Mariners miss out on potential star Free Agent hitter after he signs extension

It's not even the offseason and the Mariners have already lost out on potential free agents. On Wednesday night, a stunning Jeff Passan bomb was dropped, as he announced that the San Francisco Giants and upcoming free agent Matt Chapman had agreed on a 6YR/$151M extension to keep Chapman in the Bay area for the rest of his foreseeable career.

As a big believer in Matt Chapman, this completes a pretty brutal saga for Mariners fans and leaves more concerning questions that need to be answered.

Matt Chapman signed an extension with the Giants

Anyone who follows my writing or social media knows that I've been banging the drum for Chapman to Seattle since 2021. Once a prized asset by Jerry Dipoto, he was unable to acquire him from Oakland before he was traded to Toronto.

After a disappointing run in Toronto, Chapman was coming into Green agency off a down year statistically, although his Savant page screamed that he was due for a bounce back. Rumors carried deep into Spring Training that both the Mariners and Giants were interested in signing the slugger with the platinum glove before the Giants eventually locked him up on a unique contract that gave him potential outs if he produced.

While the Giants have disappointed in 2024, Matt Chapman has not. Chapman has once again proved he's a Hall of Fame caliber defender at 3B, but it's his reawakened bat at spacious Oracle Park that has led to his extension. Through 136 games, Chapman has produced a 6 WAR, a 121 OPS+ and 22 home run/33 double season. 

There's no other way around it, missing on Chapman, and missing on him multiple times, has deeply hurt the Mariners the last three seasons. The ALDS loss to Houston in 2022, missing the playoffs by one game last year, and the historic collapse here in 2024. I'm not saying Seattle would win three straight championships with Chapman, but I think the outlook of this team, front office, and ownership would look a lot different if they were able to have acquired or signed Chapman at those critical moments.

This frustration is only compounded by the fact that now an already weak 2025 free agent class on offense has weakened more so. There's a case to be made that Chapman was going to be the #2 ranked hitting free agent, behind Juan Soto. This leaves guys like Alex Bregman, Anthony Santander, and Pete Alonso as the biggest names after Soto. Yeah...I wouldn't get too attached to some of our talented prospects. We might be looking more at close to the big prospects than actual guys that have produced to help complete the lineup around Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh.

The options are limited this winter, assuming Seattle doesn't go all in on Soto (spoiler, they're not). The approval rating of this team and entire franchise is at an all-time low in the Jerry Dipoto era. I'm not sure how they dig themselves out of it (or if they'll be given that opportunity), but this Matt Chapman extension only makes that task more difficult