Mariners have every reason to reorient offseason around keeping Randy Arozarena

This year has been pretty disappointing for pretty much every Mariner except for Randy Arozarena. He leads all qualified left fielders in fWAR (4.0) and wRC+ (145) and 2026 has surpassed 2021 as being the most productive year of his big league career. While everyone else in Seattle has undershot their expectations, he's one of the few to have exceeded his.

Unfortunately for the team, he'll be hitting free agency at the end of the year which should make a reunion a top priority for the front office.

Retaining Randy Arozarena should help the Mariners start 2027 off on the right foot

Seattle has long been plagued by accusations that its environment prevents even the best players from being successful at the plate. Look no further than Taylor Ward as the most recent example of a slugger whose abilities seem to have disappeared since arriving in the Emerald City. However, Arozarena seems to be immune to this problem. Since being acquired at the 2024 trade deadline, his OPS+ has never been lower than 117 in a season.

In fact, his cumulative wRC+ for the Mariners since 2024 is 130, higher than any other player with more than 200 plate appearances for the team over that same span. This includes Cal Raleigh (128) and Dominic Canzone (125).

Though he hasn't been elite in any one particular offensive category, his well-rounded approach at the plate has made him a tough assignment for opposing pitchers nonetheless. His average exit velocity of 90.7 mph and launch angle sweet spot rate of 37.0% give him just enough power and lift to hit home runs even if his bat speed is below average.

Defense has always been his weakness. He has a reputation for making some flashy catches but many of them are made to seem more difficult because of poor positioning or bad routes. He has only ever posted a positive Outs Above Average figure in 2021 and consistently ranks in the bottom quartile for outfielders by the metric. Even so, he still has a penchant for making stylish home run robberies.

He's far from a perfect player or even a superstar but what makes him unique is that he seems to be one of the few hitters that has found a way to be consistently successful. Josh Naylor impressed the organization enough to secure a five-year contract from Seattle, but his first full year hasn't been nearly as exciting as advertised. Arozarena has done it over more than 1,500 plate appearances for the Mariners. Whatever the secret is, he knows it.

There is a question of whether there will be room on the payroll and given his success, he's likely aiming for a contract worth at least $100 million over five years. This should be doable for Seattle as it wouldn't be much more than what the team is paying him this year. Furthermore, J.P. Crawford's $12 million salary will come off the books once he becomes a free agent and it would take a miracle for the Mariners to pick up Víctor Robles's $9 million team option instead of taking the $500,000 buyout.

Other salaries will increase modestly with arbitration, especially for their rotation, and that could mean that a contract for Randy Arozarena would push Seattle's spending to be higher than usual. Although concerning at first, it may be needed after what has been an incredibly disappointing season.

For fans, the burden of proof has fallen on ownership once again to demonstrate that they care about building a winning team and fielding a competitive roster. They fell short this past offseason as well as at the deadline and will need to make bigger moves to earn back trust. It won't come cheap, but what better way to do that than to bring back the team's only glimmer of hope this year?

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