LAS VEGAS – The setting was different – one of the many convention ballrooms on the fourth floor of the Cosmopolitan – but the format, which could be likened to a mini media free-for-all, was somewhat the same as the last time general manager Justin Hollander answered questions about the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
“Well, hopefully I won’t cry this time,” Hollander said.
On Wednesday afternoon, front office leaders from each of the 15 American League teams convened in small unstructured pods as the 100 or so media members covering the MLB General Managers meetings wandered from executive to executive, asking questions – many big picture, a few team-specific and more than a few that were detailed and granular.
“I view this an opportunity where I could get fired so I’m going to avoid that,” joked Hollander.
The last time Hollander met with the media was Oct. 23 at T-Mobile Park, just three days after the Mariners lost Game 7 of the ALCS to the Toronto Blue Jays. The hurt and disappointment of falling a game short of the World Series, was apparent in the tone and the tears.
With a few weeks to decompress, the focus has turned to the season ahead. But the priorities Hollander listed back at T-Mobile have not changed.
“No changes,” he said. “Same goals, same priorities. I think No. 1 for us is ideally keeping as much of the group that we had last year, that we really believed in, together. And then filling in the rest of the roster as required. 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.”
Seattle officially lost six players from the 2025 season-ending roster – first baseman Josh Naylor, second baseman/designated hitter Jorge Polanco, third baseman Eugenio Suárez, catcher/designated hitter Mitch Garver, lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson and right-handed reliever Luke Jackson. Of that group, bringing back Naylor has been the stated top priority. The Mariners would also like to bring back Polanco and Suárez on the right deals.
While the Mariners had exclusive negotiating windows with all three, they did not reach a deal because the players wanted to test their value on the open market.
“Baseball is a little different than the other sports,” Hollander said. “These things take time. Everybody wants to understand what their market value is and who may or may not be interested. You just have to be a little patient through the process.”
Patience? In the Hot Stove? Well, that’s for executives and agents, not fans, who demand action now.
“We’ve engaged with all of the players that were free agents on our team,” Hollander said. “I don’t want to get into specifics with just Josh or anybody else, but we’ve talked to the reps for everybody. I think they know how we feel, and don’t really believe in progress or no progress. 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.”
There have been salary projections and guesses from outside sources for Naylor (4-years, $90 million), Polanco (2-years, $22 million) and Suárez (1-year, $15 million).
The Mariners have not been big players in the free-agent market much under Jerry Dipoto’s leadership. Garver’s 2-year, $24-million contract before the 2023 season was the largest given to a free agent position player under Dipoto’s watch. Though, they were willing to give Trevor Story a six-year, $140-million contract before the 2022 season.
But the Mariners understand what they are getting into with the back-and-forth of free agency. Hollander quoted Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers president of baseball operations:
“If you’re not prepared to get out of your comfort zone for free agency, then you’re probably not prepared for free agency,” Hollander said. “Like you have to know that it’s not a crowd source, it’s an auction to some degree. Players will not always take the highest bid, but sometimes they will, and you have to be prepared for that. And markets for players aren’t always in line with spreadsheets.”
There is an anticipation that an unexpected team will influence the process and the price tag in every market.
“Some teams may step out of their comfort zone,” Hollander said. “We have to be prepared to do that to a point. And if it gets beyond the point where we’re willing to do it, then we have to be prepared to go a different direction. But we’re a long way from that right now. We’re just sort of dipping our toe into what this market looks like and making sure the players that we’re interested in know we’re interested in them.”
Besides keeping or finding an impact bat to play first base along with an infielder that can play third base or second base, the Mariners are going to add some bullpen help.
“The bullpen will be an area of focus for us this offseason, both because of some of the attrition that took place during the year and the realities that our high-leverage group just worked really hard for an extra month of the season,” Hollander said. “We would be silly not to expect that to take a toll over time.”
Another lefty reliever that is capable of pitching in high leverage to help Gabe Speier would be ideal and at least another right-handed reliever if not two.
“Making the bullpen deeper and longer is important,” he said.
The Mariners likely will not address all those needs in free agency.
“I don’t think we’d be doing our job if we didn’t look at all the avenues to add players and considering how the roster can come together in a bunch of different ways,” Hollander said. “We’ll look at everything. Can we do it all through free agency? Maybe? Will we? I doubt it. I bet there will be a good portion of trades and free agents that are involved in our offseason.”
Also
Hollander confirmed reports that Austin Nola is returning to the organization as a bullpen coach. The addition was part of some staff attrition on the MLB coaching staff, but he would not elaborate why the position was open. There are still open windows for teams to interview coaches on the staff for job openings.
“We’ll announce them together once we have some clarity, but we will have changes,” Hollander said. “I don’t want to take the announcements away from the teams that may be taking employees from us. This is what happens when you’re good, your people get noticed. Good people get noticed. We will have changes. People are going to get opportunities to either move up a spot or sort of fulfill their career aspirations. And that’s a really good thing for the Mariners that we provided them a platform to do it.”
The biggest concern going into the offseason was the possibility of losing pitching coach Pete Woodworth and director of pitching strategy Trent Blank, who have been instrumental in the organization’s successful “pitching lab.”
Woodworth and Blank had expiring contracts after the season and were coveted by several teams. But the Mariners were able to keep both on staff.