The Mariners are still rearranging the furniture after a busy trade deadline, and the latest moves trim two veteran bats from the roster. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reported that Seattle is releasing Rob Refsnyder and Mitch Garver, with Jhonny Pereda set to come up and replace Garver.
Seattle enters Tuesday at 55-58 and tied for second place in the American League West, but the roster churn has continued even after the deadline deals. The club already added reliever Seranthony Dominguez from the Chicago White Sox in the trade that sent starting pitcher Luis Castillo the other way, and brought in outfielder Taylor Ward from the Baltimore Orioles for reliever Alex Hoppe and two prospects. Brendan Donovan is also set to return from the injured list on Tuesday.
Refsnyder’s stint in Seattle never got going the way the Mariners hoped when they signed him to a one-year, $6.25 million deal last offseason. The 35-year-old was brought in to punish left-handed pitching, but the results were rough: he hit .140 in 53 games with four home runs and 11 RBIs, including just .147 against lefties.
He also missed a month because of injury. Even so, his track record makes him a likely waiver claim for a team looking for that specific skill set.
Garver’s run in Seattle ends after a longer and pricier commitment. The 35-year-old signed a two-year deal before the 2024 season, then returned on a one-year agreement this offseason that felt much easier for fans to get behind.
But the production still didn’t match the hope. He finished the year hitting .175 with four homers and an OPS+ of 73.
Against left-handed pitching, he was better, batting .222 with a .344 on-base percentage and a .659 OPS, which makes the release a little harder to read.
Pereda now gets his chance to take over as Cal Raleigh’s backup. Earlier this season, he hit .270 in 19 games with two home runs and four RBIs. At Triple-A Tacoma, he’s hit .319 with three home runs, and Seattle will give him a more regular shot to help.
The rest of the roster still has some moving parts. Raleigh, Josh Naylor, Cole Young, Colt Emerson, Donovan, Julio Rodriguez, Randy Arozarena, Dom Canzone and Taylor Ward form a core group of nine position players from the 13 available spots. Pereda makes 10, leaving three openings to sort through among Victor Robles, Weston Wilson, Stuart Fairchild and Leo Rivas, with minor league call-ups such as Ryan Bliss, Miles Mastrobuoni and Nolan Jones also in the mix.
One possible route would be Rivas as the spare infielder and Robles as a fifth outfielder and backup centerfielder. For the final spot, Mastrobuoni would give the Mariners another left-handed bat and infield option, though Jones would make plenty of sense too after coming over in the Castillo trade. Jones has 14 home runs in the minors this season and looks like the clearest match for the Luke Raley role, with Raley likely out for the rest of the year.
Seattle opens against the Tigers at 6:40 p.m. PT on Tuesday.
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