone that has a GM with a fully functioning brain and that actually wants to get over the hump and do something for the first time in franchise history. You know actually compete for a world championship. But hey if you’d rather the mariners stay a fringe playoff team to keep your scrub hitting prospect that wouldn’t be in the cards top 20 prospects then by all means. Maybe the trashstros would be interested since they actually have the desire to win unlike many of you mariners fans.
They need another strong infield bat and Donovan imo is the best known available player that is on the market. Cole is projectable for sure, but as team with WS aspirations you can’t count on a guy who hasn’t done it in the MLB yet.
Hell no and I’m not even a Montes will be a star guy. Cijntje and Peete for those two maybe
Peete, who in 500 AB’s just hit .210 in high A ball with around a .40% K rate, that Peete?
Well when you put it that way, heck yes! Who wouldn’t trade .210 for good things?
I think that’s more than Seattle will give up. I think it would be closer to T. Peete, M.Morales and Ryan Bliss would be a possible 2B. replacement for Donovan
I think that’s more than the M’s will have to give up to land that trade. I think something closer to T.Peete, M.Morales and R.Bliss who could compete to replace Donovan @ 2B.
That’s an awfully strong verbal vote of confidence in Cole Young. Brendan Donovan, you are the Mariners opening day 3B!
Dipoto talks up everyone, he bears the spirit of a used car salesman. Doesn’t mean anything
Hard disagree. Dipoto is actually very calculated in his words (sans the 54% speech). That doesn’t mean Cole Young is written into the lineup card in Sharpie, but Dipoto just doesn’t glaze specific names. He’s very big on the vague nonsense statements.
Sounds hopeful but I’ll believe it when I see it. I have no doubt they are still working on things but trades are hard to swing when both sides are being stubborn.
Alec Bohm incoming. Let the Aiden Miller era begin!
The Orioles have seemed like a trade partner match for some time with Seattle.
They just signed Pete Alonso to 5 years who is good for 150+ games at 1B and maybe a few (and more later) games at DH. Taylor Ward signed as a corner OF. They also have up and coming Dylan Beavers.
DH is a logjam with Rutschman and Basallo both taking turns there when not catching, Alonso maybe having time there as well.
This leaves no real spot for 1B/3B Coby Mayo, who remains a highly regarded prospect with a good September last year. Or a bounce back for Ryan Mountcastle (1B/DH). Maybe the Orioles would pick up half of Tyler O’Neill (RF/DH) salary and the Mariners can see if he rebounds on the cheap.
Not sure any of this would pry any of the top 3 starters away from Seattle, but Orioles still need bullpen help and future starting pitching depth.
So this “highly regarded” thing, would that be in BAL or anywhere else?
He’s probably still got a good future ahead of him, but anyone who thinks that Mayo is going to be what folks were dreaming of three years ago needs to step back a little. If I were the Oriloes I might just keep him for a few months at this point, because the rest of the world is viewing him as a project right now.
Curious as to where all the money from attendance in the playoffs go. Got to be huge money to add to this year’s payroll. Anyone know?
Abrams would be the best fit long term hes young and a leadoff hitter they need but they just have to keep him out of casino!!
Defense is a concern
I heard he’s converting his garage into a gym
The Mariners strike me as a team always hoping for everything to fall into place and never going the extra mile to better their chances. What’s stopping them from using their loaded farm system to acquire an impactful hitter? Call the Nationals and make them an offer they can’t refuse for James Wood. It’s very weird seeing Dipoto be reluctant to use his farm to better the big league team
The reds are the same way, they should be going for wood as well, they’d have a pretty good team if they did.
Ozuna at DH would be the bomb, Young at 2b, Williamson/Refsnyder at 3rd.