Mariners Select Jhonathan Díaz

The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Jhonathan Díaz. The club already had an open 40-man roster spot, so no corresponding move was necessary there. In terms of the active roster, right-hander Emerson Hancock has been optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. Daniel Kramer of MLB.com noted earlier that Díaz was in the clubhouse with Hancock headed out.

As of a month ago, the Mariners were set to open the season with a strong front five of Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller, George Kirby, Bryan Woo and Luis Castillo. Unfortunately, Kirby was shut down in early March due to some shoulder inflammation and started the season on the injured list.

That opened an opportunity for Hancock but his start in yesterday’s game against the Tigers could hardly have gone much worse. He didn’t make it out of the first inning, recording just two outs, one of which was a caught stealing. He allowed six earned runs on seven hits, forcing the bullpen to cover 8 1/3 innings.

Of the club’s eight relievers, four of them pitched last night, each of them recording at least four outs and throwing at least 31 pitches. Out of the four guys who didn’t pitch last night, three of them appeared in Sunday’s contest.

They have brought up Díaz presumably for a multi-inning option out of the bullpen soon. Last year, he made five appearances in the majors for Seattle but spent most of his time in the Triple-A rotation. He logged 117 2/3 innings for Tacoma over 22 starts and one relief appearance. His 4.36 earned run average wasn’t bad in the context of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He struck out 22.9% of batters faced, gave out walks at a 9.9% clip and got grounders on 54.1% of balls in play.

The lefty was outrighted off the roster in February and elected free agency but returned via a minor league deal. He still has options, so the M’s could perhaps shuttle him to Tacoma and back throughout the year, recalling him whenever a situation like this arises.

In the short term, it’s unclear what the M’s plan to do with the rotation. They are in the midst of a seven-game stretch to start the season, with two more to go. But thanks to having five off-days in April and some at the start of May, they don’t play more than six games in a row again until the second half of May. Perhaps they could survive for a while with a four-man group of Gilbert, Miller, Woo and Castillo. Optionable arms like Hancock, Díaz and Blas Castano could perhaps make spot starts or take bulk work in occasional bullpen games over the next six weeks or so.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, USA TODAY Sports