The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence. Left-hander Jhonathan Díaz was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot for Lawrence, infielder Austin Shenton has been designated for assignment. Brady Farkas of Refuse to Lose was among those to relay last night that Lawrence was likely to be called up today.
Lawrence, 37, has been on and off the Mariners’ roster all year long. He signed a minor league deal with Seattle in the offseason and this is the fourth time they have selected him to the roster. In the first two instances, he was quickly designated for assignment after an appearance or two. He elected free agency after clearing waivers and returned to the club on a fresh minor league deal. His third DFA resulted in him being claimed by the Blue Jays. That club gave him similar treatment, putting him into one game before sending him into DFA limbo. Lawrence again elected free agency and returned to the M’s on a fresh minor league deal, leading to today’s selection.
Around all those transactions, he has 12 2/3 innings in five appearances. He has a 4.97 earned run average, 8.3% strikeout rate, 1.7% walk rate and 45.3% ground ball rate. He now has a 6.59 career ERA in 136 2/3 innings, spread over five different seasons.
The Mariners recently put Bryce Miller on the 15-day injured list, joining George Kirby and Logan Gilbert. That leaves them with a four-man rotation core of Luis Castillo, Bryan Woo, Emerson Hancock and Logan Evans. When Miller hit the IL about a week ago, Díaz was recalled to give the club a fresh arm capable of covering multiple innings, but he hasn’t been used since. His last outing was a minor league game on May 9th, 11 days ago.
Lawrence last pitched on the farm May 15th. That was only for two innings, but it seems the Mariners felt better about him on regular rest as opposed to Díaz after such a long layoff. Casey Legumina is listed as tonight’s starter but he will probably serve as an opener, as he’s mostly been a one-inning guy this year. After that, the M’s will see what they get from Lawrence as part of a bullpen game.
To get Lawrence onto the big league roster, the M’s are risking losing Shenton. The 27-year-old infielder was acquired from the Rays in a November cash deal. He’s out to a slow start this year. He has stepped to the plate 169 times at the Triple-A level. He has eight home runs but has been punched out at a 29% clip. He has a .207/.284/.413 line and 76 wRC+ on the year.
That rough performance has nudged him off the 40-man and into DFA limbo, which can last for as long as a week. However, the waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Mariners will have a maximum of five days to explore trade interest.
It’s possible that some other club looks beyond the rough 2025 numbers to see potential. Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Shenton took 940 minor league plate appearances. His 28.1% strikeout rate in those was certainly high but he also drew walks at a huge 15.1% clip and hit 49 home runs. He produced a combined slash line of .286/.399/.549 in that time, leading to a 149 wRC+.
For his minor league career, Shenton has mostly played the infield corners, with some brief looks at second base and in the outfield corners as well. He has less than a year of service time and is still optionable for the rest of this year and one additional season. Put it all together and it’s possible some club will be enticed to acquire him as a depth piece.
Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images
Oh Dipoto… You can never let go of Casey Lawrence…
Our 41st man! Just like our 12th man!
How does a 37 yr guy with a career ERA close to 7 and awful peripherals keep getting chances? Insanity
Some pitching staff somewhere gets injured and he’s willing to pitch for the league minimum.
He’s our lucky charm
The Mariners are without their #1 , #2, and #3 starting pitchers and 3 regulars out of their lineup. Yet I keep hearing from whining fans about all these other teams who have been “snake-bitten” with unbelievably catastrophic bad luck on the injury front etc etc etc.
your starters all made like 30 starts last year. this is actually normal for all teams, get used to it
I would argue Woo is their number two or three starter and they’re better off without Bliss.
But I’d add that they’re missing two key relievers and aren’t likely getting them back.
Seattle has definitely had their share of injuries.
Yes definitely concur. I was going off assumptions going into the season. Woo has been outstanding. Yeah Bliss has probably lost his spot. Why aren’t they switching out Locklear for Solano?? Two key relievers being Santos & Thornton? [Stevil could you remind me what your blog address is again? I enjoyed reading it last season but then I somehow lost it and didn’t bookmark.]
Bliss is out for the season (Hollander said as much)., so he’s out of the picture, regardless. But second base has been a strength. So many things needed to go right this year after such a dull offseason, and a lot has gone right till this point, namely with the infield defense and rebounds from multiple offensive players (Crawford, Julio, Arozarena), and Polanco).
Locklear has been reducing the Ks in Tacoma, which is good, but the power’s gone. They aren’t likely going to DFA a veteran with just 60 -70 PAs who can play several positions in a pinch for an unproven prospect with limited defense and no real tools (at the moment). Worth noting, Solano’s used primarily against LHPs, but he has reverse splits. He’s hitting RHPs better. He’s being used in a role he isn’t accustomed to. That might be the problem, though it’s not a huge problem.
When they face left-handed starters, they switch him out when a right-handed reliever comes in, which is why he has so few PAs. They’re not giving him a chance to get comfortable. Solano doesn’t really fit here, but he’s basically the 26th man. Doing the same with Locklear would be a waste. He still has the potential for a regular role, he just has to find his power and show that he can keep the strikeouts under control over a larger sample.
That said, I think it’s Cole Young who’s more likely to displace Solano. I wouldn’t expect any changes for a while, but if Young can eventually handle second, it would allow them to use Moore at first vs. LHPs and possibly at third vs. some the tougher RHPs. if Williamson struggles to adjust.
There’s a huge irony in what we’re seeing. A few years ago (2022), I thought Seattle was trying to emulate the Dodgers’ positional flexibility. They weren’t really trying to do that this year, but that’s kind of what we’re seeing with various players playing positions they weren’t expected to play.
Santos and Thornton are the relievers I was referring to. Taylor and Bazardo are the weakest links and I would argue the bullpen is biggest area of need.
The blog is hardballviahardcore.com.
Casey Lawrence, the pride of McSherrystown, Pennsylvania!
Casey Lawrence, the pride of Albright College!
Guess who’s back, back again . . .
Chris Berman?
could have just released Solano
But then who would pinch hit for Polanco in the 5th inning of literally. Every. Game?
Days until he’s DFA’d again? Signed to a minor league deal? Called up again? Will thr Blue Jays interrupt the cycle? Number of articles this season on MLBTR about him? Im guessing 3 days until the next DFA.
Somewhere Adam Rosales is smiling..
Surprised about Shenton’s season – he looked like a good bet in Peoria. But he clearly lagged behind Williamson and Locklear. And if you can’t hit in the PCL, something’s gone terribly wrong. As for Lawrence, whose family is based in the PNW, he’ll always come back to Seattle and Tacoma. All this is bonus time for him.
Half the PCL plays in normal or even pitching friendly stadiums, including Seattle’s affiliate. It’s really only Albuquerque, Reno, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake that are launching pads, mostly Albuquerque and Vegas.
Still, it’s a hitter friendly league generally and Shenton is not hitting.
The Mariners have one of the very best rotations in the game, but their lack of SP depth is starting to reveal itself.
Just saw on the game today that he had flown 12,371 miles this season. He flew from somewhere to Seattle and to Toronto in a 24hr period. Crazy as a 6’5” guy I hated to fly at times. Depending on the airline and how full the flight was.