It certainly feels like every offseason, the Mariners are "rumored" to compete for whatever big-name free agent is making the leap from somewhere in the Asian market to MLB.
It's tended to be Japanese pitchers recently, as Seattle was rumored to be in on Yoshinobu Yamamoto a few years ago and Roki Sasaki last offseason. They were also connected to Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim last offseason, and were purportedly an option for Seiya Suzuki in 2022. They were even linked to Shohei Ohtani, both when he first came to the US in 2017 and again when he reached free agency in 2023.