The Mariners finally made the kind of roster move that says they’re done pretending. On Tuesday, Seattle released catcher Mitch Garver and outfielder Rob Refsnyder, a long-expected shakeup that clears space for players who are actually helping right now.
According to Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, Jhonny Pereda will be recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to take Garver’s spot. Refsnyder’s exit comes after Taylor Ward arrived in Monday’s trade with the Baltimore Orioles, a move that pushed him off the roster.
For Refsnyder, the numbers told the story long before the transaction did. Seattle signed him to a one-year, $6.25 million deal last winter hoping his track record against left-handed pitching would translate.
It didn’t. He hit .133/.203/.219 with zero home runs in 49 games, turning what was supposed to be a useful matchup bat into dead weight in the lineup.
Ward’s arrival gave the Mariners a cleaner path forward and made Refsnyder’s spot impossible to justify any longer.
Garver’s situation had been building toward this for a while. The Mariners signed him to a two-year, $24 million deal before the 2024 season, then watched him produce an 88 wRC+ over the next two years.
Seattle declined his $12 million mutual option, later brought him back on a minor league contract, and still got only a .183 average and .627 OPS this season. At some point, the wait for a turnaround stops being patient and starts becoming a burden.
Pereda had already made a case to stick around when Cal Raleigh returned from injury, and now he gets another shot. He hit .270/.324/.365 with two home runs and four RBI in 63 at-bats, a small sample that still gave fans reason to want more. His job now is straightforward: catch, give Raleigh the occasional breather, and avoid the kind of clogging that came with Garver’s usage at catcher and DH.
This doesn’t magically transform Seattle’s offense. Ward still has to produce, and the rest of the lineup has plenty to prove.
But the message is clear: active roster spots are too valuable to keep tied up by names and past résumés. The Mariners are finally treating them that way.
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