'Grateful for the team': Robles staying in Seattle with 2-year extension

DETROIT -- Victor Robles looked as at home as ever when mic’d up on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, sharing stories about the monkeys he tends to back home and how alive he’s felt since joining the Mariners in early June.

Robles was so free with his words that it was a surprise to many team sources that he didn’t share what had been in the works earlier that morning -- a two-year, $9.75 million contract extension with Seattle that includes an additional $2 million in performance incentives and a $9 million club option for 2027.

Indeed, Robles is here to stay via that pact, the club announced during Monday’s off-day, ahead of its nine-game road trip that began at Comerica Park, and after multiple sources told MLB.com that the transaction was in the works.

“It kind of came as a surprise,” Robles said on Tuesday through an interpreter. “But I’m happy it happened. I’m grateful for the team, for the organization, but also, I’m grateful for God and for the opportunity. It was a mutual kind of thing. They both kind of started talking.”

Robles will receive a $1.25 million signing bonus, as part of the $9.75 million agreement for the first two years, and he will earn $500,000 for accumulating 500 and 600 plate appearances for 2025 and 2026, each, according to sources. Robles has only once achieved 500 plate appearances in a season, in 2019, when he also achieved 600 and was a sparkplug in helping the Nationals win that year’s World Series.

Robles hadn’t yet put pen to paper before the Mariners’ 12-1 win over the Mets on Sunday, but the framework had been solidified between the outfielder, the club and his agent, Rafa Nieves of Republik Sports.

“It motivates me, I kind of see it as a challenge,” Robles said of the incentives. “I'm a guy that likes those challenges, so I think it's something that is definitely going to motivate me.”

The agreement speaks to the impact that Robles has made since joining the Mariners on June 4, just days after being designated for assignment by the Nationals, who signed him as an international free agent in 2013. In 42 games with Seattle through Sunday, Robles was slashing .303/.372/.450 (.822 OPS) with three homers, seven doubles, eight RBIs, 20 strikeouts and eight walks across 123 plate appearances.

Since his Mariners debut through Sunday, Robles was worth 1.2 Wins Above Replacement, per FanGraphs, which was second on the team to Cal Raleigh (2.4), and his 139 wRC+ (league average is 100) outpaced all Seattle hitters in the span, other than its Trade Deadline acquisitions, whose sample sizes are much smaller. Robles was also 12-for-12 in stolen base attempts.

The contract extension also speaks to the Mariners’ efforts to fortify their young core of position players with cost certainty for the next two seasons. Though Robles has been in the Majors since 2017, he’s only 27 years old and was once a former top five prospect by MLB Pipeline.

At his ceiling, if he continues to perform at the everyday level he’s shown, Robles will be an above-average hitter. At his floor, he’s a fourth outfielder for the next two years at a modest cost.

His performance this season likely would’ve generated interest on the open market, and he’s earned $7,182,800 for his career to this point, per Baseball-Reference. But the Mariners’ offer clearly gave him clarity on both the financial and comfort fronts before testing what would've been his first foray into free agency during the offseason.

“To me, money really isn't everything,” Robles said. “The Mariners gave me an opportunity, and I saw it as a way to kind of thank them for all the help and everything they've done for me."

Robles is earning $2.65 million this season, but the Mariners are only on the hook for the pro-rated league minimum, in the $740,000 range, with the Nats paying the rest of his salary after releasing him. Washington attempted to trade Robles after DFA’ing him to no avail, at which point Seattle signed him as a free agent. He said, at the time, that the fit was based on the team’s talent and chance to contend.

He’s since transformed himself into a revelation for the Mariners, filling in formidably for Julio Rodríguez (high right ankle sprain) in center field and J.P. Crawford (fractured right pinkie) in the leadoff spot as both recover from their respective injuries. And this is after Robles played sparingly, with just 38 plate appearances in 22 games over a six-week span from his debut with the Mariners through the All-Star break.

Rodríguez was activated from the IL on Sunday, but is not at 100% running yet. He struck out in each of his five plate appearances in the win over the Mets while batting cleanup and serving as the designated hitter.

"He's an entertainer," Mariners manager Scott Servais said of Robles. "That's what you do. You keep people on the edge of your seat."

Moreover, Robles has been an energetic jolt to the clubhouse in ways that the Mariners could not have foreseen, connecting with the Latin American group of Rodríguez, Jorge Polanco, Andrés Muñoz and Luis Castillo and that has since been bolstered by the addition of Randy Arozarena.

Just as much, Robles has become a fan favorite. His energy after Polanco’s homer on Sunday, in many ways, spoke how quickly he’s resonated.