There should be obvious exceptions for the Mariners' plan to run it back in 2026

The 2025 Mariners had a good thing going. They had a hard-fought postseason run and came close to making their first World Series. As the front office goes back to the drawing board, it would make sense for them to want to keep things as they were and for the most part, that seems like the plan. The first major domino already fell with the team's re-signing of Josh Naylor and according to the organization's executives, it's all according to the plan.

The Mariners are hoping to bring back as many players as possible from the 2025 roster with a few likely exceptions

In a recent conversation with Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, general manager Justin Hollander stated that the first order of business was to retain as much of last year's group as possible.

In total, the team lost six players to free agency: Josh Naylor, Jorge Polanco, Eugenio Suárez, Mitch Garver, Caleb Ferguson, and Luke Jackson. As mentioned earlier, Naylor has already agreed to return and Polanco would be a great addition if he chooses Seattle in free agency, but the other members of the group have less compelling cases.

Suárez was significantly less productive after the trade deadline and didn't do much in the final months of the regular season (.682 OPS) or in the postseason (.700 OPS). MLB Trade Rumors projects him to get a deal worth $63 million over three years, which is quite a high average annual value for a third baseman who already failed to live up to expectations. If the market ends up being less exuberant about his free agency as expected, a team-friendly contract could be struck for the right price, but Seattle is hardly looking to make him one of the highest-paid members of the team.

Mitch Garver's brief two-year stint as a Mariner was disappointing, to say the least. Accumulating -0.2 rWAR during his tenure and posting a 85 OPS+ while primarily serving as a designated hitter means he'll be relegated to one-year prove-it contract with a different organization willing to take a chance on a meaningful bounce back. Now that Harry Ford is ready for the big leagues, there's simply no room for him on the roster, even at league minimum.

The bullpen is a point of focus for the Mariners, who have already outlined the broad strokes of their winter plans, and it doesn't include Caleb Ferguson nor Luke Jackson. Both arms proved to be serviceable over a small sample, but it seems that Seattle wants more dependable, high-leverage arms and a more effective lefty to alleviate the burden placed on sole southpaw Gabe Speier.

Reunions are fun and it's important to keep players around for the sake of familiarity and team chemistry. However, now that the team has been elevated to being a postseason contender, the priority of building the most effective roster sometimes means letting a few players go.

On the bright side, the most important pieces have the highest possibility of suiting up again and the few remaining spots should go to impact players. It has only been a few weeks since the offseason has begun and Seattle is already giving fans plenty to be excited about for 2026.