The Seattle Mariners are already planning for life without Randy Arozarena. The star outfielder is now a free agent and is not likely to return to Seattle. While Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto would prefer to keep the veteran slugger, his price tag is seemingly just too high. As a result, the club is looking at other outfielder options.
MLB insider Jon Morosi is now reporting that the Seattle Mariners are interested in signing Ian Happ. According to the reporter, the club wants to land the free agent for several reasons. For starters, Dipoto wants to improve his defense this winter. The club committed 88 errors this past season, just above the league average. The free-agent slugger, however, previously collected four Gold Glove awards with the Chicago Cubs.
On top of this, new Seattle Mariners manager Jason Kanzler is quite familiar with the star outfielder because of his time in Chicago. Kanzler was most recently the director of the Cubs’ farm system. While several teams are expected to be in the mix for Happ, the Mariners could have an upper hand in the situation due to these ties.
Happ, however, is more than just a standout defender. The outfielder has a career .783 OPS in the big leagues and is approaching 200 total home runs. Although his 2026 stats dipped a bit, he still hit 24 home runs and scored 89 runs. The slugger just finished off a three-year, $61 million contract in Chicago.
Targeting Ian Happ Would Save the Seattle Mariners Money
Despite his relatively down year, Happ is expected to earn a similar deal this winter. The Athletic’s Tim Britton recently projected that the former Cubs star will receive a three-year, $63 million offer in free agency. Britton’s colleague, Jim Bowden, previously predicted the slugger will get a two-year, $45 million contract. Both AAVs in these two projections are somewhat similar.
While certainly not a small contract, the Seattle Mariners would save a bit of money signing Happ over Arozarena. Britton claims that the Cuban star should earn a four-year, $108 million contract this winter. Assuming Dipoto goes in this direction, he would seemingly have money left over to address other roster needs.
Although this could be true, Seattle Mariners fans did not exactly react warmly to Morosi’s report. After all, Happ is widely seen as a fairly significant downgrade offensively to Arozarena. When comparing their 2026 stats, the Cuban slugger outperformed the Cubs veteran in just about every category.
Seattle Does not Have to Give up Draft Pick to Sign Slugger
Nevertheless, the Seattle Mariners could certainly do worse than signing Happ. The veteran is viewed as the third-best outfielder in MLB’s free agency. Arozarena tops most lists in this particular category, with fellow Cubs star Seiya Suzuki coming in second. Suzuki, however, is expected to cost around the same money as the soon-to-be-former Mariners slugger.
Seattle could also sign Happ without giving up a draft pick. Chicago opted not to give the former Gold Glover a qualifying offer. They did, however, extend an offer to Suzuki. Because of this, any team signing the Japanese star has to forfeit a high draft pick in the future.
Mariners Want to Sign $61 Million Star to Address Key Need