The Seattle Mariners have brought back a key member from their 2024 infield, with the club agreeing to a contract with infielder Jorge Polanco. With the deal reportedly a one-year pact worth $7.75 million, Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic mentioned that the club will have Polanco man third base for 2025. The contract also carries a vesting player/mutual option for 2026 that is based on his plate appearances per Rosenthal (citing sources).

After spending the first ten years of his career with the Minnesota Twins, the organization shipped Polanco to the Mariners during the 2023/2024 offseason for a package of four players and cash considerations. Polanco signed a five-year deal worth $25.75 million just before the 2019 season and the Twins exercised a $10.5 million option on the Dominican product for the 2024 season. This was Polanco’s first venture in free agency.

In his lone season with Seattle, Polanco struggled at the plate to a .213/.296/.355 slash line with 16 home runs, 45 RBIs, and a .651 OPS with a 96 OPS+. He saw his strikeouts climb to a career-high 29.2% rate and produced a -11 batting run value, sitting in the 14th percentile. He missed some time from May and into June with a hamstring strain, suiting up in 118 games last season.

Before the trade, Polanco had crafted a .269/.334/.446 slash line and a .780 OPS across 10 seasons with the Twins. He earned All-Star honours in 2019 when he produced a 4.7 bWAR and amassed a career-high .841 OPS.

On the field, Polanco has split his time between shortstop and second base throughout his career, and with the Mariners, he spent all of his time on the right side of the infield and authored a -1 DRS through 112 games at second. The 31-year-old played 103 innings at third base in 2023 with the Twins but before then, he had not played at the hot corner since 2016, where he made just nine appearances.

Returning on a one-year deal, Polanco is a bounce-back candidate looking to improve his value on a ‘prove-it’ deal with free agency on the horizon next winter. The move is odd considering he struggled with the Mariners during his lone campaign, but the deal appears to be the one Polanco was most interested in at the end of the day.