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Mariners Designate Casey Lawrence, Activate Trent Thornton

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The Mariners announced that right-hander Trent Thornton has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list.  To make room on the active roster, the M’s have once again designated righty Casey Lawrence for assignment.

Thornton returns after missing a month due to appendicitis.  The righty has allowed five homers in only 15 1/3 innings of work out of the Mariners’ bullpen, which has been the biggest culprit in Thornton’s 5.87 ERA.  A 16.9% strikeout rate also hasn’t helped, but in something of an all-or-nothing statistic, Thornton has a career-best 51% grounder rate and a .250 BABIP, so he has been successful when he has been able to keep the ball in the park.

In under two months’ time, Lawrence has already made an early bid for MLBTR’s most written-about player of 2025.  Lawrence has been designated for assignment six times in the last eight weeks, with Seattle logging five of those DFAs and the Blue Jays the other instance.  The right-hander has cleared waivers five of those six times (except for when the Jays claimed him away from the Mariners), and on three occasions Lawrence elected free agency before quickly re-signing with Seattle.

Chances are that Lawrence’s latest trip to DFA limbo will again result in the right-hander staying with the M’s, whether he just accepts an outright assignment or if he again clears waivers, elects free agency, and re-signs a new minor league deal.  Throughout this transactional whirlwind, Lawrence has also posted a 4.08 ERA over 17 2/3 innings with Seattle and Toronto, with only an 8.8K% but also a tiny 1.3BB%.

MLBTR Podcast: Jarren Duran Rumors, Caglianone And Young Promoted, And Pitching Injuries

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • If the Diamondbacks can’t climb in the standings, what does their deadline look like? (48:45)
  • As a thought experiment, if the Orioles were willing to listen on Gunnar Henderson, what teams would even have the pieces to pull off a trade? (54:10)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images

Mariners, Daniel Bard Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Mariners are in agreement with veteran reliever Daniel Bard, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI. The ISE Baseball client will head to the team’s Arizona complex for some work before reporting to Triple-A Tacoma. Bradford adds that the deal contains multiple opt-out dates if Bard isn’t called up to the big league roster.

Bard is a few weeks shy of his 40th birthday. He missed all of last season recovering from surgeries to address a meniscus tear in his left knee and, more concerningly, a flexor tendon tear in his forearm. It seemed the latter injury might end Bard’s career, but he embarked on a comeback effort and threw in front of roughly ten teams last month. The Mariners evidently liked what they saw.

It has been a winding career path. Bard was a quality setup man in Boston for a few seasons until running into significant command woes. He bounced around the minors and even retired for a time to take a non-playing role with the Diamondbacks. Bard announced he was making a comeback in 2020. It improbably kickstarted a second act with the Rockies, with whom he eventually emerged as closer. He combined for 54 saves between 2021-22, working to a 1.79 ERA in the latter season.

Colorado signed Bard to a two-year, $19MM extension shortly before the 2022 trade deadline. That didn’t pan out, as his control issues resurfaced the following year. He managed a 4.56 ERA across 49 1/3 innings while walking more than 21% of opposing hitters. The second season of the deal was wiped out by the aforementioned injuries. Bard is a much less risky flier for the Mariners, who will see how his stuff plays in Tacoma after his tune-up at the complex. His fastball still had good life before the flexor surgery, as he averaged 95 MPH on his sinker in 2023.

Mariners To Acquire Joe Jacques

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12:10pm: Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 reports that the Mariners are sending right-hander Will Klein to the Mariners for Jacques. Klein was just designated for assignment by the Mariners a few days ago. The Dodgers will need to open a 40-man roster spot for him.

Klein has just 7 1/3 innings of major league experience, which all came last year. He allowed nine earned runs in that time. This year, he’s been in Triple-A and has posted a 7.17 ERA at that level with a strong 30.5% strikeout rate but also a massive 18.1% walk rate. That’s generally been his recipe throughout his minor league career.

7:11am: In an early morning deal, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Mariners are acquiring southpaw Joe Jacques from the Dodgers. The return headed to Los Angeles is not yet known, though unlikely to be significant given Jacques’s status as a player on a minor league deal.

Jacques, 30, was a 33rd-round pick by the Pirates all the way back in 2018. He climbed the minor league ladder with Pittsburgh and ultimately reached Triple-A with them before posting a 3.12 ERA across three levels of the minors in his final season with the organization. It wouldn’t be until 2023 when he made his big league debut as a member of the Red Sox, for whom he pitched to a pedestrian 5.06 ERA in 26 2/3 innings of work. He generated an excellent 64.7% ground ball rate, but struck out only 16.4% of his opponents while walking 8.2%. Overall, Jacques profiled as a roughly average to slightly below average reliever based on his peripheral numbers, including a 4.53 FIP and a 4.12 SIERA.

Jacques remained on Boston’s 40-man roster throughout the 2023-24 offseason, but ultimately made just one appearance at the big league level in 2024 before he was designated for assignment and plucked off waivers by the Diamondbacks. He had a similar experience with Arizona, appearing in one game before he was eventually designated for assignment to make room on the roster for newly-acquired reliever A.J. Puk. Those two outings in the majors last year saw him surrender three runs on six hits and a walk across three innings of work while striking out two. Meanwhile, the lefty pitched to a 5.48 ERA in 42 2/3 innings of work at the Triple-A level.

It was a lackluster performance overall, but when Jacques reached minor league free agency he was quickly snapped up by the Dodgers on a minor league deal back in November. Jacques has struggled to a 6.04 ERA in 22 1/3 innings at Triple-A so far this year, although a 3.82 FIP and a .391 BABIP suggest there could be some bad luck baked into those numbers. Clearly, the Mariners saw enough in the underlying metrics to have interest in acquiring him. Yesterday was a day many players on minor league deals around the league had the opportunity to trigger opt outs and upward mobility clauses; if that came to play in this deal, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Seattle add Jacques to the 40-man roster once the deal becomes official.

One possible reason for Seattle to have interest in Jacques is their dearth of left-handed pitching options. Gabe Speier is the only lefty on the Mariners’ pitching staff at the moment, and while he’s currently in the midst of a resurgent season that’s made him a legitimate high-leverage option he’s just one season removed from a 5.70 ERA in 29 appearances. Jhonathan Diaz and Tayler Saucedo are both in the minors on the 40-man roster, but Diaz has been used primarily as a starter this season while Saucedo has surrendered four runs in 3 2/3 big league innings this year. It’s a thin enough group to justify the addition of another arm to the mix, especially one like Jacques that has a minor league option remaining.

Mariners Outright Blake Hunt

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Catcher Blake Hunt went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Mariners and has been assigned outright to Triple-A, per the team’s transaction log. He hasn’t been outrighted in the past and doesn’t have three years of big league service, so Hunt does not have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll remain with the organization on a crowded catching depth chart.

Hunt, 26, has been traded four times but still never taken the field for a big league game. The Padres selected him with the 69th overall pick back in 2017 and traded him to the Rays in the Blake Snell blockbuster. Hunt was with the Rays through 2023 before being traded to the Mariners in exchange for fellow minor league catcher Tatem Levins. Six months later, Hunt was on his way to the Orioles in exchange for reliever Mike Baumann, and after being designated for assignment in Baltimore later last year, he was shipped back to the M’s for cash.

Hunt is a glove-first catcher who draws strong marks for his minor league framing and blocking skills, in particular, per Baseball Prospectus. He’s long been touted for above-average to plus raw power but been dinged for a hit tool and an approach (or lack thereof) that don’t allow him to tap into that power often enough. He’s a career .232/.284/.413 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons, including a .231/.271/.407 slash this season that’s right in line with those career marks.

Seattle, of course, has the top catcher in all of baseball right now in switch-hitting slugger Cal Raleigh. Veteran Mitch Garver is backing Raleigh up and at least reaching base at a respectable .321 clip, but he’s hitting .204 with nowhere near the power he once displayed. Hunt is one of several catching options in the upper minors for the Mariners, who also have journeymen Jacob Nottingham and top prospect Harry Ford on their Tacoma roster.

Mariners Promote Cole Young, Activate Bryce Miller

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TODAY: The M’s officially announced Young’s selection and Miller’s reinstatement from the IL. Right-hander Casey Legumina and infielder Leo Rivas were optioned to Triple-A in corresponding 26-man roster moves, and righty Will Klein was designated for assignment to open up space for Young on the 40-man roster.

Klein made his MLB debut in 2024 and posted an 11.05 ERA over 7 1/3 combined innings with the Royals and Athletics.  Sent to the A’s as part of the deadline deal that brought Lucas Erceg to Kansas City, Klein was then flipped to Seattle in another trade this past January.

MAY 30: The Mariners will promote top infield prospect Cole Young this weekend, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. He is not yet on the 40-man roster, so the team will need to make a move in that regard. They’ll also need to create active roster space for Young and starting pitcher Bryce Miller, who’ll be reinstated from the 15-day injured list to start tomorrow’s game against the Twins.

A Pittsburgh-area native, Young signed with Seattle out of high school in 2022. He received a $3.3MM bonus as the 21st overall pick. Scouting reports praised a potential plus hit tool and ability to play somewhere up the middle. While Young doesn’t have huge power projection in a 5’11” frame, he was viewed as a very polished player for his age.

That has been borne out in his systematic progression through the minors. He reached base at a .399 clip between two A-ball levels in his first full professional season. Young spent all of last season in Double-A, batting .271/.369/.390 as a 20-year-old in a tough league for hitters. The M’s bumped him to the more favorable Pacific Coast League this season. Young has taken to it well, running a .278/.391/.463 slash with more walks than strikeouts in his first look at Triple-A pitching.

The lefty-hitting Young actually began his Triple-A career mired in a slump. He hit .200 without a home run over 25 games in April. He’s been on an absolute tear since the calendar flipped. Young has raked at a .370/.466/.680 clip over 118 plate appearances in May. He has connected on five home runs, 10 doubles and three triples among a total of 37 hits. He has added another 15 walks while striking out all of eight times.

Young couldn’t have done more this month to force his way to the big leagues. He has divided his time evenly between shortstop and second base this season. Baseball America wrote over the offseason that he’s likely better suited for second base because of average arm strength. That figures to be his long-term home in Seattle. They’re committed to J.P. Crawford at shortstop. The path to playing time at the keystone is much more open. Ryan Bliss will miss most of the season recovering from biceps surgery. Miles Mastrobuoni and Dylan Moore have split the second base work over the past few weeks.

Moore is having a strong year, though his bat has tailed off following a huge April. He’s a right-handed hitter with a long track record of producing against lefty pitching. Moore figures to take some starts at second base against southpaws, but he’s versatile enough that it doesn’t need to be a strict platoon. Moore can spell Leody Taveras in right field or play regularly at third base over rookie Ben Williamson, who is hitting .246/.278/.297 through his first 38 games. Mastrobuoni, acquired in an offseason DFA trade with the Cubs, carries a .221/.306/.284 line through 111 plate appearances. He’ll be bumped to a utility role if not optioned to Triple-A.

Young was a consensus Top 100 prospect over the offseason. He meets the criteria for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. If he plays well enough to finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year balloting, he could earn a full year of service time. A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson seems as if he’ll run away with the award, but the runner-up spot is still there for the taking. That would not earn the Mariners any kind of draft compensation, which only applies if the team carries a top prospect in the big leagues for at least 172 days.

If he doesn’t earn the top-two Rookie of the Year finish, Young will fall short of a full service year and remain under club control for at least six seasons beyond this one. He’d be well-positioned to qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player during the 2027-28 offseason if he’s in the big leagues for good.

Mariners Select Casey Lawrence, Designate Blake Hunt

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The Mariners have again selected Casey Lawrence onto the MLB roster. They optioned rookie righty Blas Castaño to Triple-A Tacoma while designating catcher Blake Hunt for assignment in corresponding moves.

This is already the fifth time this season that the Mariners have selected Lawrence’s contract. Each of the previous four was followed by a DFA within five days. One of those DFAs resulted in a waiver claim by Toronto, but Lawrence has otherwise cleared waivers. In each case, he either accepted a minor league assignment or re-signed with Seattle after briefly electing free agency. Lawrence also quickly returned to the M’s after being dropped by Toronto.

The 37-year-old is clearly content with the arrangement. He’s able to collect at least a day or two of MLB pay for each stint on the roster. Lawrence has provided multiple innings as a low-leverage relief option for skipper Dan Wilson. He has turned in a 4.08 ERA with seven strikeouts and one walk across 17 2/3 frames over six appearances. Castaño tossed three innings in mop-up work last night, so he’ll be unavailable for a few days. That led the Mariners to swap him out for Lawrence.

Seattle acquired Hunt from Baltimore in January. The righty-hitting catcher has fanned 29 times in 96 Triple-A plate appearances this season, hitting .231/.271/.407 in 25 games. Hunt has bounced between Seattle’s and Baltimore’s 40-man rosters but has yet to get into a major league game. He’s drawn praise for his power upside but has struggled to reach base against upper level pitching. Hunt is a .232/.284/.413 hitter in just shy of 500 career Triple-A plate appearances. He’ll be traded or, more likely, placed on waivers in the next few days.

Mariners Reinstate Jackson Kowar, Option Logan Evans

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The Mariners announced that right-hander Jackson Kowar has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. The 40-man roster had a vacancy due to right-hander Jesse Hahn being designated for assignment last week but is now full. To open an active roster spot, righty Logan Evans has been optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.

Kowar, 28, has been with the Mariners for over a year but will be making his team debut whenever he gets into a game. He was acquired from Atlanta in December of 2023 but required Tommy John surgery in March of 2024. He spent all of last year and the first few months of this year on the IL.

Prior to going under the knife, he had shown promise with a recent change in role. A starter for most of his career, he showed a velocity bump while moving to a relief role in 2023. He had averaged around 95.7 miles per hour with his fastball as a starter but got that up to 97 mph out of the bullpen. The results didn’t immediately click, as he had a 6.43 earned run average that year, as well as subpar strikeout and walk rates of 21.2% and 14.6%.

Still, the M’s clearly feel there are good ingredients to work with. After the Royals flipped Kowar to Atlanta as part of the Kyle Wright deal, the M’s grabbed him as part of the Jarred Kelenic deal. They kept him on the roster throughout the winter, when there’s no IL, so they’re surely hoping their patience will pay off now that he’s healthy.

Evans got called up about a month ago, making his major league debut as the M’s dealt with various rotation injuries. He generally performed well, with a 2.83 ERA over six starts. Looking under the hood, there are some less impressive numbers, such as a 17.4% strikeout rate. But as far as injury replacements go, the M’s have to be thrilled with what Evans gave them.

The rotation has been getting healthier of late. George Kirby is now off the IL. It seems like Bryce Miller and Logan Gilbert are nearing returns as well. The M’s could therefore have their ideal quintet shortly, with Luis Castillo and Bryan Woo the other two pieces. Evans has been bumped into a depth role for now, while Emerson Hancock could be next.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Mariners Outright Austin Shenton, Jesse Hahn

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The Mariners announced that both infielder/outfielder Austin Shenton and right-hander Jesse Hahn have cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma. Both players were designated for assignment in separate transactions last week.

Shenton, 27, was the player more likely to be claimed. He is relatively young, can still be optioned for this year and one more, and has decent numbers on the farm. From 2021 to 2024, he stepped to the plate 1,540 times for various minor league clubs. His 27.3% strikeout rate in that time was high but he also drew walks at a strong 14.1% clip and hit 71 home runs. That led to a combined .281/.390/.529 line and 138 wRC+. He also had a decent .214/.340/.405 line in his first 50 big league plate appearances, which came with the Rays last year.

He was flipped to the Mariners going into 2025 and his offense has fallen off this year. Before getting designated for assignment, he posted a .207/.284/.413 line in 169 Triple-A plate appearances. Part of that is a .242 batting average on balls in play but his 29% strikeout rate is high even for him, while his walk rate is down to an uncharacteristically low 8.3%.

Shenton isn’t considered an especially strong defender and isn’t a burner on the basepaths, so he needs to hit to provide value. He has done that through large portions of his minor league career but his dip this year has apparently been enough that no club is willing to give him a 40-man roster spot at the moment. Since this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of big league service time, he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency, so he’ll provide the M’s with some non-roster depth.

As for Hahn, he’s a 35-year-old hurler who hasn’t been a mainstay in the big leagues since 2020. He missed 2022 and 2023 due to a shoulder injury and then was stuck in the minors in 2024. This year, the Mariners have twice selected his contract to serve as an emergency arm. The first time, he made two appearances before being designated for assignment and passed through waivers. He returned on a fresh minor league deal and was selected back to the roster last week, this time getting DFA’d after just one appearance.

Now that he has been passed through waivers again, he has the right to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency, though he could accept it or return to the M’s on a new deal like he did last time.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

AL West Notes: Trout, Soler, Seager, Gilbert, Miller

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Mike Trout is seemingly nearing a return to action, as the Angels superstar has been taking part in batting practice sessions and running drills, and is set to start running the bases within the next few days’ time.  Trout has been out since April 30 due to a bone bruise in his left knee, and when he does get back, it isn’t clear whether or not Trout will return to outfield duty or if he’ll get more time as a DH in order to help preserve his health.  Halos manager Ron Washington told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and other reporters that the focus right now is just on getting Trout healthy, and “once Mike is back, we can have that conversation right there” about his spot in the lineup.

After years as the Halos’ center fielder, Trout began 2025 in right field, already as a way to try and reduce the wear-and-tear on the oft-injured star.  Of course, if Trout takes on more of a regular DH role, that would force Jorge Soler into more right field work, which wouldn’t bode well for the L.A. defense given Soler’s long history of subpar glovework.  While Washington has felt Soler has “done an outstanding job” in 13 appearances as a right fielder this season, the team feels keeping Soler in right field only in limited fashion is the best solution to help Soler’s overall game.  “Running him out there five, six days in a row, we’re not going to do that.  But give him two days, a change from just hitting, will help him focus more,” Washington said.

More injury updates from around the AL West…

  • Corey Seager hasn’t played since May 10 due to a right hamstring strain, though Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (including Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News) that the star shortstop could be ready to return at some point this week.  Friday seems to be the loose target date, though Seager could be back earlier given the increased ramp-up of his prep work — Seager has been taking part in running and fielding drills, and also took part in a live batting practice on Saturday.  The plan is to have these baseball activities get Seager into game-ready mode without the need for a minor league rehab assignment.  This is already Seager’s second hamstring-related IL stint of the season, which is why he has been limited to 26 games and 107 plate appearances in 2025.  As usual, Seager has been excellent (.300/.346/.520 with six home runs) when he has been able to play, and the offensively-challenged Rangers could badly use that bat in their struggling lineup.
  • Mariners starters Bryce Miller and Logan Gilbert each threw simulated games on Friday, with Miller throwing around 25 pitches and Gilbert going higher with 35.  It was exactly a month ago that Gilbert was pulled from a start due to a flexor strain in his right elbow, and while Friday’s session was a good step forward, the right-hander suggested to MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer and other reporters that he has a ways to go in his throwing progression.  This could mean another sim game and perhaps multiple minor league rehab starts before Gilbert is back in Seattle’s rotation.
  • Miller (on the 15-day IL since May 12 due to elbow inflammation) is hopeful of returning as early as this week, though manager Dan Wilson expressed some caution.  In perhaps more of a long-term concern, Miller told Kramer and company that some tests revealed that his elbow was structurally fine overall, but “there’s something in there that causes inflammation and something I can’t just take out without missing the rest of the year.  So this ideally gets me to the end of the year, and then we can reassess and see if I need to clean it up or anything.”  These comments somewhat expand on the lingering health issues the righty hinted at when speaking with the media at the time of his initial IL placement, and the exact nature of these injuries may not be known until or unless Miller does get a clean-up procedure at season’s end.  With a 5.22 ERA over his first 39 2/3 innings this year, something has clearly seemed amiss with Miller’s performance, and there’s naturally some risk in trying to tough out several more months of pitching before properly addressing the problem.
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