The Mariners keep making a habit of paying up for their core, but when it comes to their homegrown starters, the front office has drawn a much harder line. Jerry Dipoto has already secured Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Colt Emerson and Andrés Muñoz, with Luis Castillo also once in the fold before moving on.
The rotation, though? That’s where the long-term picture still feels unfinished.
Cade Cavalli’s new deal with the Nationals only sharpens that contrast. FanSided’s Robert Murray reported Thursday that Washington and the right-hander are “closing in” on an agreement.
Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal added that the contract will buy out at least one of Cavalli’s free-agent years. Cavalli is already under club control through 2029, so this is a move that goes beyond the usual team-control window.
And Cavalli has earned it. The 28-year-old went to Washington with the No. 22 pick in the 2020 draft, had some bumps along the way, and then put together a breakout season that featured a 3.12 ERA over 31 starts.
That kind of move naturally turns the spotlight back on Seattle. If the Mariners are going to extend a starting pitcher, who should it be?
There’s no rule forcing Dipoto to act now, but the Cavalli agreement is another reminder that other teams are still willing to bet on their own arms for the long haul. This year alone has already brought deals for Chase Burns and Cavalli.
Logan Gilbert looks like the least likely answer at this point. His free-agent walk year comes up in 2027, and the path there makes him feel more like a trade candidate than an extension candidate. George Kirby and Bryce Miller are in a different spot, but not a particularly encouraging one; both are trending down as they move toward their walk years in 2028 and 2029.
That leaves Bryan Woo and Emerson Hancock.
Woo seemed like the cleanest extension target back in January after his All-Star breakout in 2025, especially with arbitration still a year away in 2027. He’s dipped this season, but the underlying numbers still give him a strong case. That creates at least some room for both sides to find common ground.
Hancock may be the more intriguing possibility. He spent years trying to establish himself before finally breaking through this season, and he won’t be arbitration-eligible until 2028.
He’s also 27, one year older than Woo. If the Mariners are looking for the pitcher most likely to accept something that feels as much like security as a payday, Hancock may be the better fit.
Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan are technically in the conversation too, but both feel like long shots. Anderson has already debuted, which may have closed Seattle’s best chance to get ahead of the Scott Boras issue. Sloan has big-time upside, but at 20, he’s still figuring things out.
So the field keeps narrowing toward Woo and Hancock. With comparable deals popping up around the league, the question is no longer whether the Mariners have options. It’s whether Dipoto is finally ready to choose one.
In Other News...
Mariners Fans May Not Like Where This Staff Shakeup Is Headed
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For Seattle fans, that kind of setup points to a familiar sort of shakeup: change on the field, continuity above it. The report also notes that the looming MLB lockout could push clubs to favor stability in their front offices, which only adds another layer to how these decisions might be made as the Mariners sort through what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Naylor Just Gave Mariners Fans Another Reason To Boil
Josh Naylors latest run-in at Angel Stadium gave Mariners fans another jolt of frustration in a season where every detail seems to get magnified. On a tag-up play, he was ruled out after leaving third base too early following Zach Netos catch, and the sequence quickly turned into one of those moments that can linger well beyond the inning. Weston Wilson suggested Naylor may simply have misread the play, thinking the ball had bounced, which at least offers a baseball explanation for what looked like a costly mistake.
The bigger issue for Seattle was the choice not to challenge the call, leaving the play to stand and inviting another round of criticism from fans and commentators. For a club trying to squeeze every edge it can find, especially in tight games, those are the kinds of lapses that stick. Even when the explanation is harmless enough, the optics are not, and Mariners supporters were left boiling over a play that felt avoidable from the start. [Read more 🡒]
Logan Gilbert Just Put Mariners' Biggest Problem On Blast
The Mariners season has drifted into the kind of disappointment that usually gets measured in what could have been, and Logan Gilbert was not interested in softening the edges after the loss that sealed their losing record. Seattle came into the year with expectations it has not come close to meeting, and Gilbert pointed directly at the teams lack of urgency as the problems mounted around a roster that has struggled to put together even the basics of a contender.
It has not been one issue, either. The offense has lagged, the defense has been just as shaky, and Seattles Fielding Run Value sits at the bottom of the majors, a blunt reflection of how often the Mariners have given games away. Even the clubs biggest names, including Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodrguez, have not delivered the kind of second-half push the team needed, which is why Gilberts frustration lands with extra force as the season winds toward an ugly finish. [Read more 🡒]