By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Down in Las Vegas, Nevada, the MLB GM meetings are underway, which signals the first major stepping stone this offseason where the Seattle Mariners will look to improve their roster. Often, the Mariners are active at the GM meetings as they look to swing a trade to hopefully make their roster better or at least continue dialogue with free agents in the winter. Things are no different in the winter of 2026 for the Mariners, as it’s reported that the team is interested in slugging corner outfielder Seiya Suzuki.
It’s an interesting twist for Seattle, which was originally not thought to pursue Suzuki, after initially trying to acquire him in November 2021 when he transitioned to MLB from Nippon Professional Baseball. Suzuki will be entering his age-32 season in 2027, which would mark him out of the category that Mariners chairman John Stanton has tabbed for who the organization will sign long-term contracts to.
In an interview with the Seattle Times back in September, Stanton said he’d rather make long-term commitments to their homegrown players when they are in their 20s, as opposed to “a 30-year-old or 31-year-old star player who had been a star in their 20s to play through their 30s and maybe through 40 years old.” In a report from Times writers Adam Jude and Ryan Divish on Tuesday, November 10th, the Mariners do, in fact, have interest in him, as Seiya is a free agent after five years with the Chicago Cubs.
Suzuki is coming off his best MLB season in 2026, slamming 26 home runs and logging an .841 OPS to help him earn a 5.1 bWAR. He nearly doubled his 2025 season bWAR of 2.6, while his 2026 total is the highest of his career while playing in MLB, with the second-highest total being his 3.5 bWAR during the 2024 season. Suzuki has consistently slammed 20+ homers since making the move over from NPB, hitting more than 20 in four of his five seasons with the Cubs. His RBI totals have been over 70 in four of those five seasons, posting 103 RBI in the 2025 campaign.
The power numbers are nice when it comes to the homers for Suzuki, but another offensive trait that Suzuki has, which will be attractive to the Mariners, is his ability to draw walks. Seiya was in the 91st percentile in all of baseball at walk rate, and in the 89th percentile for chase rate. His strikeout rate isn’t great, sitting at the 29th percentile, but Suzuki’s ability to draw walks, plus what we’re about to mention, makes him an attractive name to Seattle.
Additionally, what will also make Suzuki attractive to the Mariners is his impressive defense this past season while playing right field, as he posted a +7 fielding run value with Chicago in 2026. It’s a jump from his previous seasons with the Cubs, where he’s showcased solid arm strength but largely mediocre to less-than-great range. The 2026 season saw him post in the 88th percentile in all of baseball for range (Outs above average), 94th percentile in arm value, and 85th percentile in arm strength. After a 2026 season with plenty of defensive blunders, Seattle is clearly looking to improve their defense in addition to supplementing their offense, and Suzuki would do both.
The Mariners haven’t been able to sign a Japanese player for quite some time, a market they previously had some success with, and obviously the Hall of Famer that is Ichiro Suzuki is a highlight of that. Seattle hasn’t had a Japanese player on the roster since starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi was part of the Mariners rotation back during the 2021 season, before he signed as a free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays in early 2022. According to the Times report, Seattle will ask Ichiro to help recruit Seiya this time around, just as they did in 2021. If they’re able to land him, Seiya Suzuki would be the first Japanese position player for the Mariners since 2016, when outfielder Nori Aoki was on the roster.
“There are a certain number of markets in MLB that are built out to invite players from the Asian leagues, and we’re one of them. I would love to get back into that market because we’ve been out for a while, but it hasn’t been due to a lack of effort.”
During the 2021 recruiting attempt, Dipoto met with Seiya Suzuki and his wife on a 90-minute Zoom call before Ichiro took him out to dinner on a night in Japan. The pitch didn’t work, as Seiya would end up signing a five-year, $85 million deal with the Chicago Cubs in March of 2022, after the MLB lockout had ended. The Mariners aren’t expected to offer a contract to any free agent over $100 million, and Suzuki could command a deal bigger than his initial one with the Cubs after his strong season.
As the Mariners did with Randy Arozarena, who’s coming off an impressive 2026 season in his own right, the Cubs offered Suzuki a qualifying offer, and both are expected to reject those in order to become free agents. The interest in Seiya Suzuki could be a change in philosophy for Seattle after cheaping out on some free agent names in the last few years, so it’ll be fascinating to watch if this is real and not just kicking the tires.
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social
〰️
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social 〰️
Check out our previous Seattle Mariners articles here.
Check out our previous articles with photos by Bryant Garduque here, and his portfolio here.
Check out our previous articles written by Charles Hamaker here.
Support the work of Circling Seattle Sports by checking out our merchandise!