Mariners Activate Kyle Seager

The Mariners have activated 3B Kyle Seager from the 60-Day IL, per a team release. The 31-year-old had been rehabbing from a torn tendon in his left (non-throwing) hand after a dive-gone-awry early in Spring Training.

Seager will hope to inject some much-needed life into a floundering Mariners club, which has gone a hard-to-believe 10-28 after a 13-2 start over the season’s first couple weeks. Fill-in third baseman Ryon Healy has hit the IL after a middling kick-off to the ’19 campaign, and the team has also lost second sacker Dee Gordon to a right wrist contusion.

From 2012-17, the sweet-swinging Seager established himself as one of the game’s premier third basemen, averaging 4.3 fWAR per season over the stretch, with an overall output topped only by Josh Donaldson and Adrian Beltre.  Seager’s offensive performance has slid precipitously over the last two seasons, however, bottoming out in ’18 with an unfortunate .221/.273/.400 (84 wRC+) line in 630 PAs for the M’s.

A balky big toe may have been much to blame, though, and the nine-year vet spent much of the offseason immersed in a nutrition and weight loss program designed purely to alleviate the pain’s root. A rebound to previously-established levels could make the 31-year-old an attractive midseason trade chip, though the club would almost certainly have to eat a decent portion of the some $45MM remaining on the former all-star’s contract.