After the Mariners declined their end of Mitch Garver‘s $12MM mutual option last fall, Garver took his $1MM buyout and then sat through a “super slow offseason. Never really got any good offers or formal offers,” as the catcher told the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude. Garver’s long wait in free agency ended two days ago when he re-signed with the M’s on a minor league deal, and Garver credited his fellow backstop Cal Raleigh with helping get the ball rolling on the reunion.
Earlier this week, Garver said “Cal reached out and said, ‘Maybe you should try calling the Mariners.’ So we called Justin [Hollander, the Mariners’ GM]. Within 24 hours, we were able to work something out.” Reports from December indicated that Seattle had some interest in bringing Garver back, and though Andrew Knizner was signed to a one-year, $1MM guaranteed deal, Garver’s return gives the M’s some more depth behind the plate.
Raleigh made 38 starts at DH last season, as the Mariners wanted to give the slugger a break from catching duties while still keeping his power bat in the lineup. Since a fresh and productive Raleigh is critical to Seattle’s hopes, the team figures to use this same tactic again in 2026, opening the door for plenty of time for a backup catcher. It perhaps isn’t out of the question that both Garver and Knizner are on the 26-man roster, though the M’s are probably more likely to stick with Raleigh and one backup as the catching corps.
Elsewhere at the Mariners’ camp, Adam Divish of the Seattle Times writes that infield prospect Michael Arroyo will get some looks as a third baseman and left fielder once Arroyo returns from national team duty with Colombia during the World Baseball Classic. Arroyo has never played in the outfield as a pro, and played in a handful of games at the hot corner when playing with the Mariners’ Dominican Summer League team in 2022. Otherwise, Arroyo has played exclusively as a middle infielder, and was only a second baseman and DH in the minors in 2025.
Heading into 2026, Baseball Prospectus ranks Arroyo as the 36th-best minor leaguer in the sport, and The Athletic’s Keith Law (49th), ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (62nd), and MLB Pipeline (67th) all have Arroyo within their preseason top-100 rankings. The consensus on Arroyo’s defense is that he could end up as a decent big league second baseman, though between offseason acquisition Brendan Donovan and a bunch of other infield prospects, it makes sense that the Mariners would want to expand Arroyo’s versatility.
2027 is probably the likeliest date for Arroyo’s Major League debut. He just turned 21 last November, and had a modest .255/.376/.341 slash line over 250 PA with Double-A Arkansas in 2025. Arroyo’s approach at the plate is well-regarded by scouts, but he’ll need some bigger numbers in the minors (and probably an injury or two ahead of him on the depth chart) to get himself on the radar for a big league call-up this year.
In a longer piece from Ryan Divish, Bryce Miller reported good health and a normal offseason routine in the wake of an injury-plagued 2025 season. Miller was limited to 18 starts and 90 1/3 innings in 2025 due to a pair of stints on the injured list, as Miller battled bone spurs in his throwing elbow. Rather than a surgical option, Miller received a cortisone shot and a PRP shot to help his recovery, and he finished his tough year on the high note of a 2.51 ERA over three starts and 14 1/3 innings during Seattle’s postseason run.
Following the season, Miller said he got a Synvisc injection, which is “like a gel, like a joint lubricant.” This allowed him to proceed as normal this winter, and he may be able to avoid surgery altogether.
“[Dr. Keith] Meister was like, ‘Don’t touch it [Miller’s elbow]. If it feels good, don’t touch it’,” Miller said. ” ‘Now that we know kind of how to help it, if you feel anything in the offseason or anything in Spring Training or anything during the year, just get another injection, to get back rolling again now that we know how to fix it.’ He advised against doing anything until I feel something and I haven’t felt anything.”
Miller is already up to 98mph in his live batting-practice sessions, and he has added 15 pounds of muscle over the offseason. Now entering his fourth MLB season, Miller looked like a breakout star when he had a 2.94 ERA over 180 1/3 innings with the Mariners in 2024, before his bone spurs hampered his progress last year.
Having Garver and Knizner as half of your bench would be organizational malpractice.
They’d drop Knizner
Just responding to the suggestion in the article that they could both be on the 26-man.
@BBB Truer words were never spoken
If the Mariners took ideas from MLBTR, they’d end up worse than the Rockies.
“It perhaps isn’t out of the question that both Garver and Knizner are on the 26-man roster, though the M’s are probably more likely to stick with Raleigh and one backup as the catching corps.”
The article doesn’t at all suggest that they *should* carry both backups. It describes that option as simply non-impossible.
Nobody accused Mark of suggesting they “should”.
It’s the notion of it being a possibility that they’re rebutting, myself included.
Agreed. With extra inning games not going as long, I just don’t think the risk of an injury to a catcher is much of a concern. So you have to maybe pinch hit 2-3 times in one because you lose your catcher? Big deal.
If you’re that worried about that, have Cal pick up a 1B mit.
So just any warm body can call Hollander to ask for a job?
Hat in hand.
Isn’t Arkansas one of the worst hitting parks in the minors?
According to Baseball America it was the worst hitter’s park in AA last season. On the other hand Everett was tied for third best in High A, so Arkansas is quite the transition.
I hate him so much as a player even though he is a good guy off the field he gave us .600 ops at DH while being a huge contract for us (10 million contracts here is as common as 50 million in New York)
He’s a great backup catcher, and being on a reasonable deal will now let folks appreciate that. He’s a legit threat against lefties too.
Bold of you to assume he’ll make the team.
Yeah, another guy who had a career year while playing for a new contract. And then fell off after signing with his new team.
Bet if he went to a good hitters park he do well. Seattle kills hitters. Look at Geno how good he did in Arizona.
Naylor would like a word
The lock on Mariners podcast believe Knizner has a 60/40 chance of getting the backup role. Those odds are at odds of what they say it is. It was mention that the M’s were still interested in Garver but may have thought that he would have received a better offer than they wanted to put out their for him. Certainly not in the multi million dollar range. Garver didn’t do himself any favors with his poor showing last year he’s going to have to step it up, double time Garver.
Interesting that Raleigh had something to do with it. We talk about the money and the location (city or park) all the time but rarely discuss or factor in people and friendships
In these comments they usually talk more about the relationship stuff than about money. Even though money is the main factor over 90 percent of the time.
Adam Jude mentioned a few months ago that Michael Arroyo was being transitioned to LF in the Columbian Winter League. I’m sure the M’s were keeping an eye on that this winter. Arroyo might be the guy who takes over Randy’s spot next year in LF.
That’s a fun league, actually. I catch a game or two every year in Barranquilla and it is always great
They’re getting him work at multiple positions. If he’s capable of at least functional defense at 2B/3B/OF in addition to his solid hitting, that’s valuable.
Im thinking about these rookies in camp, a lot of promising players this year. Some of them could step in an surprise, although spring training is more of a window dressing of things to come they are doing a good job applying for a job ahead of themselves.
Carrying a third catcher really is out of the question. They’re too platoon-heavy, have too many outfielders, and lack experience at second base.
FWIW Michael Arroyo homered in his first Spring Training at-bat on Friday, Arroyo started at second base and finished 2-for-2 at the plate.
Garver and Knizner on the same 26 man is entirely out of the question. Mitch will win the backup job, Knizner’s gone and Perada’s org depth in his final option year.
You always hear about bone spurs and loose bodies.
A bone spur is fraying on the end of an arm bone. A piece of bone frays off and jettisons out but remains attached to the bone itself. As it heals, like any fracture, it builds up mass, new bone tissue grows filling in the minute gaps, solidifying. This creates a spur as the healed micro fractures are larger in mass, like scars on your skin, they are rough and have amplitude.
Id say better than loose bodies. Loose bodies indicates that bone and tissue has chipped away from the joint all together and that can make the joint unstable.
It is always interesting to see how pitchers fair with the less notable elbow injuries. How they recover from spurs and loose bodies and if these injuries inevitably lead to more serious elbow issues.
It makes it sound like the Mariners assumed that Garver may want more or actually get more money on the open
Market than they were willing to pay for the reason that they did not reach out. That does not seem to be the ”Mariners Way” of
Kicking the tires on everything and everyone. Gotta believe that the Mariners and Garver spoke initially and they were pretty far apart and Cal knew that. Four months later Garv has nothing and Cal brings up the possibility, again. I like it. He knows the picturing staff so well and will not be a DH, only playing against a LH starter to give Cal a rest from catching.
I went to the Mariners opener against the Padres, yesterday. One thing I wanted to watch was reliever Troy Taylor who I was so excited about in 2024 and who just got lit up in 2025. He did not look good. Bummer. I know that there is a lot of spring training to go for Taylor and the Mariners are going to look at a lot of different relievers that they have brought in but I still say go get Danny Coulombe. How expensive can he be at this point?
I really don’t think they have Troy Taylor in mind for anywhere but Tacoma. There are only 2 spots available and I’m guessing it’s a long man who can spot start (Criswell? Dunning?) and whichever one short man excels this spring with special preference to a third lefty (Simpson? Ortiz?).
The long man on the 26 man roster who can make spot starts is Emerson Hancock.
I don’t know if Mark has taken park factors into account, but that’s actually a pretty good stat line for Arkansas. Arroyo homered and doubled in two ABs yesterday. I’d rather see him starting at 3B in Tacoma over Patrick Wisdom (if Emerson makes the squad), or if they think he’s too short, put him in LF and move Randy to right when the time comes. He’s a lot of fun to watch.
Mariners take it in 6