Posting this week’s trade Nolan Arenado from St. Louis to Arizona and the Cubs’ signing weekend Alex Bregman figure to accelerate the market around various trade and free agent scenarios. One club that could be directly affected is the Mariners, who spent much of the winter trying to add another infielder after re-signing. Josh Naylor on a five-year contract at the start of the season.
Seattle’s interest in Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan it’s not a secret. They were linked with him last season and it is reported that he is one of his main recruits this winter. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports that in addition to Donovan, the Mariners have had “ongoing” discussions with the Cardinals about releasing the left-hander. JoJo Romero all winter. Seattle has already added a southpaw arm to the bullpen, which is catching Jose A. Ferrer from Nationals in December, and they have an outstanding second choice Gabe Speierwho enjoyed a playing year in 2025 (and was recently added to Team USA’s roster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic).
Adam Jude of the Seattle Times reports that Donovan is the Mariners’ frontrunner in the trade market but adds that the M’s are also interested in the Cubs second baseman. Nico Hoerner. The veteran Hoerner’s name has come up in trade speculation since the Bregman signing, though it seems unlikely that a deal will come together. Chicago seems willing to listen as carefully as possible but may need to get frustrated and acquire major league talent to trade Hoerner coming off a .297/.345/.394 season that saw him swipe 29 bases, win his second Gold Glove and finish sixth in the National League with 6.2 wins per 4 over 8-Reference. fWAR, for those who prefer the FanGraphs version of statistics).
[Related: Giants Aggressively Pursuing Second Base Upgrade]
At this point, the fit between Donovan and the Mariners has been tested for a long time. He is an affordable ($5.8MM in 2026) tight end bat with good pitching and defensive skills who can handle either of the two currently unsatisfying positions in the Seattle infield: second base or third base. The M’s have a number of highly recommended prospects at those positions – Colt Emerson, Cole Young, Michael Arroyo among them – but Donovan could move to outside corner if those promising young players force the issue. He is subject to arbitration through the 2027 season.
Romero was previously linked to the Mariners, but that was before the team acquired Ferrer. It’s worth noting that Jones says there were discussions even after that change. The 29-year-old lefty has been a mainstay in the Cardinals bullpen for three-plus seasons now and has shown improvement each year. In 2025, he threw a career-high 61 innings with a career-best 2.07 earned run average. Romero had eight saves, 24 catches and just one blown inning. He struck out a slightly below average 21.6% of his opponents against an inflated 11.4% walk rate which seems significant compared to the 7.7% walk rate he took in the ’25 season. The lefty also kept 54.5% of ground balls.
The Cardinals signed Romero to a $4.26MM contract for next season – his final year in club control. While last year’s legal chaos is at least somewhat troubling, the overall record is quite strong. Since joining the Cardinals, Romero boasts a 3.00 ERA (3.61 SIERA) with a 23.4% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate, 53.7% ground ball rate, 57 strikeouts and 12 saves. The Orioles and Yankees are among others showing interest in Romero, though it’s certainly true that the field of interested clubs is much larger than just these three.
Backing up a previous report by Katie Woo of The Athletic, Jude suggests that at least one top 100 prospect is a switch-pitcher. Jurrangelo Cijntje and foreign player Lazaro Montes – discussed in discussions with the Cardinals. The approval of those negotiations remains unclear. There is no indication that St. Louis wanted both in the same Donovan package, just as there is no guarantee that Seattle offered both. It’s certainly possible that Romero’s name came up as part of a package deal involving one or both of those young ballyhood players. Regardless of how those negotiations stand, they have (apparently) yet to culminate in an agreement.
Hoerner, like Donovan, is a good fit for the Mariners. The previously mentioned Cole Young is currently on course to open the season in second place for the M’s. He’s a former first-round pick and top-50 prospect, but Young hit .211/.302/.305 in his first 77 MLB games last year. He won’t turn 23 until late July, so there’s plenty of time for him to develop into regular quality, but the Mariners are built to win right now. Hoerner, a free agent next winter signed for $12MM through 2026, would give the Mariners an immediate upgrade while giving them the luxury of more time for Young to develop. As a bonus, Seattle can extend a qualifying offer to Hoerner next November, earning them select compensation should he sign elsewhere.
Once again, the Cubs are not outright shopping Hoerner but are willing to hear from other clubs. They almost certainly won’t trade him for prospects who are years away from MLB readiness; doing so would negate most or all of the wins gained by bringing Bregman into the fold. It’s hard to come up with a straightforward trade that would benefit both sides equally, but the Mariners are nothing if not aggressive and savvy in trades.
Currently, RosterResource projects the Mariners at just under $157MM in 2026 payroll. That’s just shy of a franchise-record $158MM Opening Day payout and ways south of the estimated $167MM figure they’ll end the 2025 campaign with. Given the current success in Seattle and the added benefit from a deep playoff run that saw the Mariners advance to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, it makes sense that ownership would be willing to push the payment beyond those points.
