The Athletic links Mariners to 2024 Mets spark plug in free agency

As things stand, the Seattle Mariners roster is seemingly effectively set for the 2025 Major League season. Along these lines, this past weekend saw Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times share his projection for the M's opening day roster, and it's tough to argue with any of his choices as things stand heading into spring training.

However, what if there was another realistic move the Mariners could still make, which, while it wouldn't appease the fan base per se, would still represent a solid addition to the roster? Well, there may well be that player out there, at least according to The Athletic.

With around 50% of available free agents still unsigned in the 2025 class, there are plenty of options out there, with The Athletic's Chad Jennings finding a new home for a player on each of the 30 MLB team's (subscription required). For the Mariners specifically, Jennings went with Jose Iglesias.

Jose Iglesias is the infield bat the Mariners need for 2025

In fairness, this does actually make plenty of sense when you think about it, with Iglesias still searching for a new team after spending last season with the New York Mets. He has long been renowned for his excellent defense, and while he may no longer by a spring chicken, he still has a strong arm and good reflexes, combined with an excellent baseball IQ and extensive experience after 12 years in the Majors.

The 35-year-old has spent most of his Major League career playing at shortstop, but last season made the move to second base, while also seeing increased playing time at third base. As Jennings points out, he would add stability to a Mariners infield with plenty of questions remaining, which in turn would allow Dylan Moore to return to his role as a super-utility player.

Iglesias should also be able to help the Mariners offensively. He has a decent ability to make contact with a career slash line of .283/.323/.386.

Last season was an interesting one for the 2015 MLB All-Star, in that he had a stellar .380 batting average and .999 OPS at the All-Star Break, albeit he only started playing for the Mets at the end of May after beginning the year in Triple-A Syracuse. In any event, he ended the campaign with a .337 batting average and .830 OPS (as well as a 137 OPS+), finishing the season with a career-best 3.1 WAR in 85 games.

As always with the Mariners though it will come down to money, although in theory they still have around $3.75 million of their alleged $15 million spare payroll available following the signings of Donovan Solano and Jorge Polanco. Further, Iglesias' deal last season with the Mets was for $1.5 million.

In this respect though, you do have to factor in that Iglesias did have a bounce-back season of sorts last year in New York. In addition, as per Pat Ragazzo of Sports Illustrated, the Mets did make a one-year offer to bring the Cuba native back, but he rejected this as he is apparently seeking a multi-year deal.

Given that Iglesias is still available, he may well be willing to compromise his demands, at least to a certain extent. Ultimately we do believe he can help the Mariners and they would be smart to at least reach out to him to discuss a potential deal, but in reality we realize this is unlikely to happen. (Not that we would have any issue with being proven wrong.)

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