Mariners Rumors: Interest in Adrian Morejon faces increasingly hard road to reality

This is the season for teams to be "interested in" players. And even if nobody should be holding their breath, you have to hand it to the Seattle Mariners for not aiming low. The interest in Seiya Suzuki seems real. And now, they're interested in Adrian Morejon as well.

This is according to Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, via the Marine Layer Podcast. Divish even says the Mariners are planning to check in with the 27-year-old lefty, which elevates this a tad above a garden-variety "interested in" rumor.

That Morejon is an ideal fit for Seattle's roster doesn't need much explanation. The bullpen was very bad in 2026, and he's the best relief pitcher on the market. If anything, his 161 ERA+ and 1.088 WHIP for the last three seasons doesn't do him proper justice. Per FanGraphs' Pitching+ metric, Morejon was the best reliever in baseball this year.

Jerry Dipoto has made no secret of his desire to add to the pen this winter, and he has indicated that free agency is the way to go about it. Signing Morejon would eat up most of the club's budget for new salaries, but maybe not all of it. As things stand now, there's a $21 million gap between what the Mariners spent in 2026 and what they project to spend in 2027.

One advantage the Mariners have is that they need not fear Morejon's qualifying offer. Assuming the next CBA keeps the current qualifying offer system -- which is not a given -- the Mariners would give up their third-highest pick in the 2027 draft after signing Morejon. But if Randy Arozarena signs with another team for over $50 million, they stand to recoup a pick after the first round.

The market may already be pushing Adrian Morejon away from the Mariners

All of this being said, early moves on the free agent market don't bode well for the Mariners even if they are serious about making a run at Morejon.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, reliever Evan Phillips was projected for a two-year, $24 million deal and actually got a three-year, $35 million contract from the Atlanta Braves. They also had Jake Bauers taking the $23.15 million attached to his qualifying offer from the Milwaukee Brewers. Instead, he signed with the Boston Red Sox for $58 million over four years on Friday.

So, the four-year, $80 million projection that MLBTR made for Morejon? It's looking conservative.

Adding Morejon even at that $80 projection would mark the third-biggest free agent signing in Dipoto's Mariners history. No matter how sound the roster fit is, it's just hard to see that happening for the sake of a reliever who's only going to be worth 2-3 WAR even in the best of times. And if the actual price tag is more like five years, $100 million, well, the dream only gets dreamier.

We don't speak for everyone, but the Mariners are probably better off going for Suzuki if they're going to spend $100 million on a free agent. Or, since his Red Sox avenue seems cut off now that Bauers is in Boston, maybe just circle back to Randy Arozarena and call his bluff on returning to the East Coast.

Of course, we say this at a moment when the Mariners still have these and other options for making a splash in free agency. If these options dry up and Morejon is still standing there waiting for a dance partner, maybe the Mariners will throw caution to the wind and go for it.

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