The agreement is a homecoming of sorts for O'Keefe. The veteran catcher made his MLB debut with Seattle back in 2022. He appeared in 10 games with the Mariners from 2022 to 2023. O'Keefe went to Spring Training with the Twins the following year, but was cut in March. He landed in Kansas City as a minor league free agent. He launched 18 home runs with a 130 wRC+ in 72 games with Omaha in 2024.
Rucker began his college career at Gonzaga, so this deal with the M's could represent a return to the Pacific Northwest if the righty is able to break camp with the team. After transferring to BYU later in his NCAA days, Rucker was an 11th-round selection by the Cubs in the 2016 draft, and he broke into the bigs with Chicago in 2021.
The club doesn't intend to shop Castillo during this year's winter meetings, reports Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. The 32-year-old Castillo delivered steady results last season, pitching to a 3.54 ERA over 32 starts. He topped 175 innings for the third straight year. Castillo's strikeout rate fell to a career-low 21.7%, but he countered the downturn with a career-best 6.2% walk rate. The veteran has now improved his walk rate in each of the past four seasons.
The list of teams connected to Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte continues to grow. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that the Mariners and Pirates are among the teams interested in dealing for the three-time All-Star. Heyman also linked the Red Sox, Rays, and Tigers to Marte, echoing this morning's report from USA Today's Bob Nightengale. Those squads join the Phillies and Blue Jays, who reportedly inquired about Marte last month.
Mariners general manager Justin Hollander publicly admitted a few weeks back that the club would be looking for bullpen upgrades. Adam Jude of The Seattle Times reports that Seattle plans to add two relievers and hopes to have one locked down by the end of the Winter Meetings next week. Adding a lefty is a priority and Jude lists five names they are considering, with four of them being southpaws.
At the end of the 2025 season, the Mariners lost three infielders to free agency, as each of Josh Naylor, Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suárez hit the open market. That left shortstop J.P. Crawford as the only lock for the 2026 infield. The M's quickly pounced to bring Naylor back, signing the first baseman to a five-year, $92.5MM deal not long after free agency began.
The 32-year-old was an eighth-round pick by the Rangers back in 2014 and was a piece of two significant trades before he made his MLB debut. He was part of the package that Texas sent to the Yankees in exchange for the services of Carlos Beltran prior to the 2016 season, and then he was shipped to Seattle by the Yanks in the deal for James Paxton prior to the 2019 season.
The Mariners exercised their $6MM club option on Andres Munoz's services for the 2026 season, according to reporter Francys Romero. The total value of the option is actually $7MM, as Munoz unlocked four $250K bonuses based on his number of games finished in 2025. There was zero suspense in the Mariners' decision, as Munoz has become one of baseball's top closers. An All-Star in each of the past two seasons, Munoz posted a 1.73 ERA and 32.7% strikeout rate over 62 1/3 innings while recording 38 saves.
Scott Servais is the latest name to surface in the Orioles' search for a new manager. The New York Post's Jon Heyman reports that the O's have interest in the former Mariners skipper, but it isn't known if Servais has been formally interviewed by the team. Reports also emerged yesterday that the Twins were considering Servais for their own managerial opening.
George Springer hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh inning and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Monday night to advance to their first Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series since 1993. Springer's 23rd career postseason homer helped the Blue Jays win Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Toronto will face Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, hosting Game 1 on Friday.
So, uh, there was no playoff game yesterday. Despite what you read here from yours truly, Game 6 of the ALCS is tonight instead of last night. Whoops! That's my bad and apologies to y'all for being goofy online once again. Here's a random clip as an apology. Anyways, the Mariners will be looking to close this thing out and go to their first-ever World
Back at the trade deadline, the Toronto Blue Jays were looking for some key players that could be difference makers for them down the stretch and especially in MLB Playoffs. The Blue Jays ended up doing well in the pitching department, with starter Shane Bieber delivering when the team needed him most and reliever Louis Varland becoming a trusted arm to come in for key high-leverage situations.
Are we having fun yet? Friday was one of the most unforgettable days ever seen in the playoffs, with Eugenio Suarez's go-ahead grand slam rocking T-Mobile Park and putting the Seattle Mariners one win away from the World Series, and then Shohei Ohtani's historic three-homer, 10-strikeout performance that goes down as perhaps the single greatest individual performance in postseason history. Let's call it a top-five day of all time and add this to our list of future projects to research.
What an incredible first two weeks of the 2025 MLB playoffs we've had. There was the instant classic 15-inning Game 5 of the American League Division Series between the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners, sending Seattle to its first American League Championship Series since 2001. We saw the Philadelphia Phillies be eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers on a bases-loaded error in the 11th inning. We watched the Toronto Blue Jays stomp past the New York Yankees with a barrage of scoring.
Pretty rarely does a series outcome rests entirely in the hands of one player. But for the Toronto Blue Jays to have any chance of winning the ALCS, there is actually one player on the Seattle Mariners that could do exactly that. That player is none other than the modern day Blue Jays killer Cal Raleigh. Raleigh was at it once again on Sunday night in Game 1 of the ALCS against the Blue Jays.
Most importantly: What if the deciding game in question NEVER FUCKING ENDED? Because on Friday night, fans of the Seattle Mariners-a team that has never gone to a World Series, much less won one-were run through this exact gauntlet. Fifteen innings against the Detroit Tigers. Five hours. Four hundred seventy-two total pitches thrown, each one more sphincter-clenching than the last.
