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AL West offseason grades: Can the Mariners repeat as division champs? Did the Astros and Rangers do enough to keep up?
2025 was a year of change in the AL West. After a historic run of dominance, the Houston Astros finally sputtered out, missing the postseason for the first time since the Obama administration. But how long will the Seattle Mariners reign atop this division? Did they do enough this winter to keep a stranglehold on the AL West, or did the Astros maneuver their way back into pole position? What about the Rangers, just two years removed from a World Series? And will the A’s or Angels ever be good again?
Let’s fly through the AL West and hand out some grades.
More offseason grades: NL East | NL Central | NL West | AL East | AL Central
Seattle Mariners
Significant outgoing free agents: INF Jorge Polanco, 3B Eugenio Suárez
Major moves:
Acquired INF Brendan Donovan from the Cardinals as part of a three-way trade with the Rays for 3B Ben Williamson, two prospects and a Comp B pick
Signed OF Rob Refsnyder to a 1-year deal
Signed C Andrew Knizner to a 1-year deal
Retained 1B Josh Naylor on a 5-year deal
Acquired RP Jose A. Ferrer for C Harry Ford and a pitching prospect
Offseason grade: A-
After falling a few outs short of reaching the World Series for the first time in franchise history, the Mariners attacked the offseason with a refreshing sense of urgency. They acted swiftly to re-sign Naylor, agreeing to terms with the pugnacious slugger just two weeks after the World Series concluded. The 28-year-old isn’t a perfect player, and he provides less home run juice than you’d like from a first baseman, yet Naylor ranks seventh in fWAR at the position over the past two seasons.
Donovan was the other major bookend to Seattle’s productive winter. The utility man was a heavily rumored target for long stretches of the offseason because of how well he fit into the Mariners’ position-player mix. Donovan’s ability to play second and third should allow for two highly touted youngsters, Cole Young and Colt Emerson, to find playing time in Seattle. And despite all their success in 2025, the Mariners struck out a lot. Donovan’s high-contact approach should help on that front.
Seattle’s other moves were more supplementary. Ferrer is a flamethrowing lefty who should slot into the back of the pen. Refsnyder obliterates left-handed pitching and should form quite a formidable platoon at DH with righty-killer Dominic Canzone. Knizner will hold the cushiest job in baseball as Cal Raleigh’s backup. Perhaps the Mariners could’ve used another reliever, but that’s nitpicking. This was a pretty darn good offseason.
Houston Astros
Significant outgoing free agents: SP Framber Valdez, C/DH Victor Caratini, INF Brendan Rodgers
Major moves:
Signed SP Tatsuya Imai to a 3-year deal
Acquired SP Mike Burrows from the Pirates as part of a three-way trade with the Rays for OF prospect Jacob Melton and SP prospect Anderson Brito
Acquired SP/RP Kai-Wei Teng from the Giants for a prospect and international bonus pool space
Acquired SS Nick Allen from the Braves for UTIL Mauricio Dubón
Signed SP Ryan Weiss to a 1-year deal
Offseason grade: D+
This position-player group still doesn’t make sense. Bringing Carlos Correa back at last year’s deadline made sense in the short term. That shocking reunion energized the fan base and gave Houston dependability at third base after All-Star Isaac Paredes hit the IL. But it also put too many cooks in the kitchen. With Yordan Alvarez at DH, Correa at third, Jeremy Peña at short, José Altuve at second and Christian Walker — last winter’s big free agent — at first, Paredes simply has nowhere to play.
Entering the season with Paredes as a bench bat makes little sense, particularly in the context of Houston’s underwhelming outfield group. Maybe a trade is still in the cards, but if it isn’t, well, this is a very weird dynamic and a questionable offseason for the Stros.
These pitching acquisitions are interesting, though. Imai entered the winter as a potential $100 million guy, and Houston landed him on a nice, short-term deal. They paid a pretty prospect penny for Burrows — people really like Melton — but he’s a reliable mid-rotation arm. But altogether, this was a bizarre offseason for an organization that should be doing everything in its power to keep its window of contention propped open.
Texas Rangers
Significant outgoing free agents: OF Adolis García, C Jonah Heim, SP Patrick Corbin, SP Merrill Kelly, SP Tyler Mahle, SP Jon Gray,RP Phil Maton, RP Hoby Milner, RP Shawn Armstrong, RP Danny Coulombe, 1B Rowdy Tellez, UTIL Dylan Moore
Major moves:
Non-tendered OF Adolis García and C Jonah Heim
Acquired SP MacKenzie Gore from the Washington Nationals for five prospects
Acquired OF Brandon Nimmo from the New York Mets for 2B Marcus Semien
Signed C Danny Jansen to a 2-year deal
Signed RP Alexis Díaz to a 1-year deal
Signed RP Jakob Junis to a 1-year deal
Signed SP/RP Tyler Alexander to a 1-year deal
Re-signed RP Chris Martin on a 1-year deal
Signed SP Jordan Montgomery to a 1-year deal
Offseason grade: B-
Since winning the World Series in 2023, Texas’ offense has slogged aimlessly through the void. That surely motivated president of baseball operations Chris Young to part ways with Semien, García and Heim, all of whom were integral in the franchise’s first title. A change in direction makes sense, but none of the incoming offensive pieces is particularly electrifying. Jansen is a professional, capable every-day catcher, and Nimmo is a defensively declining corner outfielder whose on-base skills took a step back last year. Whether the 2026 Rangers rake will likely depend on the health of Corey Seager, Josh Jung and Evan Carter.
The Gore trade reinforces what was, statistically, the best rotation in baseball a year ago. He’ll pair wonderfully with Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi to make one of the most imposing top threes in the sport. Evaluators across the game believe there’s still growth to be had for Gore, who suffered greatly under the Nationals’ formerly outdated pitching development structure.
Did this team get better? Maybe a bit. Did the Rangers push themselves into no-doubt contender status? Absolutely not.
Athletics
Significant outgoing free agents: RP José Leclerc, OF JJ Bleday
Major moves:
Acquired 2B Jeff McNeil from the Mets for a pitching prospect
Non-tendered OF JJ Bleday
Signed RP Mark Leiter Jr. to a 1-year deal
Extended OF Tyler Soderstrom on a 7-year deal
Extended SS Jacob Wilson on a 7-year deal
Signed RP Scott Barlow to a 1-year deal
Signed SP Aaron Civale to a 1-year deal
Traded SP Mitch Spence to the Royals for a pitching prospect
Offseason grade: D
Everything about this franchise is in a weird state, with the abandoning of Oakland and all. But as the A’s ready themselves to move to Vegas in 2028, they’ve assembled quite an enviable assortment of talented young hitters. Unfortunately, the front office has done little to give the current roster anything resembling reinforcements to the pitching staff.
In some ways, that makes sense. Why spend money to make the current team better in front of 10,000 people in Sacramento when you could secure core pieces on extensions to sell out a big-league stadium in a few years? It’s ruthless but also shortsighted. Because contention windows rarely play out as expected.
This lineup, with Soderstrom, Wilson, Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers and Brent Rooker, has a chance to compete right now. This pitching staff does not. Had Athletics brass dished out just a little bit of dough for a few veteran starters, this team could’ve been a fun wild-card dark horse in 2026. Instead, they’ll probably be a weird historical footnote.
Los Angeles Angels
Significant outgoing free agents: SP Kyle Hendricks, SP Tyler Anderson, RP Kenley Jansen, INF Luis Rengifo, OF Chris Taylor, RP Andrew Chafin, RP Luis García
Major moves:
Hired Kurt Suzuki as manager
Acquired SP Grayson Rodriguez from the Orioles for OF Taylor Ward
Acquired 2B Vaughn Grissom from the Red Sox for a prospect
Acquired OF Josh Lowe from the Rays for RP Brock Burke as part of a three-team deal with the Reds
Signed RP Jordan Romano to a 1-year deal
Signed RP Drew Pomeranz to a 1-year deal
Signed RP Kirby Yates to a 1-year deal
Signed RP Brent Suter to a 1-year deal
Retained 3B Yoan Moncada on a 1-year deal
Offseason grade: D
Hiring a manager for just one season, as the Angels did with Suzuki, is incredibly rare and makes little sense. For an organization as directionless as this, though, it’s par for the course. Anaheim’s attempt to leverage a personal services contract with former first baseman Albert Pujols to get him to be the manager for free failed brilliantly. That’s when leadership pivoted to Suzuki, who will get a short leash to lead this team back to contention.
Transactionally, none of these player additions moves the needle for the Angels, who have wallowed in mediocrity for more than a decade now. Rodriguez is the best of the bunch, exactly the type of high-upside, controllable arm the Angels should be targeting. But this is still a team with myriad holes and no real plan to fill them. The veteran bullpen reinforcements should help raise the floor, but this roster needs a lot of help that it did not get this winter.
