Analysis: Mariners Face Interesting Roster Decisions
The Mariners are about to have a bit of a roster crunch.
Well... kind of.
Mitch Haniger is back with the big-league club and sometime in the next two weeks, the Mariners are expected to activate Julio Rodríguez, Dylan Moore, Taylor Trammell, Diego Castillo, Ken Giles and possibly Curt Casali. Naturally, this leads to the question: how can you fit all of these guys on a roster? The short answer is: they can't.
Until September, the Mariners can only carry 26 players on their roster, including a maximum of 13 pitchers. We know, for a fact, the Mariners will have 13 arms so long as they can. This leaves Seattle with 13 bats prior to the roster expansion on September 1 to 28 players.
How can each player fit on a roster with seemingly few openings? Let's take a look.
Julio Rodríguez
We know Rodriguez is going to be added whenever he is ready to go and Jarred Kelenic is the easy swap to be made. Kelenic hasn't lit the world on fire in his opportunities thus far and he still has things to work on in Triple-A. With Rodríguez back in the fold, Seattle won't need an experienced center fielder on this roster. This is a layup.
Curt Casali
He may not be ready for another week or so, but Casali's roster spot is currently being held by Luis Torrens. Unfortunately, Torrens is out of options so he'll need to be placed on waivers, where he is quite likely going to be claimed. Perhaps there is a "phantom IL" stint in Torrens' future in order to keep him in the organization into the offseason, but it seems unlikely.
Diego Castillo and Ken Giles
Eligible to come off the injured list on Wednesday, Castillo reportedly feels good and is over his bout of shoulder soreness. Giles' timeline is a bit murkier, but most believe he's not far behind. Both will be added to the bullpen but with the team's commitment to carry six starters, it'll be two of their bullpen mates that get the ax. Penn Murfee, Matt Brash and Erik Swanson all have options left and it seems ludicrous to suggest Murfee or Swanson haven't pitched well enough to keep their spots.
Ryan Borucki is the only other candidate who makes sense, but he's been fine with the Mariners and is the only lefty currently in the bullpen, which is something Scott Servais seems to care about. George Kirby may be sent down for a brief stint to try and manage his workload some, but he's been the third-best pitcher on the staff since his debut, making that decision tough to enact. Ultimately, it seems likely that Brash and Murfee will get the short end of the stick when Castillo and Giles are ready.
Taylor Trammell and Dylan Moore
There may not be a more nuanced decision than what the Mariners decide to do with Trammell and Moore. Both have helped the Mariners win games this year and both do have skill sets that could help the roster. But the Mariners only have a few bench spots to give.
Sending down Kyle Lewis should be a no-brainer at this point. The man is struggling beyond belief at the plate and provides no reliable skillset at the moment.
But as for the second needed roster spot, things get a bit stickier. We know the team will carry a backup catcher. So the Mariners will have three roster spots open to try and accommodate Moore, Trammell, Carlos Santana, Sam Haggerty and Jake Lamb.
Santana may seem like an obvious cut at this stage and his numbers certainly don't provide him any safety. However, the organization and its players have repeatedly gone out of their way to praise Santana's presence in the clubhouse, and Seattle is known to value its culture in addition to on-the-field production.
Santana would likely slide through waivers, so it's possible that he could sign a minor league deal with Seattle and come back up on September 1, but he could simply choose to walk away. Perhaps the two sides can agree to a phantom IL stint to push the decision into September, but that remains unlikely.
If the Mariners are committed to keeping Santana, Lamb might be next up. But Lamb was just acquired and would almost certainly be claimed on waivers. He gives the Mariners something they don't have currently: a quality left-handed bat off the bench and possible platoon partner with Eugenio Suárez. It's a limited sample, but he's significantly more likely to hit than Moore or Santana, particularly against right-handed pitching.
Unlike Lamb and Santana, Haggerty does have options left. But if the goal is to have the best roster you can in 2022, Haggerty has to be on it. He's been simply incredible thus far, posting a 153 wRC+ and providing a surprising amount of pop. He's also a better base-runner than anybody on this list, and he can handle multiple positions.
When you start to boil things down, the solution to this problem, if the team is unwilling to DFA Santana, is that both Moore and Trammell are demoted to Triple-A where they can get everyday at-bats until they're needed. This solution allows for the Mariners to keep all five players in the organization and provides the best path to maximizing the roster for September.
Ultimately, the most likely scenario involves either a phantom IL stint or Haggerty being unfairly shipped back to Tacoma for a month to placate Moore. The Mariners have options and more often than not, these types of problems solve themselves. And having watched this Mariners team for 110+ games, it isn't hard to imagine something unexpected to occur.
