Josh Naylor is authoring an adorable rewrite of Mariners' 2022 trade deadline

The Mariners’ 2022 trade deadline will always live in Seattle lore as the big swing for Luis Castillo. A moment the front office stopped flirting with contention and actually walked up to it. But here we are in 2026, and Josh Naylor is out here trying to convince us the real franchise-altering move from that stretch was… a dog.

Naylor literally shouted out Tucker — yes, Tucker the Mariners clubhouse dog — as part of the reason he wanted to stay in Seattle when he re-signed in November. And if you’ve been watching Spring Training clips, you know he wasn’t joking. Naylor and Tucker have been inseparable in the “this is my emotional support franchise” way — treats, scritches, hanging around like it’s a daily routine instead of a cute one-off. 

Josh Naylor and Tucker are turning Mariners spring training into an adorable daily bit

Which is where the 2022 rewrite gets interesting, because Tucker showed up right after the deadline dust settled. The Mariners revealed they’d adopted Tucker on August 6, 2022, framing it like a “major roster addition” for the playoff push.  And yeah, that was only days after the Castillo blockbuster (officially announced August 2). 

So now, in Naylor’s version of events, you can squint and see a domino line: you buy at the deadline, the vibes get real, the team adopts a clubhouse dog, the culture gets stickier, and eventually a player like Naylor joins in 2025, takes one look around and goes, “Yeah… I’m not leaving this.” 

We’re not saying Tucker was bigger than Castillo. We’re just saying Tucker might’ve been the secret sauce that made the whole era feel like something worth committing to.

Also, can we talk about Naylor’s ongoing love letter to Seattle sports? The guy has been treating spring like a runway for home-team gear — rocking the kind of jersey rotation that screams Seahawks/Sonics/Storm loyalty even when it’s not game day. Seattle eats that up. The city doesn’t ask you to be corny, it just asks you to mean it.

And while we’re in our “Mariners are adorable now” era: yes, it’s extremely cool that Seattle also has a team shark named Chum — the tracker-fitted hammerhead tied to Bryce Miller’s whole bit. But let’s be honest, Tucker is a little more approachable than a hammerhead that’s been spotted casually cruising off the Delaware coast.

Tucker is the glue. The teammate you actually want in your dugout, not the one you respect from a safe distance while checking the shoreline.

Some franchises collect trophies. The Mariners, apparently, collect reasons to stay.