The Mariners got a little lift on Saturday, and the injury picture is starting to brighten along with it.
The biggest name inching back is Brendan Donovan, whose rehab work has finally started to pick up. He returned to game action in the Arizona Complex League on Wednesday and was with Triple-A Tacoma by Friday.
That doesn’t mean a quick return to Seattle is coming. Tim Booth of The Seattle Times reported that Donovan should not be expected back today, tomorrow, or the day after that, and Justin Hollander said Friday that the discussion about activating him probably won’t happen until “something like 10 days from now.”
Donovan has been out of major league action since May 15, and so far his rehab has been limited to DH duty. Once the Mariners do get to that activation conversation, the obvious issue will be where to put him.
His old third-base spot is now occupied by J.P. Crawford, so the team will have to carve out a role.
The spot that matters most, though, is the top of the order. Donovan posted a .400 OBP batting leadoff earlier this year, while everyone else combined for a .323 OBP.
Rob Refsnyder is also working his way back after being sidelined since June 26 with sore knees. He started a rehab assignment with Tacoma on Saturday and went 0-for-3 with a walk. Hollander said he’ll likely need a week or more, and when he does return, he may have to fight for his place on the roster.
The bullpen should get help later, with Carlos Vargas, Matt Brash and Cooper Criswell all on different recovery tracks. Hollander said Vargas is the first one expected back, ideally around mid-August, with Brash and Criswell hoped to follow soon after.
That matters because the relief corps has been one of the strangest parts of Seattle’s 2026 season. The group owns a 3.59 ERA, good for fifth in the league, but sits 17th in fWAR and 18th in Win Probability Added. July has been rough too, with the bullpen posting -0.1 fWAR for the month.
Gabe Speier and Jose A. Ferrer have had their recent hiccups, but the bigger damage has come from the softer spots behind them, including Andrés Muñoz and Eduard Bazardo. The loss in Cleveland at the end of June still lingers, and so does the pitch Nick Davila left for Willy Adames on Friday.
The trade deadline on August 3 lands right in the middle of that bullpen timeline, which is why talk has already started about a possible “super ’pen.” At the same time, there’s also chatter that the Mariners may not be especially aggressive on the summer market.
Away from the big-league club, Lazaro Montes put on a show in Tacoma. In his eighth game for Triple-A, he launched his first home run at Cheney Stadium on Saturday, a 431-foot blast that left the bat at 110.4 mph.
Montes now has 27 homers this season and 59 over the last two years in 218 games. He’s also continuing to beat the defensive reputation that followed him, which helped land him as Seattle’s No. 3 prospect after the draft and Colt Emerson’s graduation.
In Other News...
Former Mariners Outfielder Finally Reached A Breaking Point In Oakland
Cade Marlowes path through pro ball has already taken him from Seattle to a second organization, and now the former Mariners outfielder is back on the market after using an opt-out in his minor league deal with Oakland. It comes after a productive stretch at Triple-A, the kind of run that usually keeps a player in the conversation for a call-up and gives a club a reason to keep him close.
For Seattle fans, Marlowe is still easy to remember from his 42 big league games over two seasons, a brief stint that included a memorable ninth-inning grand slam against the Angels before he was designated for assignment and later chose free agency. Oaklands decision not to bring him up leaves his next step unsettled, but it also puts a familiar name back into the kind of limbo that often defines the fringe of a major league roster. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Prospect Felnin Celesten Is Forcing His Way Back Into Focus
Felnin Celestens season has gone from promising to impossible to ignore, and now the Mariners are rewarding it with another jump. The 19-year-old shortstop has moved up from High-A Everett after putting together the best offensive stretch of his pro career, the kind of performance that has pushed him back onto major prospect lists and put his name squarely back in the organizations long-range conversation.
Celesten is expected to make his Double-A debut soon after the teams day off, which will be the next real test of how much of that production carries with him. For Seattle, the appeal is obvious: a young middle infielder who is trending the right way again and forcing evaluators to take a fresh look at him, even as the tougher competition in Arkansas will tell the next part of the story. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Just Sent Another Top Prospect Up With Celesten
The Mariners kept the prospect pipeline moving this week by adding another pair of names to the next stop on the developmental ladder. Outfielder Jonny Farmelo and right-hander Lucas Kelly are headed to Double-A Arkansas, joining Felnin Celesten after both spent time turning heads at High-A Everett.
For Seattle, the timing matters as much as the move itself. Farmelo has been one of the organizations more closely watched young hitters, while Kelly has given the AquaSox useful innings in relief, and now both get a tougher test in Little Rock. It is another sign that the Mariners are willing to keep pushing their better minor league talent together, even if the next level is where the real evaluation begins. [Read more 🡒]