2025 free agent target the Yankees whiffed on is laying waste to the AL West

Remember when New York Yankees spent the offseason convincing themselves that Jorge Polanco was a reasonable bounce back addition for second base, then exhaled when he went to Seattle instead? It was a nice double whammy of relief: he wasn't the Yankees' $7.750 million contract to bear after a down year, and he wouldn't be dominating for Houston anytime soon, his other rumored suitor.

Polanco, once a Yankees nemesis with surprising pop and 20-20 potential in Minnesota, went to Seattle prior to the 2024 season and found himself killed by a combination of Death Valley outfield conditions and nagging injuries.

The infielder underwent knee surgery following the conclusion of last season (and has even missed a few games for recurring knee pain in 2025). The hope was that a robust market of free agent suitors would look past those concerns and shower him with multi-year deals. Considering that happened to no one in last year's market, it isn't entirely surprising that Polanco couldn't find the payday of his dreams.

And so, Polanco flirted with the Yankees in a post-Gleyber Torres world, and you could almost see his lefty swing playing phenomenally with the fabled porch. Still, it would've forced Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to third, and he was coming off a below-average year. For nearly $10 million, it was bound to be risky.

Anyhow ... the Yankees passed, Polanco surprisingly chose to return to the scene of his many offensive crimes in Seattle, and ... this happened.

Yankees target Jorge Polanco is currently dominating for the Seattle Mariners

He's now hitting .389 with a 1.242 OPS and nine home runs/25 RBI. It's safe to say we're already on "Early Surprising All-Star Watch" with Polanco here. While it's hard to be too upset with the lineup the Yankees have constructed, having a second Aaron Judge in the infield would probably pay dividends.

While the Yankees lead the league in home runs (Tuesday night's outburst certainly helped), the Mariners, who have long been an offensive blight on the league, are third in all of baseball and second in the AL (though their collective team average is 32 points behind New York).

All we can say is ... good for them, and glad it isn't the Astros who are getting this renewed production out of Polanco. We knew that would be a perfect match.