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The Mariners announced the signing of outfielder Rob Refsnyder to a one-year contract. It’s reportedly a $6.25M deal with another $250K available in incentives for the PSI Sports Management client. Seattle’s 40-man roster is now at capacity.
Refsnyder adds a potent right-handed platoon bat to Dan Wilson’s outfield. He has teed off on left-handed pitching as a member of the Red Sox. Refsnyder carries a .312/.407/.516 batting line with 19 home runs, 28 doubles, and one triple across 509 plate appearances with the platoon advantage over the past four seasons. He has a middling .235/.315/.355 slash in 435 trips to the dish against right-handers in that stretch.
It’s a limited profile, but few players are better in that role. Among hitters with 400+ PAs against southpaws going back to 2022, only Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt have a better on-base percentage. Refsnyder is sixth in batting average and 16th in slugging. He’s seventh in OPS — trailing Judge, Yordan Alvarez, Goldschmidt, Yandy Díaz, Jose Altuve and Ketel Marte.
That production has earned Refsnyder some decent earnings in the back half of his career. He was a journeyman minor league signee when the Sox added him over the 2021-22 offseason. Boston was the sixth team to give him some big league time when they called him up midway through June the following year. Refsnyder hit well enough to earn a little over $5MM on a pair of contracts covering the 2023-25 campaigns. He now secures his most significant payday for his age-35 season. Refsnyder is coming off a .269/.354/.484 showing in 70 games and had been a highly regarded clubhouse presence in Boston.
Refsnyder came up as an infielder in the Yankees system. He has been a full-time outfielder since 2020 and has been exclusively in the corners over the past two seasons. He could probably handle first base if the M’s wanted to give Josh Naylor an occasional breather against a tough left-handed opponent. Most of his work will come in right field and/or at designated hitter. Seattle has Randy Arozarena locked into left field, while righty-swinging Victor Robles should get a decent amount of right field playing time. Lefty hitters Luke Raley and Dominic Canzone could see time out there and are currently lined up for the bulk of the DH at-bats.
The signing pushes Seattle’s projected payroll to $157MM, as calculated by RosterResource. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said at the beginning of the offseason that the M’s were likely to open next season with a payroll close to this year’s season-ending mark around $166MM. The M’s don’t have a ton of glaring needs but could look for a multi-positional infielder who could provide a higher floor than Cole Young, Ryan Bliss, Ben Williamson and potentially top prospect Colt Emerson at second and third base.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported the $6.25MM base and $250K in incentives. Images courtesy of Mark Rebilas, Imagn Images.