Recent option decision clears Mariners' way to an overlooked infield solution

The Seattle Mariners’ offseason to-do list is pretty straightforward: solve first base for the long haul (with a strong lean toward re-signing Josh Naylor), find a real third base answer to replace Eugenio Suárez, reinforce the bullpen with a trustworthy left-hander, and decide what to do at backup catcher. 

That’s the board. And right as Seattle stacks those priorities, the market quietly offered a piece that can check multiple boxes without forcing a prospects-for-rentals trade. Ha-Seong Kim, newly back on the open market, represents an efficient way to stabilize third while preserving flexibility everywhere else on the dirt.

Kim is back on the board after declining his $16 million option with Atlanta, the end point of a weird, injury-delayed year that began with a two-year deal in Tampa Bay, included a September waiver claim by the Braves, and now resets his market again. 

Mariners may see new infield lane emerge after Ha-Seong Kim’s opt-out

The news matters in Seattle because it reopens a door the Mariners cracked last winter and never truly closed. If they want a utility infielder who can play third base and also stabilize the middle in a pinch, this is the cleanest path to doing it. 

Context helps here. Kim missed the first half of 2025 while rehabbing after right shoulder labrum surgery, finally debuting for the Rays in early July and then battling a couple of minor setbacks before Atlanta scooped him up in September. Net result: only 48 games to judge, which should keep sticker shock in check, but not enough to erase what he was pre-injury: a Gold Glove defender with on-base feel, contact skills, and sneaky pop.

That profile fit Seattle 12 months ago; given how the roster looks today — and how the market for true two-way infielders always thins out quickly — it arguably fits even better now. 

Start with the job description. Make Kim your primary third baseman, then use his versatility as a pressure valve. He can spell J.P. Crawford at short against certain righties, mix with Cole Young at second on matchup days, and generally give Dan Wilson a way to keep bats fresh without punting defense. (Yes, that’s the same logic that made him a Mariners talking point last winter.)

This isn’t about displacing Young or blocking Ryan Bliss; it’s about raising the infield floor while those bats mature and while Colt Emerson sprints toward his inevitable debut. The payoff: crisper run prevention, more competitive at-bats in the bottom third, and fewer series where Seattle plays from behind because two grounders weren’t turned. 

Now, a reasonable pushback. “Isn’t this just a right-handed Adam Frazier 2.0?” 

Not really. Frazier’s 2022 showed what happens when soft contact meets T-Mobile’s marine layer; Kim’s batted-ball shape has actually trended the other way. His average exit velocity tracks in Frazier territory, but his hard-hit rate spiked from 26.7 percent in 2023 to 43.3 percent in 2025 — and he did that in just 48 games while ramping back from shoulder surgery. In a small 2025 sample, the eye test matched the trend line: a right-handed swing with enough carry to play in Seattle when he’s on time.

Factor in the league’s shift restrictions (since 2023), and you’re not betting on BABIP luck, you’re betting on league-average thump plus elite glovesmanship across three spots. That’s a very different wager than the Adam Frazier experiment, an All-Star contact bat in Pittsburgh whose impact thinned out in San Diego and Seattle.

And yes, there are kids here who deserve runway. Young popped real impact in short bursts in his first year, Bliss’ bat speed flashes loud when he’s on time, and Emerson is pounding on the door. None of that should scare Seattle off a short-term bridge that tightens the defense and shortens games for a staff built to win. 

If the front office structures it right, think two years with an opt-out and strong 2026 incentives tied to games played, Kim complements the wave rather than blocks it.

The medical file is the trick. That's why the price could be palatable. But the macro story hasn’t changed: when he’s on the field, he helps you win every night in ways this roster has openly craved. 

Seattle doesn’t need a savior; it needs fewer pressure points. Kim gives them three positions of plus defense, a contact-forward bat trending toward more authoritative contact, and the roster elasticity to let their younger infielders grow into everyday roles on a winning team. If the price reflects the 48-game question mark, that’s precisely why the Mariners should move, before an infield solution hiding in plain sight becomes someone else’s bargain.