Josh Naylor is already awakening trauma of past Mariners free agent busts

For all the Mariners players who contributed towards last season's success, we've always maintained Josh Naylor was the main factor in helping take the franchise closer than ever been to a first World Series berth, thanks to his Energizer Bunny rabbit routine. However, so far in 2026 he's been more akin to a battery-depleted hare, hopping lethargically from one series to the next versus the Guardians, Yankees and Angels.

Heading into Monday's road series opener versus the Rangers, Naylor is just 5-for-40 -- with all five hits being singles -- resulting in some pretty ugly looking statistics such as a -0.4 bWAR and 1 OPS+. Meanwhile, his average exit velocity of 86.0 mph would translate to a career low. He couldn't look any more different than the player who burst onto the scene in Seattle following his trade from the Diamondbacks in late July, resulting in a certain segment of the Mariners fanbase being taking down a well-travelled path to previous traumas.

Relax, Mariners fans. Josh Naylor is not the second coming of Chone Figgins.

The reality is the Mariners don't exactly have a rich history with free agent signings, only further playing into the ongoing belief by some that the franchise is cursed after mostly disappointment and heartbreak during their 50 years of existence. As much as fans were right to be excited when the M's agreed a five-year, $92.5 million deal with Naylor during the offseason, there was similar excitement when the organization signed the likes of Robbie Ray and Chone Figgins to long-term contracts.

In fairness to Ray, he did pitch well at times during his one full season in Seattle, but overall it still played out terribly for someone coming off a Cy Young in Toronto and signed to a five-year, $115 million deal. It's even more unnerving when someone on social media is comparing Naylor to Figgins, who did jack squat for the Mariners after agreeing a four-year, $36 million contract.

From our perspective though, we do genuinely suspect that Naylor is going to be just fine, and not just because he's a better teammate and clubhouse presence when compared to someone like Figgins. (Allegedly, but also really. Who can forget his argument with then-manager Don Wakamatsu after being removed from a game due to a lack of hustle, which almost caused a bawl in the Mariners dugout.)

If nothing else, Naylor's unlike other struggling Mariners hitters in that he's still making a ton of contact. He managed to hit a two-out, two-RBI single in extra innings on Friday night in Anaheim to score what turned out to be the winning runs, and he was a Jo Adell Superman impression away from tying Saturday evening's game versus the Angels in the eighth inning:

Another reason for optimism is that Naylor is not panicking too much, particularly evidenced in ranking in the 92nd percentile for K%, which would translate to a career-low 11.4 percent strikeout rate. So, as much as it's fair game if people want to call him out on a dreadfully slow start, let's also not forget there's a long, long, long way to go yet, before being any justification to even contemplate adding him to the list of free agents signings in Seattle who went on to traumatise Mariners fans.