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Mariners Notes: Ford, Right Field, Hancock

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With Mitch Garver headed into the open market, the Mariners have a hole to fill on their roster without a clear backup for Cal Raleigh behind the plate. As noted by Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, GM Justin Hollander indicated at the GM Meetings this past week that, as the roster is currently constructed, that backup catching job would go to longtime top prospect Harry Ford.

“As of today, Harry would definitely be the backup,” Hollander said, as relayed by Divish. “I think that Harry’s in a great spot. He has checked all the boxes along the way that you would want from a high school catcher coming through the draft. He’s performed at every level.”

It’s not hard to see why Hollander feels positively about Ford, who has been a consensus top-100 prospect for years and got a brief taste of the majors late in the season with eight games down the stretch this year. Ford hit .283/.408/.460 in 97 games at the Triple-A level this year, an impressive slash line that was good for a 125 wRC+ even in the Pacific Coast League’s inflated offensive environment. He struck out just 19.2% of the time while sporting a massive 16.2% walk rate, and while he didn’t run as often as he had in the lower minors (just seven steals on the year) he did slug a career-high 16 home runs. Overall, it was a strong showing for the 22-year-old and clearly sets him up to be ready for more exposure to major league pitching in 2026.

Whether that comes in Seattle or elsewhere has not entirely been decided yet, however. Divish notes that while the Mariners do seem comfortable having Ford join the roster as the backup to Raleigh, they remain open to trade offers that involve Ford. That’s a sensible position to take, given that Raleigh has cemented himself as baseball’s best catcher after posting perhaps the best season at the position in MLB history this past year. With the Mariners surely intent on continuing to play Raleigh (who has started at least 114 games behind the dish in each of the past three seasons) as much as possible, the role of backup catcher isn’t quite as important for Seattle as it is for other teams.

While there are no obvious alternatives in the organization to Ford at the moment, Divish points out that a number of viable backup options figure to be available on minor league or low-cost big league deals. Many of those options could surely offer similar production to Garver in the spot. Given the scarcity of quality catching options around the league, if another team views Ford as a plug-and-play starter behind the dish they might value him enough to make the return for his services worth the downgrade from Seattle’s perspective. A weak catching market in free agency that is highlighted by J.T. Realmuto and Victor Caratini should only further bolster Ford’s value if the Mariners were to decide to shop him this offseason.

Turning away from Ford, Hollander also expressed confidence in the group of players they already have in the organization when it comes to filling out the outfield next season. Randy Arozarena is locked in as the club’s everyday left fielder (barring a move that sees him traded, at least), while Julio Rodriguez has cemented himself as a franchise cornerstone in center. Right field was handled by a hodgepodge of different players throughout 2025, and in 2026 Hollander points to three names who could factor into the mix: Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone, and Victor Robles.

Even though none of them were impact players in 2025, it’s not hard to see why the Mariners would want to give that trio a run at the position rather than pursuing an external addition. Raley is just one year removed from back-to-back seasons where he slashed .246/.326/.476 while totaling 41 homers and 42 doubles across 255 games. While Raley has never been successful against left-handed pitching, it’s not at all difficult to imagine that he could rebound enough to be worth affording regular playing time to when a right-handed starter is on the mound for the opposing team. Robles, meanwhile, missed all but 32 games this past year due to injury and was someone the Mariners believed in enough that they afforded him an extension just two months into his tenure with the organization.

Canzone has the weakest overall track record of the three, but actually delivered by far the best results this year. In 82 games as a part-time player for the Mariners, Canzone raked to the tune of a .300/.358/.481 slash line with 11 homer and 11 doubles while he struck out at a reasonable 21.9% clip. A tough postseason where he went just 3-for-28 with a walk and ten strikeouts saw him leave 2025 on a sour note, but the 28-year-old clearly had a 2025 worth building on next season. Perhaps adding a second right-handed hitter to the mix alongside Robles could allow the Mariners to maximize matchups and create depth in the event of injury, but an everyday starter in the outfield does seem unnecessary given the far more significant holes around in the infield.

Another place where it seems the Mariners could look to go internal is with starting pitching depth. Divish reports that right-hander Emerson Hancock is expected to prepare this winter and enter Spring Training as a starting pitcher. Hancock has served as a swingman with below average results (4.81 ERA, 5.23 FIP) across his three seasons and 162 2/3 innings of work in the majors, but looked quite good in short relief down the stretch for Seattle this year. That made some wonder if he would stick in the bullpen full-time going forward, but it seems as though the Mariners value Hancock’s versatility given their lack of upper-level starting pitching depth. Beyond their starting five pitchers, only Logan Evans has spent significant time starting at the big league level aside from Hancock.

Pirates Hire Kristopher Negron, Tony Beasley To Coaching Staff

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The Pirates will be hiring Kristopher Negron as their new bench coach and Tony Beasley as the third base coach, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  Negron has been on the Mariners’ coaching staff for the last four seasons, while Beasley returns to the Pirates organization after spending over a decade with the Rangers.

After concluding his six-year MLB playing career, Negron took on an assistant role in Seattle’s player development department in 2020 and then was the manager at Triple-A Tacoma in 2021.  He was then promoted to the big league staff as the first base coach before acting as the Mariners’ third base coach in 2025.

Negron (who turns 40 in February) now takes on his highest-profile coaching job yet, as Don Kelly’s chief lieutenant.  Kelly was Pittsburgh’s bench coach himself when he was promoted to the manager’s job in May when Derek Shelton was fired, and though Gene Lamont essentially filled the bench coach role in a capacity as an advisor to Kelly, the position wasn’t officially filled until now.

Beasley is a familiar face in Pittsburgh, having spent six seasons with the Bucs as a minor league player and then several seasons as a manager, coach, and instructor at both the minor and Major League levels.  Beasley’s previous stint on Pittsburgh’s MLB staff came in 2008-10, when was the club’s third base coach.

Once that stint ended, Beasley moved on to four years in the Nationals’ farm system as a manager and instructor before he joined the Rangers as their third base coach prior to the 2015 season.  Beasley’s time in Texas included a World Series ring with the 2023 team and a 48-game stint as interim manager in 2022 after Chris Woodward was fired.

Negron and Beasley are the latest new faces on a revamped Pittsburgh coaching staff, as Bill Murphy was also hired as the new pitching coach a few weeks ago.  The Pirates liked enough of what they saw from Kelly to give him a contract extension at season’s end, and the skipper is now apparently getting some input in reshaping his staff.  In a sense there’s nowhere to go but up for a team that has endured seven straight losing seasons, and still hasn’t gotten out of rebuild mode despite the presence of Paul Skenes and an overall enviable amount of pitching depth.

Mariners Looking To Retain 2025 Roster, Add Bullpen Help

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After winning the AL West and reaching Game 7 of the ALCS, it isn’t surprising that the Mariners are looking to stick with a successful formula.  That means “ideally keeping as much of the group that we had last year, that we really believed in, together,” general manager Justin Hollander told the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other reporters at the GM Meetings this week.

“Our offseason is largely going to start with the guys who were on the team last year and try to bring as many back as possible,” Hollander said, with the M’s “then filling in the rest of the roster as required.”  To this end, Hollander said the team has been in contact with the agents for their six free agents — Josh Naylor, Jorge Polanco, Eugenio Suarez, Caleb Ferguson, Luke Jackson, and Mitch Garver.

“I think they know how we feel, and don’t really believe in progress or no progress,” Hollander said.  “When you get to a deal, you get to a deal, but I think everybody’s aware of where we’re at right now and that we do have interest, and we’ll just keep playing it day by day until we can get deals or have to pivot elsewhere.”

Hollander naturally didn’t give any hints about the details of these negotiations, though logic would dictate that the Mariners won’t be re-signing all six players.  The M’s have been open about their desire to retain Naylor, so the common belief is that Naylor and Polanco are the most likely internal free agents to re-up for new contracts, while the other four will probably be playing elsewhere in 2026.

The potential departures of Ferguson and Jackson coincide with Seattle’s desire to add to its bullpen, which Hollander said was another “area of focus for us this offseason.”  Led by star closer Andres Munoz, the Mariners’ relief corps was more solid than a surefire plus in 2025, as the club’s collective 3.72 ERA (ninth of 30 teams) was undermined by control problems and middling strikeout numbers.  Beyond these numbers, Hollander also acknowledged “the realities that our high-leverage group just worked really hard for an extra month of the season.  We would be silly not to expect that to take a toll over time….Making the bullpen deeper and longer is important.”

Adding relief help of any kind is the priority, yet Divish feels the Mariners might make a point of adding a southpaw.  Gabe Speier is currently the only left-hander projected to be part of Seattle’s bullpen, and minor leaguers Jhonathan Diaz and Tayler Saucedo are the only other southpaws on the Mariners’ 40-man roster.

Austin Nola To Become Mariners’ Bullpen Coach

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Catcher Austin Nola is expected to rejoin Seattle’s organization as bullpen coach, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Nola will be released from the minor league deal he signed with Atlanta last month, adds Nightengale. The transition into coaching suggests Nola is wrapping up his playing career after six MLB seasons. Seattle has yet to announce the hiring.

Tony Arnerich served as Seattle’s bullpen coach and catching instructor last season. He was initially hired as hitting coach in 2022, a role he held for two seasons. Arnerich was moved to the bullpen position in 2024. The Mariners have yet to announce any change to Arnerich’s role or any other adjustments to the coaching staff.

Nola was drafted by the Marlins in 2012. He spent seven seasons in the minors with the organization, never reaching the big leagues. Nola signed a minor league deal with the Mariners ahead of the 2019 season, and he would make his major league debut later that year. He stepped into semi-regular playing time in a versatile role with Seattle, making starts at catcher, first base, second base, third base, and right field. Nola slashed a solid .269/.342/.454 over 79 games that season.

Nola was dealt to the Padres in the middle of the 2020 campaign. The seven-player deal featured mostly part-time players, though Seattle netted reliever Andres Munoz in the return. Munoz had just 23 MLB innings under his belt at the time, but would go on to become a fixture in the Mariners’ bullpen, earning All-Star nods the past two seasons.

San Diego received decent production from Nola across multiple seasons. He posted a 101 wRC+ over 56 games in 2021. Nola mostly played catcher, along with a handful of appearances in the infield. Nola took over as the Padres’ primary backstop in 2022, setting career highs in games (110) and plate appearances (397) while recording a .649 OPS. After hitting just .146 over 52 games in 2023, Nola found himself in Triple-A. He didn’t reach the majors in 2024, spending the year in Kansas City’s minor league system. Nola latched on with Colorado this past season. He went 7-for-41 in a brief stint with the Rockies. Nola was designated for assignment and then outrighted off the 40-man roster in August.

If this is it for Nola, he’ll conclude his playing career with a .247/.323/.364 slash line across 1,237 plate appearances. He hit 24 home runs and chipped in three stolen bases.

Guardians Hire Andy McKay As Field Coordinator

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The Guardians are adding Andy McKay to their coaching staff with the title of field coordinator, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. That job was previously held by Kai Correa, who departed last month to become bench coach for the Mets.

McKay has had an interesting career, oscillating between coaching and front office roles. He had been a coach in college ball for a number of years, before working for the Rockies in the minors as peak performance coordinator. Then he spent a long time working in the Mariners’ player development department, getting hired in October of 2015. That was not long after Jerry Dipoto had become Seattle’s general manager. Dipoto and McKay had worked together with the Rockies.

Going into the 2022 season, McKay was added to Seattle’s uniformed coaching staff with the title of major league coach and senior director of baseball development. However, as noted by Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, he had to pivot back to the front office during spring training when his replacement left. One year later, he was promoted to assistant general manager. A year ago, the Mariners added vice president to his title.

“It’s sad for me, but I’m thrilled for him,” Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said of today’s news, per Divish. It’s noted by Divish that McKay has held his desire to coach since his collegiate coaching days. He almost got the chance with Seattle a few years ago but it didn’t work out.

He’ll now get to join a big league coaching staff in Cleveland, working under manager Stephen Vogt. The Guardians also lost their bench coach/associate manager when Craig Albernaz became manager of the Orioles, so perhaps another hiring is still to come.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Mariners, Randy Dobnak Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners and right-hander Randy Dobnak have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to big league camp, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The righty is represented by Gaeta Sports Management.

Dobnak, 31 in January, just got to the end of an early-career extension that didn’t really pan out. Once an undrafted free agent who was playing indy ball and driving an Uber, he landed with the Twins and climbed all the way up to the majors. Over the 2019 and 2020 seasons, he tossed 75 innings for Minnesota, allowing 3.12 earned runs per nine. His 15.7% strikeout rate was pretty low but he posted a 5.7% walk rate and also got grounders at a high rate of 58.8%.

At the start of the 2021 season, the Twins and Dobnak agreed to a five-year, $9.25MM extension. From the team perspective, that was a tiny amount of money, even for a lower-spending club like the Twins. But for Dobnak, considering his humble origins, that was massive.

Unfortunately, it didn’t really work out for the club. Dobnak’s ERA shot up to 7.64 in 2021. He has largely been kept in the minors since then. He didn’t pitch in the big leagues at all in 2022 or 2023, followed by just five appearances last year and one in 2025. The Twins shipped him to the Tigers at the deadline as part of the Chris Paddack trade, seemingly just to get the remainder of the money owed to Dobnak off their books. The Tigers kept him in the minors and then declined a club option for 2026, giving Dobnak a $1MM buyout instead.

For the Mariners, there’s no harm in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal, giving them some non-roster pitching depth. Dobnak’s recent minor league work hasn’t been great but he has continued to get grounders on roughly half the balls in play he’s allowed. If he’s added to the 40-man roster at any point, he’s still optionable. That’s because the Twins usually outrighted him completely off the 40-man roster, as opposed to just optioning him to the minors.

Photo courtesy of Tim Vizer, Imagn Images

Mariners Claim Ryan Loutos From Nationals

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The Mariners claimed reliever Ryan Loutos off waivers from the Nationals, per a team announcement. The move brings Seattle’s 40-man roster count to 38.

Loutos joins the fourth organization of his career. He’s a former undrafted free agent signee of the Cardinals who debuted with St. Louis in 2024. He made three appearances. The Cards designated him for assignment in April and traded him to the Dodgers for cash. Loutos didn’t spend much time in L.A. (though he’ll collect a World Series ring for his brief stop), as he made just two big league appearances. The Dodgers lost him on waivers to the Nats in June.

The 6’5″ righty pitched ten times for the Nationals. He allowed 16 runs (12 earned) with six walks and strikeouts apiece over nine innings. He had a better season in Triple-A, where he combined for 43 2/3 innings of 3.50 ERA ball. Loutos recorded a league average 22.8% strikeout rate while walking a little over 10% of opponents in the minors. He averages 95 MPH on his heater and has a slider and changeup.

There’s minimal cost for the Mariners in using an open roster spot to stash Loutos as bullpen depth. There’s no guarantee he’ll stick on the 40-man all offseason. If he does, he can be sent to Triple-A Tacoma without going on waivers. Loutos still has one minor league option remaining.

Mariners Acquire Cole Wilcox From Rays

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The Mariners have acquired right-hander Cole Wilcox from the Rays in exchange for cash considerations, per announcements from both clubs. The righty had been designated for assignment by the Rays earlier in the week. The M’s had 40-man space thanks to players recently becoming free agents.

Wilcox, now 26, came to the Rays in the December 2020 trade which sent Blake Snell to San Diego. The righty required Tommy John surgery in September of 2021, which wiped out most of his 2022. In the following two years, the Rays kept developing him as a starter in the minors, with fairly uninspiring results. In 250 1/3 innings over those two seasons, he had a 4.28 earned run average, 19.8% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate.

In 2025, he was used primarily as a reliever, which seemed to help him find a new gear. He tossed 58 1/3 innings over 39 appearances on the farm with a 3.70 ERA. His 10.8% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 25.1% of batters faced and got grounders on 50.3% of balls in play. The Rays added him to the 40-man in September and he tossed one big league inning, allowing three earned runs.

With the injured list going away this week, the Rays needed to open up some roster space and Wilcox was one of the casualties. Conversely, the Mariners had a few open roster spots and have used one to grab Wilcox. Seattle has a pretty good track record of coaxing good results from low-profile pickups like this, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Wilcox flourish with his new club. Even if that is setting expectations too high, he has a full slate of options and can serve as a depth arm in Triple-A.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Jorge Polanco Declines Player Option

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Infielder Jorge Polanco is now a free agent, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Heyman says Polanco is turning down an $8MM mutual option but Polanco actually converted that to a $6MM player option during the season. Regardless of the details, the larger point is that Polanco is heading back to the open market, collecting a $750K buyout on his way out the door.

The decision is not a surprise. Polanco is coming off a tremendous bounceback season. He stepped to the plate 524 times and hit 26 home runs. His .265/.326/.495 batting line translated to a 132 wRC+, his best offensive performance over a full season in his career.

It wasn’t a perfect season. Ongoing knee problems kept him mostly in the designated hitter spot, though he appeared to get healthier as the year wore on. He made just 34 starts at second base but most of those were after the All-Star break, including 15 in September.

He undoubtedly has more earning power now than he did a year ago, despite being a year older. The aforementioned knee problems limited him to just 118 games with a rough .213/.296/.355 slash line and 93 wRC+. He underwent knee surgery in October. Despite that poor showing and uncertain health status, the Mariners still re-signed him to a one-year deal with a $7.75MM guarantee. That came in the form of a $7MM salary plus a $750K buyout on an $8MM mutual option. Polanco could convert that to a $6MM player option with 450 plate appearances, which he easily topped.

His better platform season and improved health outlook should line him up for a better deal, likely with multiple years, so turning down one year and $6MM is an easy call. The Mariners have interest in bringing him back but he will have other suitors as well and Seattle may be prioritizing a Josh Naylor reunion.

Photo courtesy of Jordan Godfree, Imagn Images

Mariners Exercise Andres Munoz’s 2026 Club Option

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The Mariners exercised their $6MM club option on Andres Munoz’s services for the 2026 season, according to reporter Francys Romero.  The total value of the option is actually $7MM, as Munoz unlocked four $250K bonuses based on his number of games finished in 2025.

There was zero suspense in the Mariners’ decision, as Munoz has become one of baseball’s top closers.  An All-Star in each of the past two seasons, Munoz posted a 1.73 ERA and 32.7% strikeout rate over 62 1/3 innings while recording 38 saves.  While he has a penchant for issuing walks, that’s the only blemish on an otherwise excellent resume for the hard-throwing righty.

The four-year, $7.5MM extension Munoz signed with the Mariners back in November 2021 has proven to be quite a bargain for the team.  The guaranteed portion of the extension is now through, but the M’s still control Munoz through 2028 via three club option years.  The 2027 option is worth $8MM and the 2028 option is worth $10MM, with more bonus money available based on games finished.

Between exercising Munoz’s option and declining their end of Mitch Garver’s mutual option yesterday, the Mariners have already completed a pretty easy slate of club-related options.  The one remaining option outside of the team’s hands is Jorge Polanco’s $6MM player option for 2026, and it is expected that Polanco will choose to re-enter free agency on the heels of a strong season.

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