{"id":296317,"date":"2025-11-17T03:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/296317\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T03:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:42:09","slug":"2025-26-mlb-free-agency-trade-grades-offseason-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/296317\/","title":{"rendered":"2025-26 MLB free agency, trade grades: Offseason analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bradford Doolittle<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Bradford Doolittle<\/p>\n

ESPN Staff WriterMLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com
\nFormer NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com
\nBeen with ESPN since 2013<\/p>\n

David Schoenfield<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

David Schoenfield<\/p>\n

ESPN Senior WriterCovers MLB for ESPN.com
\nFormer deputy editor of Page 2
\nBeen with ESPN.com since 1995Nov 16, 2025, 09:56 PM ET<\/p>\n

It’s hot stove season! The 2025-26 MLB offseason<\/a> is officially here, and we have you covered with grades and analysis for every major signing and trade this winter.<\/p>\n

Whether it’s a big-money free agent signing that changes the course of your team’s future or a blockbuster trade, we’ll weigh in with what it all means, for next season and beyond.<\/p>\n

ESPN MLB experts Bradford Doolittle and David Schoenfield will evaluate each move as it happens, so follow along here — this story will continue to be updated. Check back in for the freshest analysis through the start of spring training.<\/p>\n

Related links: Tracker<\/a> | Top 50 free agents<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The deal: Five years<\/p>\n

Grade: A-<\/p>\n

If there was an award for free agent prediction most to likely come true, Naylor returning to the Seattle Mariners<\/a> would have been the front-runner, so it’s hardly a surprise that this is the first significant signing of the offseason (pending a physical). As soon as the Mariners’ season ended with that heartbreaking loss in Game 7 of the ALCS, the front office made it clear that re-signing Naylor was its top priority. Such public vocalizations at that level are rare — and the Mariners backed them up with a five-year contract.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n

2 Related<\/p>\n

It’s easy to understand why they wanted Naylor back. The Mariners have been searching for a long-term solution at first base for, oh, going on 20 years — really, since they traded John Olerud in 2004. Ty France<\/a> gave them a couple solid seasons in 2021 and 2022, but since 2005 only Pirates first basemen have produced a lower OPS than Seattle’s.<\/p>\n

Naylor, meanwhile, came over at the trade deadline from Arizona and provided a huge spark down the stretch, hitting .299\/.341\/.490 with nine home runs and 33 RBIs in 54 games, good for 2.2 WAR. Including his time with the Diamondbacks, he finished at .295\/.353\/.462 with 20 home runs in 2025. Given the pitcher-friendly nature of T-Mobile Park, it’s not easy to attract free-agent hitters to Seattle, but Naylor spoke about how he loves hitting there. The numbers back that up: In 43 career games at T-Mobile, he’s hit .304 and slugged .534.<\/p>\n

Importantly for a Seattle lineup that is heavy on strikeouts, Naylor is a high-contact hitter in the middle of the order; he finished with the 17th-best strikeout rate among qualified hitters in 2025. Naylor’s entire game is a bit of an oxymoron. He ranks in just the seventh percentile in chase rate but still had a nearly league-average walk rate (46th percentile) with an excellent contact rate. He can’t run (third percentile!) but stole 30 bases in 32 attempts, including 19-for-19 after joining the Mariners. He doesn’t look like he’d be quick in the field, but his Statcast defensive metrics have been above average each of the past four seasons.<\/p>\n

He’s not a star — 3.1 WAR in 2025 was a career high — but he’s a safe, predictable player to bank on for the next few years. This deal runs through his age-33 season, so maybe there’s some risk at the end of the contract, but for a team with World Series aspirations in 2026, the Mariners needed to bring Naylor back. The front office will be happy with this signing and so will Mariners fans. — David Schoenfield<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bradford Doolittle Close Bradford Doolittle ESPN Staff WriterMLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com Former NBA writer and analyst…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-296317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}