The Mariners’ 76-86 finish left plenty of blame to go around, and the biggest names took their share of it. Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor all turned in career-worst seasons, a brutal punchline for a club that many thought could represent the AL in the World Series.
But the collapse wasn’t just about stars underperforming. Seattle’s lack of depth got exposed, and injuries kept piling on until the whole operation frayed.
That’s why the search for help could lead to players who don’t exactly scream headline attraction. The Mariners need more than name value.
They need guys who can step into a different environment and maybe unlock something that hasn’t quite shown up yet. Here are four change-of-scenery candidates who could fit that mold.
Anthony Volpe, the Yankees’ 25-year-old shortstop, is coming off a season that never really got going. He opened 2026 on the Injured List while recovering from left shoulder surgery, then never fully found his footing after returning.
He finished with a career-low 70 games, though he still flashed with the bat and brought the defensive ability that earned him a Gold Glove in 2023. The upside is still there too: he’s only two seasons removed from a 3.5 bWAR season, carries 20-20 potential, and has two years of arbitration eligibility left.
That’s the kind of under-the-radar talent Seattle could circle.
Kristian Campbell might be the most frustrating case of the bunch for his current team. The Red Sox saw enough to give the 2023 fourth-round pick an eight-year, $60 million extension before the 2025 season, and for a while he looked like a steal.
Through April, he was hitting .301 with a .902 OPS and 151 wRC+. Then everything fell apart.
He didn’t appear in the majors at all this season, though he did steady himself in Triple-A Worcester after dealing with minor injuries, illness and a prolonged slump. From the start of July on, he hit .320 with a .973 OPS and 154 wRC+, and the move to full-time outfield work appears to have helped.
The issue, of course, is the contract, which could make any Mariners pursuit complicated.
Mark Vientos brings a different kind of appeal. His 2024 breakout - .266 with an .837 OPS and 134 OPS+ in 111 games - suggested a legitimate bat with real staying power.
This season complicated that picture, and his future with the Mets is now very much in question. His defense at first and third base is still below average, even with the work he’s put in there, but the power is real.
He’s especially dangerous against lefties, posting an .809 OPS this year, which stands out for a Mariners lineup that ranked dead last in that area. With New York’s patience thinning and Vientos not reaching unrestricted free agency until 2030, he could fit Seattle’s timeline.
Then there’s Spencer Torkelson, the former No. 1 overall pick who remains one of the more maddening talents in the game. He can look unstoppable one month and out of sync the next.
In 2026, that showed up in a .638 OPS in August followed by a 1.080 OPS in September. He also matched a Tigers franchise record by homering in five straight games, even while a strikeout rate that ranked in the third percentile kept reminding everyone how volatile he can be.
Torkelson doesn’t give much on defense, but his bat still makes him intriguing as a DH, especially with a sweet-spot percentage in the 99th percentile. Whether Detroit would move him is another question.
Tony Paul of The Detroit News said president Scott Harris sounds committed to the 27-year-old, though he also noted the Tigers have two slugging prospects, Josue Briceno and Thayron Liranzo, who could offer better defense at first. That at least gives Seattle something to probe if it wants to test how committed Detroit really is.
In Other News...
Mariners Lineup Debate Comes Down To One Dangerous Imbalance
Bleacher Reports projected Opening Day lineup for Seattle paints an intriguing early shape to the Mariners outfield, with Trent Grisham penciled in to start in left field next to Julio Rodrguez in center. It is the kind of arrangement that looks clean on paper and gives the lineup some athleticism, but it also starts to reveal a larger issue for the club as it continues sorting out the roster around Rodrguez.
The concern is balance, or the lack of it, because a heavily left-handed order can become easier to manage for opposing clubs, especially when left-handed pitching shows up on the schedule. Seattle also appears to be in danger of losing some right-handed punch, with Randy Arozarena and Taylor Ward among the bats that could disappear from the mix, leaving the Mariners even more dependent on finding reliable production from the other side of the plate. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners May Not Be Done Reshaping Their Coaching Staff
The Arizona Fall League has long been a useful proving ground for players, but it can also be a window into the coaching pipeline, and the Mariners have their hands in it through Jordan Cowan and Dylan Gargas. Cowan is serving as the Javelinas hitting coach, while Gargas is working on the pitching side, giving Seattle another look at how its own instructors stack up in an environment built around development and evaluation.
The broader takeaway for the Mariners is that they do not seem content to treat the current staff structure as fixed. The piece points to outside names such as Billy Facteau and Jeff Livesey as coaches worth keeping on the radar, which fits a larger pattern of Seattle exploring talent both inside and beyond the organization as it considers where its next staff upgrades might come from. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Enter 2027 Facing One Brutal Question After A Major Letdown
The Mariners spent 2026 with a division landscape that looked ripe for a run, only to come up short and finish well below expectations, leaving the organization to sort through a letdown that feels bigger than one bad season. Seattles core also did not carry the club the way it needed to, with Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodrguez and Josh Naylor all coming off down years, and the roster still tied to financial commitments and arbitration decisions that will shape what comes next.
Now the focus shifts to how the turnaround gets started, because the offseason cleanup is already underway on the field. Dan Wilson and several members of his coaching staff are not coming back for 2027, while the front office stays in place, which means the Mariners are trying to reset direction without changing the people in charge of the broader plan. The real pressure point is whether that plan can finally produce a version of Seattle that matches the talent on paper. [Read more 🡒]