Seattle Mariners to re-sign Canadian Josh Naylor to multi-year contract
Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
The Seattle Mariners and free agent first baseman Josh Naylor are in the final stages of working out a multi-year contract.
According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Mariners are re-signing Mississauga native Josh Naylor to a five-year contract.
BREAKING: First baseman Josh Naylor and the Seattle Mariners are finalizing a five-year contract, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN. The first major free agent to sign this winter goes back to Seattle, where he was beloved after joining the Mariners in a deadline trade.
The deal will become official when Naylor passes a physical, according to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.
Source confirms: Free-agent first baseman Josh Naylor in agreement with Mariners on five-year contract, pending physical.
WHDH's Ari Alexander reports that the contract is in the range of $90MM-$100MM. Naylor is represented by ISE Baseball.
League source confirms the #Mariners are finalizing a 5-year deal with 1B Josh Naylor. Source tells me the deal is in the $90-100 million range.
Naylor's five-year deal longest free-agent signing since former Blue Jay Robbie Ray
The five-year length of Naylor's contract also matches the longest free agent deal the Mariners have given out during Jerry Dipoto's decade in charge of Seattle's baseball operations department.
The Mariners inked former Blue Jays Cy Young award winner Robbie Ray to a five-year, $115MM pact during the 2021-22 offseason.
Former Jays lefty Yusei Kikuchi's four-year, $56MM deal in January 2019 were the only free agent deals of the Dipoto era to exceed even two years.
Naylor proceeded to hit .299/.341/.490 with nine homers and 19 stolen bases (without a single caught stealing) over 210 regular-season plate appearances for the M's, and he followed that up with a .340/.392/.574 slash line over 51 postseason PA.
"Naylor was an excellent fit in Seattle right from the moment he arrived at the Trade Deadline. He changed that lineup..." - Jon Morosi
Adding this type of pop into the lineup was perhaps the primary reason the Mariners won the AL West, and then outlasted the Tigers in the ALDS before falling just short of the first World Series berth in franchise history in losing the ALCS to the Blue Jays in seven games.
Naylor turns 29 in June, so his contract will run through his age-33 season.
There has been some league-wide hesitancy in recent years about giving major contracts to first base-only players (especially as those players enter their 30's), yet Naylor's production outside of just his stretch run with the Mariners makes him a solid choice for a five-year investment.
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