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Mariners Designate Mac Williamson For Assignment

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The Mariners announced Tuesday that outfielder Mac Williamson has been designated for assignment. His roster spot will go to utilityman Kristopher Negron, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Tacoma. Seattle also recalled right-hander Erik Swanson from Tacoma to fill a vacant spot on its active roster.

Williamson, 28, was once viewed as a potential long-term option with the Giants but has yet to replicate his solid Triple-A production at the MLB level. Seattle gave him a slightly longer look than San Francisco did in 2019, but his results with both clubs were poor. In a combined 144 trips to the plate this year, Williamson has slashed an underwhelming .156/.250/.258 while striking out at a 30.6 percent pace. He does have some pop in his bat, evidenced by a lifetime .266/.344/.488 line in parts of five Triple-A seasons.

Williamson is out of minor league options, so any club that acquires him would have to carry him on its MLB roster. The Mariners will have a week to trade him, release him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If they go the latter route and he clears, Williamson could still elect free agency due to the fact that he’s already been outrighted off a 40-man roster once in his career.

Mariners Select Ryan Garton, Designate Zac Rosscup

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The Mariners announced a group of moves that will change up their bullpen mix. Righty Ryan Garton’s contract was selected; he’ll be joined by fellow righty Matt Festa, who was recalled.

To make 40-man space for Garton, the M’s have designated southpaw Zac Rosscup for assignment. Active roster space for Festa comes at the expense of Erik Swanson, who was optioned out.

The 29-year-old Garton earned his way back to the bigs for the first time since 2017 after showing well in a swingman capacity at Triple-A. In 26 innings over a dozen appearances, including one start (just the second of his professional career), Garton posted a 3.46 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9.

Rosscup, 30, had an outwardly appealing 3.21 ERA but had allowed 14 walks to go with twenty strikeouts in 14 innings. He was posting yawning platoon splits, dominating those left-handed hitters he didn’t walk (.087/.323/.087) while being tuned up by righties (.344/.447/.500).

Injury Notes: Trout, Jeffress, Benintendi, Cobb, LeBlanc

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Angels megastar Mike Trout, who has been unavailable for several days due to a groin injury, has shown improvement and will rejoin the Angels for their series in Texas, per Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group. He remains day-to-day and it is yet unclear when he will be ready to return to the lineup, but the update is certainly welcome news for the Angels. Trout exited the Angels’ April 9 contest with the Brewers after suffering a right groin strain and remained in Los Angeles while the rest of the team traveled to Chicago. The club has managed well in Trout’s absence, finishing a three-game sweep of the Brewers and winning one of two games against the Cubs, with Sunday’s rubber match postponed. The news should certainly inspire some optimism for Angels fans, who have collectively been holding their breath since Trout’s injury. Considering the circumstances, it would feel like the best-case scenario for the Halos to get their franchise cornerstone back after just a handful of games, a stretch in which the team has maintained its winning form.

Here are the latest updates on other injuries from around Major League Baseball…

  • Brewers reliever Jeremy Jeffress has completed his rehab assignment and will rejoin the Brewers on Monday, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Jeffress, a stalwart of the Brewers’ dynamic bullpen in 2018, has been on the shelf for the beginning of the season with a shoulder issue, which has since been resolved, says Haudricourt. He will join Josh Hader in a Milwaukee bullpen that will be without Corey Knebel, who underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this season.
  • In Sunday’s victory over the Orioles, Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi fouled a ball sharply off his right foot and had to exit the game. In some good news for the Sox, though, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports that x-rays on Benintendi’s foot returned negative results, though Benintendi will be day-to-day with a foot contusion.  He was replaced in left field by Blake Swihart on Sunday, who could continue to serve as Benintendi’s substitute if he misses any time.
  • Orioles righty Alex Cobb, out since April 6 with a lumbar strain, won’t come off the IL when first eligible, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to report. It doesn’t appear Cobb will miss much more time, however. Manager Brandon Hyde indicated he could start during the Orioles’ upcoming series against the Twins, which runs from April 19-21. Cobb pitched well in his lone start of the season, an April 4 loss to the Yankees in which he threw 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball.
  • Seattle Mariners southpaw Wade LeBlanc will miss 4-6 weeks with a grade 2 oblique strain, skipper Scott Servais told reporters, including The Athletic’s Corey Brock (Twitter link). With LeBlanc headed to the 10-day IL, the team has called up right-hander Erik Swanson from Triple-A. Swanson will take LeBlanc’s place in the starting rotation and is slated to make his first Major League start on Wednesday.

Injury Notes: Dahl, Turner, Cobb, Mariners

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The Rockies announced Tuesday that they’ve placed outfielder David Dahl on the 10-day injured list due to a “left-side core injury.” Fellow outfielder Yonathan Daza has been recalled from Triple-A in his place. Dahl’s injury isn’t believed to be especially serious, and the hot-hitting 25-year-old in fact told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding that he hopes to return after a minimal 10-day stay on the IL (Twitter link). Dahl joins Daniel Murphy as a key middle-of-the-order presence whose absence will surely be felt by a Rockies lineup that entered play Tuesday tied for 20th in total runs scored (37th), 24th in batting average (.219), 26th in on-base percentage (.283) and 23rd in slugging percentage (.350). Dahl was off to a scintillating .343/.385/.629 start to the season through 39 plate appearances.

Some more notable injury updates from around the game…

  • Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic tweets that there’s a “tentative” timeline of four to six weeks for Nationals star Trea Turner (from the time of his injury). Turner landed on the injured list with a fractured index finger last week. Light-hitting Wilmer Difo has filled in for Turner since he exited last Tuesday’s game after injuring his right (throwing) hand on a bunt attempt in his first plate appearance.
  • The Orioles announced that right-hander Alex Cobb, who had been slated to start tomorrow night’s game, has instead been placed on the 10-day injured list with a lumbar strain. The move is backdated to April 6. Cobb quickly follows righty Nate Karns (forearm strain) to the injured list, though there’s no timetable for a return on either right-hander. Baltimore has yet to announce a corresponding 25-man roster move for Cobb, who opened the season on the IL due to a groin strain. He’s thrown just 5 2/3 innings in one appearance so far this season. The early durability issues don’t help the Orioles’ already minimal chances of finding a summer trade partner willing to take on a portion of the $43MM still owed to Cobb through the 2021 campaign.
  • Mariners right-hander Chasen Bradford has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his right shoulder, per a team announcement. The Seattle organization will turn to fellow righty Erik Swanson in his stead. There’s no immediate rotation opening for Swanson, one of the focal pieces of the trade that sent James Paxton to the Yankees, so the 25-year-old seems ticketed for the bullpen for the time being. If Swanson finds his way into a game, he’d be making his big league debut. An eighth-round pick by the Rangers in 2014, Swanson went from Texas to New York in the 2016 Carlos Beltran trade before being sent to the Mariners in the aforementioned Paxton swap. He pitched at three levels in the Yankees’ system last year, working to a combined 2.66 ERA with 10.3 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in 121 2/3 innings.

Players Added To The 40-Man Roster

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Tonight marks the deadline for players to be added to their respective organizations’ 40-man rosters. Over the nine hours, there’ll be a flurry of moves, ranging from minor trades (like the one the Indians and Rays made yesterday), waiver claims and players being designated for assignment or outrighted. Each will be made to clear room for players who need protection from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. As a reminder, players who signed at 18 years of age or younger and have five professional seasons are eligible, as are players who signed at 19 or older and have four professional seasons under their belts.

Here’s a rundown of players who’ve been added to their respective 40-man rosters (which will be updated throughout the day)…

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