Mariners Make Flurry of Roster Moves Tuesday, Including Signing Former All-Star

Ahead of Tuesday's series opener with the Baltimore Orioles, the Seattle Mariners have come to terms with former All-Star reliever Chris Devenski. They've sent him to Triple-A Tacoma. They've also made additional roster moves which we've chronicled here.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Chris Devenski (48) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Charlotte Sports Park in spring training 2024. / Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports

The Seattle Mariners announced a flurry of roster moves on Tuesday ahead of the series opener with the Baltimore Orioles.

The M's announced that they had re-called catcher Seby Zavala from Tacoma while sending down pitcher Jhonathan Diaz. Furthermore, they've signed veteran reliever and former All-Star Chris Devenski to a major league deal and optioned him to Tacoma.

.@Mariners full roster moves:

🔹Seby Zavala, C, selected from Triple-A Tacoma.
🔹Jhonathan Díaz, LHP, optioned to Tacoma.

🔹Chris Devenski, RHP, signed to a Major League contract and will report to Tacoma. https://t.co/p93KwAR503

— Mariners PR (@MarinersPR) July 2, 2024

Let's take a look at what this means from all sides:

With regards to Zavala

While there's no word yet on catcher Mitch Garver needing to go on the injured list or anything, the M's are certainly protecting against the situation that happened on Sunday. With Garver getting injured while he was catching and Cal Raleigh was at designated hitter, the M's were put in a position where they were forced to lose the DH and have the pitcher hit once Raleigh moved into the catchers spot.

Having Seby Zavala here as a third option allows the M's to freely use both Garver and Raleigh in the lineup at the same time. Zavala likely won't play much, and a bench position will essentially be used on an extremely part-time player. He has just 39 at-bats this season.

With regards to Diaz

Diaz was brought up under the assumption that he would fill-in for the injured Bryan Woo in the rotation. However, the M's were able to move Luis Castillo to pitch on Sunday and were able to stay on rotation because of Monday's off day, so that spot ended up not being needed. Perhaps the M's are going to call up Emerson Hancock to make that start the next time around - or maybe Woo himself will be back and healthy (he's on the IL with a hamstring issue).

As for Devenski

Chris Devenski, who is 33 years old, was just designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays after going 2-1 with a 6.75 ERA. He's a nine-year veteran with the Houston Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Angels and Rays. He's 27-22 lifetime with a 3.98 ERA and he won the World Series with the Astros in 2017. He also made the All-Star Game that same year.

Given the major-league nature of his contract, you can expect that he'll be up soon. Mariners manager Scott Servias discussed the move prior to Tuesday's game.

"Actually, we just saw him in Tampa not too long ago (June 24-26) and he has a lot of major-league experience,'' Servais said. "He'll be in Triple-A, and we'll see. You can't have enough quality guys who can help you out. Things happen throughout the course of the season, and when you get in the second half, we'll have to see how it plays out. ''

Devenski's last game with the Rays was actually against the Mariners. He gave up a two-run home run to Mitch Garver in the seventh inning, giving Seattle a 3-1 lead. The Rays scored three times in the eighth to win 4-3. It was the third straight appearance where Devenski had allowed a home run.

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