JUNE 13: Ruggiano has cleared waivers, and the Mariners have outrighted him to Triple-A Tacoma, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets.
JUNE 4: The Mariners have designated outfielder Justin Ruggiano for assignment in order to clear a 25-man roster spot for backup catcher Jesus Sucre, the team announced (relayed by 710 ESPN’s Shannon Drayer, on Twitter). Seattle needed to clear a spot on the roster for a catcher after trading Welington Castillo to the Diamondbacks yesterday in the six-player Mark Trumbo trade.
The decision to designate Ruggiano is a somewhat curious one, as the veteran outfielder was acquired from the Cubs this offseason with the hope that he could form one half of a right field platoon along with Seth Smith. Ruggiano’s overall numbers don’t look particularly appealing, but he’s hit left-handed pitching well in 2015, as he has throughout his career. In 43 plate appearances versus lefties this season, Ruggiano is hitting .263/.349/.474 with a pair of homers. That slash line gels with his career marks — a .266/.331/.505 line against southpaws.
Though Ruggiano has not hit especially well as a whole this season, his .214/.321/.357 has been roughly league-average production when accounting for his pitcher-friendly home ballpark (99 wRC+, 97 OPS+). Teammates Rickie Weeks and Dustin Ackley, however, have been markedly worse performers at the dish, with Weeks hitting just .169/.273/.260 and Ackley hitting a mere .190/.231/.331. In terms of defensive value, Ruggiano is better suited to play the outfield than Weeks, who is still learning the position.
Ruggiano is earning $2.505MM this season after avoiding arbitration this winter. He’s under control through the 2016 season and will be arb-eligible once more this offseason if he accumulates a full year of service time in 2015. I’d imagine that Ruggiano could generate some interest in trades, particularly if the Mariners are willing to absorb some of the remaining salary. From a speculative standpoint, the Reds could be a fit, as they are on the lookout for corner outfield options after seeing Marlon Byrd go down with a fractured wrist earlier in the week.
Should’ve been Weeks that’s DFA
I have to think they are planning on some more moves here. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense on the surface.
What the ? Ruggiano isn’t Mike Trout, but he’s right at league average and a decent OF. Was he out of options or something? Someone will pick him right up.
League average what? He’s hitting .214.
With a .321 on-base percentage and a .357 slugging percentage at Safeco. Which translates to a park-adjusted batting line that’s scarcely below the league average.
True, but it’s small sample size on the short end of a platoon
Too bad it’s on the wrong end that the team needs on a platoon.
.263/.349/.474/.823 vs LHP
.156/.289/.219/.508 vs RHP
No. Seth smith hits lefty. Hes the one the platoon partner is for
I’m saying the Mariner’s troubles aren’t with LHP.
2015 Seattle Mariners:
.227/.291/.379/.669 vs RHP
.267/.317/.440/.757 vs LHP
Oh please Steven, let me guess you rather DFA Felix over rugiano too? Weeks is a speed guy with great RBI production and more importantly a clubhouse leader. He’s like the black billy butler
Very surprised. Wonder if the Cubs can send a sack of flour over in exchange for Ruggiano and $1 million in Starbucks gift cards.
White Sox please
Looks like the Mariners kept Weeks for his -114 career DRS at 2B.
He’s not playing 2B for them though…he’s on roller skates in left
Exactly, he’s virtually a DH now hitting like a good hitting pitcher.
Best case on a contender he’s a late veteran right handed pinch hitter
To be fair, he often looked like he was on ice skates at 2B, so roller skates could be an improvement.
Much easier on the ankles I hear. Really not sure why Bloomquist actually didn’t get the dfa. Clubhouse value maybe
Bloomquist is the only other shortstop on the current 25. If Taylor had stuck I think Bloomquist might have been the one out the door.
On roller skates? You mean like Lonnie “Skates” Smith?
That was a perfect nickname.
Indeed, one of the best nicknames I remember growing up… and Lonnie did play the OF like he was wearing them. I once went to a game where Lonnie was playing CF for the Cardinals, and he had the range of a statue.
How the heck do you not DFA Weeks??????!!!!
Weeks will be gone soon. I’m hoping there is a trade in place and Ruggs is the guy the other team wants.
I just looked at the Rainiers roster and Gutierrez is looking good there. Let’s swap Weeks with him.
Limit his playing time to try and keep him healthy. PR & defensive sub for Cruz/Trumbo with a spot start. Can he really be any worse than the “options” Lloyd has on the bench?
Jack Z must think Ackley has some trade value of some kind. To be fair, Ackley flashes some leather. He’s like the Blue Oyster Bar in Police Academy .flashes the leather but you close your eyes cause you didn’t want to see it anyway.
Really he was a decent OF, and they decide to keep Weeks over Rugg.
Must have been quite a party that night Weeks and.Ackley had at Jack Z’s…must be some pictures hidden someplace
Only guy with trade value is my guess. Willie, Weeks and Ackley will all be gone soon, too. Well, Ackley may get an extendes stay if he shows he wants to play. He’s going to get very limited ABs over the next few weeks. He better show he wants to play.
Looking at the team stats, I can perhaps see one reason why they DFA Ruggiano:
BABIP
Ruggiano 0.317
Weeks 0.216
Ackley 0.207
Bloomquiest 0.195
Basically they expect the other 3 guys to rebound to a better BABIP and start hitting.
It is a stretch though to negate defensive value for relying on BABIP normalizing.
No idea why Bloomquist wasn’t the one that got the DFA. He’s redundant on that roster… I can make somewhat of a reason for keeping everyone else.
You can have no talent at all, but an ability to “play” SS in the big leagues will seemingly keep you employed.
Mariners have Ackley, Miller, and Taylor who can ALL player SS and super utility. Bloomquist must be the core of that clubhouse
Taylor got sent to Tacoma last week because he couldn’t hit. The AAA SS just broke his thumb a day or so before Taylor was sent down. Taylor won’t be back for at least a month unless there’s an injury.
Ackley can not in any scenario play SS. Miller is the only MLB SS on the roster so Bloomy stays until the Mariners have another option.
Ackley has never played shortstop and Taylor is not on the team.
Ackely was an amazing collegiate SS…but I see what you’re saying. I should have been much clearer that the possibility of covering SS was within the organization
Ackley was drafted as an infielder but the Mariners made him an outfielder.
Babip is over rated. Weeks is making the most soft contact of his career statistically which is the reason for the low babip. Ruggiano is actually making hard contact 33% of the time which is double weeks. Dumb move
Many stats don’t play so well over reserve small sample size either. The only projected value I saw in Weeks for the Mariners was a late inning righty pinch hitter… But the can flat NOT play the OF…his reads and routes are scary
I think Ruggs got DFA’d because there is some interest in him. They may get a minor league piece back in return.
Giants? Maxwell hasn’t been hitting since early April, and our bench depth is horrible right now.
The outfield is pretty much the only spot the Giants don’t need more players in. Acquiring Ruggiano makes no sense for the Giants to make since how would he be much of an improvement compared to anyone they already have?
He is an upgrade over Maxwell offensively (maybe not so far this season, but his past shows it), and that’s what we need, a strong bat off the bench. Right now our best bat off the bench is Susac, who is struggling to get on base right now.
Ruggiano is struggling to hit almost everything this year. The only thing he’s doing well in is OBP. If he’s struggling to hit at Safeco, he’s not going to get much better hitting at AT&T. The only guy people he’s hitting well against are lefties and hitting lefties isn’t exactly something the Giants are struggling against right now.
I like that this move made you use the term, “Jeepers” yeah..about right. I think Mariners must be working on some sort of early summer process here.
orioles should claim Ruggiano and DFA Snider or Lough
I keep hearing from Orioles fans how they can’t wait to get rid of Snider. I haven’t seen him this year, but his numbers look decent aside from the fact that his power numbers are way down from last year. Has he really been that bad? I didn’t mind the Pirates trading him away, but he was a useful piece of the roster for us last year.
I heard the Red Sox need another outfielder
Send Bryce Harper to the Red Sox and they’ll surely take on another OF.
That is actually the guy they need lol
I wonder if Ruggiano is getting Fallout 4.
This FO is a joke. Get rid of Ackley already.
Mariners need a set lineup like the other clubs that are winning.
I know it would be far from a major move, although I believe it is one that would improve the ball club, I would not mind seeing the Pirates claim Ruggiano and in turn DFA Corey Hart.
Not a bad idea in theory, but I see a couple of problems with it. For one thing, although Hart isn’t a very good defensive 1B, Ruggiano doesn’t play there at all. The Bucs need someone other than Sean Rodriguez off the bench who plays 1B, since Rodriguez plays all over the diamond. The other reason is a little more practical: I don’t think Ruggiano makes it to the Bucs in the waiver claim order, someone else will take him first. Hart has at least pinch-hit well, so I am not sure if the Bucs are ready to give up on him just yet.
Isn’t Ruggiano better at LH offense than Sam Fuld while being a quality defender?
Mets?
He would seemingly fit a need for them, being a right handed hitting backup OF who can play defense.
I doubt the Reds make a play for him. They just announced today that catcher Devin Mesoraco is going to put off hip surgery until the offseason and rehab in the minors playing left field. They said even with putting the surgery off he should be ready to resume catching in ST next year.
Do you think Mesoraco is going to work in LF? It would be great if he did, but he has always shot down any suggestion that he add a secondary position.
When I first saw that Trumbo had been traded, I thought that it would have been great if the Reds tried to acquire him. A younger, power bat at GABP is an instant upgrade over the washed-out Marlon Byrd.
I think he could. Mesoraco is a competitor and I don’t think he wants to shut it down for the season. Honestly he can’t be any worse than Ryan Ludwick was in 2014. He also made that suggestion before he was injured as well. It’s worth a shot in my mind.
Byrd is far from washed up. He had a horrendous April at the plate, but his May was spectacular. Not to mention the fact that his defense in left was excellent. Trumbo in left at GABP would be an adventure to say the least. With the power bats of Votto, Frazier, and Bruce already in the fold, I would much rather have Byrd than Trumbo.
I can only hope that you are correct about Byrd, whenever he returns from the wrist injury.
Playing people out of position, especially IF-OF or vice versa, is always a risk. For Mesoraco it will be about taking good angles and keeping the ball in front of him. Cody Asche seems to have adjusted to LF pretty well. Another example would be Hanley Ramirez, but it still looks like a defensive adventure every time a ball is hit out to him!
I definitely don’t expect Mesoraco to morph into Alex Gordon or anything, but what are the Reds’ other options until Byrd returns realistically? Skip Schumaker? Great bench player, bad starter. Brennan Boesch? He doesn’t even deserve to be on the bench. 40 man rookie (Waldrop, Rodriguez, Duran)? None of them are doing much in the minors. Non 40 Man rookie (Jesse Winker)? Struggling in AA, not ready for the bigs. Trade? Possibly someone like Ben Revere could be a nice fit.
My preferred LF options would be
1. Mesoraco (at least try it for a couple of weeks)
2. Trade for Ben Revere if he is cheap enough (his singles-only hitting would be great in front of Votto and Frazier)
3. Bring up Yorman Rodriguez (maybe do that anyway with a Boesch DFA)
Ruggiano has had an excellent OBP if nothing else this season, poor OBP is where the M’s have struggled the most. This makes absolutely no sense.
With the team landing Trumbo wouldn’t any team OF just call to inquire on Ruggiano, Ackley, & Smith. If the best offer or most interest came on Ruggiano a DFA basically becomes an auction call
Ruggainio is an average player
Even if he was an average player, I would take him over several of the Below Average players on the Mariners roster
I don’t understand this move AT ALL. He was hitting just as they expected (maybe a bit better) when they played him as they originally intended in a platoon role. And both Weeks and Ackley really, really have looked bad all year! Boy these guys (Mariners) pull some curious moves. They say it’s all about production and competing, and then it isn’t. They say it’s about setting up the outfield platoon situation and strengthening the DH position (with Cruz), then it isn’t.
If the Mariners aren’t working on a deal to get Papelbon and Revere from the Phillies they aren’t serious about turning this around. DFA of Ruggiano makes a little sense in that thought, except, Why move an outfielder when they’ve had to use a clank like Cruz in the OF this year?
Great Move, this bum only had 3 RBI this year
How in the world did Ruggiano clear waivers? His contract isn’t that terrible.