Ty France’s baseball path has never been neat, and that’s part of what makes this winter so interesting. A 34th-round pick by the Padres in 2015, he barely got to 300 plate appearances in San Diego before the trade that sent him - along with Andrés Muñoz - to the Mariners in the seven-player deal in 2020.
Seattle got the best version of France right away. In his first two full seasons there, he became a lineup fixture, put up a 127 OPS+, and earned the lone All-Star nod of his career. Then the bat cooled hard in 2023, and by 2024 the Mariners had designated him for assignment and dealt him to Cincinnati for a catching prospect who never got past rookie ball in Seattle’s system.
France kept moving after that, with stops in Minnesota and Toronto before landing back in San Diego earlier this year on a minor league deal. That low-profile contract turned into the best season of his career. He set personal highs in rWAR at 4.5, home runs with 21, slugging percentage at .502, and OPS+ at 139.
Now he’s back on the open market, and the rebound has put him in a much stronger spot than he’s ever had as a free agent. Multiple teams have already shown interest, and at 32, he’s not about to land a nine-figure payday. But there’s real money on the table now, and a chance to cash in on the kind of season that changes the conversation around a player.
MLB Trade Rumors projects France to land a two-year, $32 million deal, with the Padres and Twins listed as likely fits. If that comes to pass, he’d be making about as much in one year as he has across his entire big-league career to this point.
The market may be helping him as much as the production. This offseason’s free-agent class leans heavily toward pitchers, with Seiya Suzuki, Randy Arozarena, and NPB import Teruaki Sato among the most appealing position players available. At first base, France and Jake Bauers are arguably the only two names who can truly move the needle.
From Seattle’s perspective, there’s at least a little comfort in how this played out. France has still piled up 8.3 rWAR for the Mariners, more than he has for any other organization, and his rough 2024 wasn’t exactly an isolated collapse in that lineup.
Could the team have stuck with him longer and tried to get him back to the level he showed in 2021 and 2022? Maybe.
But it also took him three more years to get back on track, and even he started to question himself along the way.
For many Mariners fans, the important part is simply that he found it again. If it wasn’t going to happen in Seattle, at least it happened for a team the Mariners don’t directly battle for a playoff spot. That could shift this winter, depending on where he lands next and whether he can keep the same momentum going after the breakout he had in 2026.
In Other News...
Mariners Got Encouraging Injury News But One Opening Day Question Remains
Jerry Dipoto brought a fairly upbeat injury report out of the general managers meetings in Las Vegas, with several Mariners prospects and regulars moving in the right direction as winter work continues. Colt Emerson is progressing well after wrist surgery, Michael Arroyo is expected back by April after elbow surgery, and Josh Naylor is dealing with shoulder discomfort while working back from wrist surgery without needing another procedure.
The one note that still hangs over the club is Matt Brash, who is recovering from lat strains and has not yet resumed throwing baseballs. For a Mariners team that has spent the offseason trying to line up its depth and keep the roster on track for spring, his timeline remains the most important unanswered piece, even with the rest of the injury picture looking more encouraging than it did a few weeks ago. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Face A Third Base Decision That Could Define Their Offense
The Mariners offseason search for an answer at third base is shaping up as one of the more important roster calls on the board, especially with the club trying to add more offense without losing the defensive stability it has leaned on for years. Teruaki Satos power profile would have made for an obvious fit on paper, but Seattle is expected to look elsewhere as it weighs a broader group of options that includes Eugenio Surez, Alec Bohm, Edmundo Sosa and Brendan Donovan.
What makes the decision trickier is that it is not just about plugging one hole, but about how the infield is going to be arranged around it. The Mariners are trying to balance power, glove work and long-term roster development all at once, and the ripple effects could extend beyond third base as they sort through the next phase of their lineup construction. [Read more 🡒]
Cole Youngs Rise Could Complicate One Intriguing Mariners Fit
The Mariners offseason roster puzzle has already started to take shape around infield versatility, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. is one of the more intriguing names in the mix. Seattle has been sorting through ways to add impact without boxing itself in, and Chisholms recent playing history gives the club a potential multi-position answer if it wants more athleticism and left-handed pop in the lineup.
Cole Youngs rise only adds another layer to that discussion, because every internal step forward changes how aggressively the Mariners can shop outside the organization. Brendan Donovan, Teruaki Sato and Luis Arrez have also surfaced in the broader planning conversation, but nothing has been decided yet, which leaves Seattle weighing fit, cost and flexibility before the market really settles in. [Read more 🡒]