Mariners’ Quiet Offseason Is Haunting Them Early On in 2025

The Seattle Mariners’ 2025 season hasn’t started off on the right foot. With a 5-8 record heading into action on Thursday, they’ve struggled to score runs, stop runs and win ball games in the early going.

It would be nice to say that it’s still early (which it is) and not to panic. After all, we’re just two weeks into the six-month marathon. Unfortunately, if you paid attention over the offseason, this slow start likely isn’t a shocking surprise.

The Mariners’ most significant offseason signing was infielder Jorge Polanco. No, don’t refresh your page, that’s not a misprint. Despite needing to fill some glaring holes in the lineup, general manager Justin Hollander made minimal moves over the winter.

In mid-December, Hollander reassured everyone that the Mariners would be active after a quiet first six weeks.

“We usually don’t lack for activity,” Hollander said, per MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer. “There just hasn’t been the right set of circumstances yet to allow us to add, but I’m confident we’ll get there.”

It turned out that adding 37-year-old infielder Donovan Solano on a one-year deal and re-signing Polanco to a $7.75 million deal was the extent of Seattle’s offseason major league signings. At least they got Polanco for cheaper than the $12 million option the team declined, if you want to count that as a win.

What did the Mariners Attempt to Do This Offseason?

The short answer is not much.

Despite having some holes to plug in the infield, the Mariners were never seriously considered as landing spots for the major free agents.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal said in November that it would be an upset (subscription required) if Seattle turned out to be a serious candidate for the top free-agent corner infielders. That took third baseman Alex Bregman and first basemen Pete Alonso and Christian Walker off the table.

While not in on the Bregman sweepstakes, the Mariners reportedly had “legitimate traction toward a trade” for Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner, according to Kramer. They also “kicked the tires” on former NL MVP Cody Bellinger.

Neither move happened, obviously.

The Mariners settled for a second year with Polanco, who was coming off his worst season in the majors.

What’s Gone Wrong for the Mariners Early?

So far, in the young season, the Mariners are feeling the sting of their quiet offseason.

The good news is that Polanco is slashing .370/.393/.593 with a pair of home runs and 10 RBI in 29 plate appearances. In eight games this season, he has already matched the 0.3 fWAR he amassed in 118 games in 2024.

The bad news?

Despite only playing in eight of the Mariners’ 13 games, Polanco is the team’s most productive hitter. His 10 RBIs lead the offense, with Randy Arozarena (nine) and Julio Rodriguez (seven) hot on his tail.

The Mariners’ offense spent most of last season ranked near the bottom of the majors in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS and strikeout rate. They finished 21st with 676 runs scored (that’s 4.17 runs/game).

This season hasn’t started out much better. They currently rank 21st with 44 runs scored (that’s 3.38 runs/game). They sit in the bottom-third of the league in batting average (.200, 29th), slugging percentage (.333, 24th), OPS (.636, 22nd) and wOBA (.290, 21st).

It certainly looks like the lineup could use the infusion of a big-name bat right about now.

The Pitching and Defense Hasn’t Exactly Helped

To make matters worse, the starting pitching hasn’t lived up to its preseason billing as the best rotation in the majors.

The starting five ranks 20th with a 4.55 ERA and sits in the middle of the pack with a 1.32 WHIP and .240 batting average against. That’s even with playing 10 of their first 13 games at home at T-Mobile Park, well-known to be the worst hitting environment in the majors.

There’s a glimmer of hope, however. Right-hander George Kirby began the year on the IL — his return sometime in May should provide a boost. Also, Seattle’s starters currently rank 15th with a 3.83 FIP and have the 13th-highest strikeout total at 64. A higher position on the leaderboards wouldn’t hurt, but the under-the-surface numbers suggest better days may be ahead.

Unfortunately, those numbers indicate that the defense behind Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo (both of them), Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo perhaps hasn’t held up its end of the bargain.

The Mariners’ defenders have the second-worst DRS (-9) and the third-worst OAA (-5). They finished 2024 with the eight-most defensive runs saved with 39, although they still carried -17 outs above average.

To the Mariners’ detriment, they plugged Polanco into the hole at third base. It’s difficult to comprehend what they expected from their primary offseason signing. The career below-average middle infielder has been below average at the hot corner. Even though he hasn’t committed any errors (if errors are even a thing anymore), he currently sports -2 DRS and -2 OAA in his 43 innings at third.

Mariners’ Quiet Offseason Might Have Already Sunk Postseason Hopes

As we established earlier, there are still five and half months of baseball left. That’s plenty of time for the Mariners to turn things around. But the longer they take to get into gear, the bigger the hill to climb will be in the topsy-turvy AL West.

Entering action on Thursday, the Mariners sit three games behind the Los Angeles Angels, who are off to a hot start at 7-4. The Texas Rangers are 9-4. The Houston Astros are 5-7. Even the Athletics have had a decent start as they also sit at 5-8.

None of the AL West teams have a run differential above zero, so it’s wide open in the early going. But without a legitimate offseason lineup upgrade, will the Mariners have enough firepower to support the pitching and keep pace?

Reaching the playoffs from the AL West will be tricky. FanGraphs gives the Mariners a 23.1 percent chance of grabbing a Wild Card and a 47.7 percent chance of making the postseason. They came into the year with a 60.4 percent chance of being a playoff team.

That should tell you all you need to know about how the early season has gone.

There’s a very real likelihood that Seattle’s quiet offseason derailed the team’s chances of returning to the playoffs in 2025 before they even took the field.

All stats updated prior to games on Thursday April 10.