Mariners should count themselves lucky after huge Pirates free agent rumor

Now that the Winter Meetings are well underway, rumors and hearsay have filled the information super highway, at least the MLB portion of it. The Mariners are staying active and even after getting two major deals done before the meetings started, Seattle is still be linked to all sorts of players. They still have plenty of work to do if they want to hit the ground running in 2026, but recent reports suggest they've already being rewarded for being proactive early.

Based on recent reports, the Pirates are willing to spend big for free agent sluggers this offseason and could've poached Josh Naylor

In a surprising report for The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal reported that in a surprise twist, the Pirates of all organizations made an offer north of $100 million for Kyle Schwarber. For a franchise whose largest free agent contract was Francisco Liriano's $39 million contract in 2014, this is an unprecedented move. It's probably not enough for them to land one of the best designated hitters of the past two years, but the fact that they're willing to shell out some real cash for a player with no defensive value is a real paradigm shift for Pittsburgh.

For the Mariners, this means that they could've had another competitor to fend off for Josh Naylor. There were already reports that the Pirates were in hot pursuit of his services and, while there isn't any information on how much Pittsburgh was willing to pay for Naylor, they seemingly could have gone beyond the $92.5 million that Seattle ultimately ended up offering him over five years.

Had Seattle missed out on Naylor, the tone for the remainder of the offseason and 2026 could've been very different. Aside from Pete Alonso, who is comfortably out of the Mariners' financial ballpark, Naylor was really the only appealing free agent at first base. The two Japanese infielders, Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto, could have fit the bill, but they're still unproven in the major leagues and it looks like their red flags are too much for Seattle to be interested in either of them. The Mariners could've also coordinated a trade but that would've cost valuable prospect equity and still wouldn't have netted a player as valuable as Naylor.

It is important to acknowledge that financial terms aside, Naylor was excited to be back in Seattle, which may have been the primary reason he re-signed so quickly. In his initial press conference, he spoke at length at how much he intrinsically enjoyed his time on the Mariners despite only being on the team for a few months.

So, who knows? Maybe it would've taken a number too large for Pittsburgh's liking to pry Naylor away from the Mariners. Thanks to the success of last year's time and the "SoDo Mojo," Seattle secured the player they needed to compete for World Series once more in 2026.