Mariners' Jorge Polanco plan falls apart after Mets pay absurd price

The Seattle Mariners didn’t lose Jorge Polanco because they forgot how useful he is. They lost him because the Mets walked into the room, threw $40 million on the table, and basically dared Seattle to flinch.

They flinched. First reported by Will Sammon of The Athletic,Polanco is headed to New York on a two-year, $40 million deal. For the Mariners, it’s a clean reminder of how this offseason has to work: you can have a plan, you can have interest, and still watch someone else pay a tax you’re not built to pay.

Mariners lose Jorge Polanco as Mets overpay to steal Seattle’s infield fix

What’s annoying is that Polanco earned the market. After a brutal, injury-heavy 2024, he turned 2025 into a full-on “my bad, I’m back” season: 138 games, .265 average, 26 homers, 78 RBI, .821 OPS.  This is a player cashing in on the exact kind of production that makes a front office ask, “Fine, what’s it going to take?”

Seattle tried to keep the door open. Polanco declined his $6 million player option for 2026 (with a buyout) specifically to test free agency, and the Mariners stayed engaged, right up until the numbers stopped making sense.  MLB.com even noted the gap: Polanco’s camp was believed to be chasing as much as four years and roughly $15 million per year — not exactly aligned with Seattle’s budget or their longer-term infield plans. 

The Mariners’ “reasonable reunion” idea — something closer to that $12–14M AAV projection range — got nuked by the Mets’ checkbook. 

Now the pivot gets real. Without Polanco, Seattle’s most straightforward path is leaning harder into the youth movement. Cole Young is the favorite to open 2026 at second base if they don’t add an outside infielder, with Ben Williamson and Colt Emerson among the names in the third-base mix. 

That might be the right baseball decision long-term. But in the short term? It still feels like the Mets just bought the simplest version of the Mariners’ offseason, and Seattle has to consider a more complicated one.