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Bryan Woo’s MRI Comes Back Clean

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The Mariners were dealt a bit of a scare yesterday when Bryan Woo was scratched from his scheduled start. Seattle sent him for imaging on his forearm. The team can breathe a sigh of relief after the MRI results came back, as general manager Justin Hollander told reporters that the tests were “perfectly clean” (via the MLB.com injury tracker).

It looks as if Woo will avoid the injured list entirely. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets that the right-hander could retake his spot in the Seattle rotation next week. The M’s turned to left-hander Jhonathan Diaz on short notice last night. Bryce Miller took the ball this evening, while Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert are on track to pitch through Saturday. Woo’s spot in the rotation would come back up on Sunday. Diaz would be on regular rest, while the M’s are now carrying right-hander Emerson Hancock on their taxi squad in case he’s needed for a spot start.

Even if the Mariners need an outing from Hancock to get through the next few days, the news on Woo is a major boost. The second-year hurler opened the season on the injured list with elbow inflammation. (He also missed two weeks last summer on account of forearm inflammation.) Woo returned in mid-May and has turned in brilliant results through six starts. He has allowed 1.07 earned runs per nine over 33 2/3 innings. Woo’s 20.2% strikeout rate is right around average. He has shown impeccable control, only walking two of the 119 hitters he’s faced.

Woo is the nominal fifth starter in a Seattle rotation that’s arguably the best in the majors. Hancock has been the M’s top depth option, taking the ball seven times. The former #6 overall pick has struggled to a 5.24 ERA in 34 1/3 frames, striking out 15.4% of opponents.

Mariners Considering Prospect Logan Evans For Bullpen Role

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A few players from the 2023 draft have already made their MLB debuts, and Mariners prospect Logan Evans could potentially be coming soon due to his recent move to relief pitching.  As Adam Jude of the Seattle Times writes, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto recently called Evans with the idea of shifting from the Double-A rotation to the bullpen, since the M’s are currently in the enviable position of having a loaded rotation.  Working as a reliever could put Evans on the fast track to the Show, and give the Mariners an extra hard-throwing arm in an injury-depleted pen.

A 12th-round pick out of Pitt, Evans has a sparkling 1.16 ERA over 54 1/3 innings for Double-A Arkansas this season, with a 23% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate, and a 53.6% grounder rate.  MLB Pipeline’s scouting report also notes that the Mariners received trade interest in Evans as early as last offseason, after he posted an 0.60 ERA in his first 15 pro innings.

Mariners Place Ty France On The 10-Day Injured List

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The Mariners made a series of roster moves this morning, headlined by the club’s reported promotion of first base prospect Tyler Locklear. Seattle also selected the contract of right-hander Matt Bowman, as first reported by Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. In corresponding moves, first baseman Ty France was placed on the 10-day injured list with a fractured heel and right-hander Collin Snider was optioned to Triple-A in order to clear space on the active roster. Meanwhile, right-handers Levi Stoudt and Eduardo Salazar were designated for assignment to clear 40-man roster space for Locklear and Bowman.

The loss of France is surely a frustrating one for Mariners fans, as the 29-year-old has been one of the club’s hottest hitters dating back to the start of May. In his last 34 games, France has slashed a strong .259/.353/.448 in 133 plate appearances. That strong stretch has lifted his overall season line to a respectable .251/.329/.403, but his hot streak will now be cut short by a trip to the IL after France was hit in the heel by a pitch from Royals lefty Daniel Lynch IV. France was initially considered day-to-day due to the issue but after continued discomfort he underwent imaging that revealed a fracture. A timetable for France’s return is not yet clear, though it seems likely to be a fairly lengthy absence. France’s injury opened the door for Locklear’s promotion, which you can read more about here. As noted by Divish, the Mariners plan for Locklear to be the club’s everyday first baseman going forward, rather than part of a platoon with Luke Raley.

Also joining the club alongside Locklear is Bowman, a veteran of six major league seasons who has already pitched for the Diamondbacks and Twins so far this year. When the Twins dealt Bowman to Arizona, he had been squeezed off of Minnesota’s 40-man roster despite a solid showing in five appearances, where he posted a 2.35 ERA in 7 2/3 innings of work. Unfortunately, the wheels came off for Bowman across his four appearances with Arizona, where he was shelled for six runs on eight hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings of work that ballooned his ERA to 5.02 on the year. That led the Diamondbacks to designate the righty for assignment in late May, and he later elected free agency rather than remain in the organization as a non-roster depth piece.

Bowman signed with the Mariners on a minor league deal last week and looked good in two scoreless appearances with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma. Now, he’s set to join a Mariners bullpen that has lost key players like Matt Brash, Gregory Santos, and Gabe Speier to the injured list this season. While the 33-year-old righty hasn’t exactly impressed in the majors in recent years, he nonetheless sports a 3.51 ERA in 66 2/3 innings of work at the Triple-A level over the past two seasons with a solid 23.1% strikeout rate that suggests he could be a solid middle relief option for Seattle going forward. He’ll be replacing Snider in the club’s bullpen after the righty briefly came up from Triple-A last week; the 28-year-old now figures to return to the minors as a depth option for the Mariners moving forward.

Departing the club’s 40-man roster are Stoudt and Salazar, neither of whom have pitched for the Mariners in the majors this year. Salazar was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers just two weeks ago and sports a 6.91 ERA in 14 1/3 innings of work in the majors with L.A. and Cincinnati. He allowed two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out just one in 3 1/3 innings of work with Triple-A Tacoma. As for Stoudt, the righty was claimed off waivers from the Reds back in February as a potential depth starter but has pitched to disastrous results at Triple-A, with a 6.92 ERA in 52 innings of work and a strikeout rate of just 14.9%. The Mariners will have one week to either trade the pair or attempt to pass them through waivers. If either player clears waivers successfully, the Mariners will have the opportunity to outright them to the minor leagues as non-roster depth.

Mariners To Select Tyler Locklear

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The Mariners are set to select first baseman Tyler Locklear prior to tomorrow’s game against the Royals, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. The club will have to make corresponding moves to accommodate Locklear’s addition to both the 40-man and active rosters prior to tomorrow’s game.

Locklear, 23, was Seattle’s second-round pick in the 2022 draft. The Virginia Commonwealth product has moved quickly through the minors, reaching the Double-A level in just his first full professional season before reaching Triple-A 41 games into his 2024 campaign. He’s now poised to reach the majors after just ten games at Triple-A and with only 753 minor league plate appearances under his belt. His offensive output during his limited time at the minor league level certainly appears to indicate that he may be in need of a greater challenge, as he sports a career .289/.398/.508 slash line across all levels of the minors, including above average production by measure of wRC+ at every level he’s appeared at since graduating from complex ball.

That fantastic offensive performance has led him to become one of the more well-regarded prospects in the Mariners system. Baseball America rates Locklear as Seattle’s fifth best prospect and as the #83 prospect in all of baseball. BA highlights his “borderline plus-plus” power potential and patience at the plate, both traits that were on display when Locklear hit a fantastic .291/.401/.532 (155 wRC+) in 41 games at the Double-A level this season. Locklear clubbed eight home runs in just 188 plate appearances while walking at a strong 12.2% clip. That performance was good for the fifth-best on-base percentage and third-best wRC+ among all qualified hitters 25 or younger in the Texas League this season.

Locklear’s promotion to the majors comes amid injury concerns regarding first baseman Ty France. The 29-year-old is (as relayed by Divish) expected to undergo imaging on his right heel due to lingering “tenderness” after he was hit by a pitch from Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch IV during yesterday’s game. France indicated that he was hopeful he would only miss a few days of action, so it’s possible that he isn’t headed for the injured list to make room for Locklear on the active roster. While both Locklear and France have experience elsewhere on the infield, each has moved to first base full time in recent seasons and appears unlikely to be a factor at the other infield spots.

Should the Mariners plan to accommodate both Locklear and France in the starting lineup on a regular basis going forward, that would likely indicate reduced playing time for Mitch Garver, who has served as both the club’s regular DH as well as a backup catcher to Cal Raleigh. The possibility of Garver seeing less playing time going forward is hardly a shocking one given his struggles at the dish this year. While he enjoyed a strong .249/.347/.479 slash line with a 128 wRC+ between the 2021 and 2023 seasons with the Mariners and Rangers, Garver’s first season in Seattle has been difficult as he’s posted a line of just .177/.288/.331 (86 wRC+) in 54 games with the club this year.

Mariners, Matt Bowman Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners are in agreement with reliever Matt Bowman on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link). The ZS Sports client would be paid at a $1MM base rate if he cracks the MLB roster and has multiple unspecified opt-out chances, Heyman adds.

Bowman elected free agency after being waived by the Diamondbacks last week. The 33-year-old has already spent time in the majors with both the Twins and D-Backs this season. He made nine appearances between the two clubs, logging 14 1/3 innings of eight-run ball. He fanned 10 hitters against six walks while running a higher than average 47.7% ground-ball rate.

A sinkerballer, Bowman has made his living keeping the ball on the ground. He has a huge 55.7% grounder percentage in just shy of 200 career MLB innings. The vast majority of that work came with the Cardinals and Reds between 2016-19. Injuries essentially robbed him of the 2020-22 seasons. Bowman underwent Tommy John surgery late in the ’20 campaign and didn’t return to full health until last season. He spent most of last year in Triple-A with the Yankees, turning in a 3.99 ERA with a decent 22.6% strikeout rate and a 51.9% grounder percentage over 58 2/3 innings. New York briefly called him to the majors last fall but cut him loose at season’s end.

Bowman opened the 2024 season in Triple-A after signing a minor league deal with Minnesota. He threw six scoreless frames with seven strikeouts to earn his call-up. He’ll head back to that level as he tries to secure a spot in the Seattle relief corps.

The M’s don’t have a ton of bullpen flexibility. Five of their relievers are out of options. Andrés Muñoz certainly isn’t going anywhere. Tayler Saucedo is the team’s top left-hander while Gabe Speier is on the shelf. That essentially leaves just one spot (currently held by Collin Snider) for the Mariners to rotate relief arms without exposing anyone to waivers. Bowman himself is out of options, so the Mariners couldn’t freely send him back down if they call him up at any point.

Mariners’ Owner: Front Office Will Have Resources To Pursue Deadline Upgrades

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The Mariners’ lack of offseason spending drew the ire of the fanbase, as Seattle’s offseason dealings appeared to be as much about managing payroll as they were reshaping the team. Seattle traded away Eugenio Suarez, used Jarred Kelenic to dump the contracts of Evan White and Marco Gonzales on the Braves, made financially motivated swaps involving Robbie Ray and Mitch Haniger, and only signed three free agents to major league contracts (Mitch Garver, Ryne Stanek and Austin Voth). The series of fiscally influenced moves came amid uncertainty surrounding the future of their television contract with ROOT Sports, and while the M’s certainly weren’t alone in their hand-wringing over their broadcast rights, they were arguably impacted as heavily or more heavily than many clubs around the game.

While those uncertainties still exist, Mariners managing partner John Stanton made clear in an interview with Adam Jude and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times that he’ll provide president of baseball operation Jerry Dipoto, general manager Justin Hollander and the rest of the front office with some financial latitude as the current AL West division leaders look to bolster their club.

“[W]e will look at the [July 30] deadline,” Stanton said. “I’ll spend time with Jerry and Justin as we approach the deadline, and we’ll talk about where we are. Jerry and Justin are 10 times smarter about what it takes to have a successful baseball team. My job is to make sure they have the resources available to get there.”

MLBTR readers are encouraged to read the interview in full, which is rife with quotes from Stanton about the Mariners’ offseason, the future of the television contract and his hope to eventually sign other young players to extensions as the club did with Julio Rodriguez. Broadly speaking, Stanton touted “substantial” financial losses amid the television situation, suggested that ROOT Sports will continue to operate independently through the 2025 season, and claimed that loss of television revenue “isn’t the reason we’ve made any decisions over the past couple years.”

Such comments will undoubtedly raise some skepticism among the fanbase, but the forward-looking takeaway is that Dipoto, Hollander & Co. will be afforded some flexibility to build upon this year’s roughly $140MM payroll. Presumably, augmenting the lineup will be the front office’s prime focus. The Seattle pitching staff is sixth in the majors in ERA and FIP. They’re fourth in SIERA. Only three teams have a better collective strikeout rate than the Mariners 23.8%, and they’re tied with the Twins for MLB’s best walk rate at 6.6%. The starting rotation appears largely set with Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo — health permitting, of course. Any contending club can always deepen its bullpen, but that’s likelier to be a secondary objective.

For as excellent as Seattle’s pitching staff is, the offense has been another story entirely. The Mariners’ 230 runs scored are the fourth-fewest in baseball. That comes despite sitting ninth in the majors with 66 home runs — a testament to the general lack of baserunners their lineup has produced. The M’s rank 29th in baseball with a .222 average, 27th with a .298 OBP and 25th with a .365 slugging percentage. Seattle’s .252/.329/.401 slash with men in scoring position is actually ninth-best in baseball by measure of their 113 wRC+ … but the Mariners’ 504 plate appearances with runners in scoring position is the second-fewest in MLB, leading only the tanking White Sox (476 plate appearances with RISP).

The majority of the regulars in Seattle’s lineup have underwhelmed this season. Rodriguez, Ty France, Luke Raley and Dylan Moore have all been productive over the past month, following poor starts to the season, but that’s only boosted Rodriguez to slightly below-average production overall. France has been a bit better than average but nowhere near the offensive force he was from 2020-22. Catcher Cal Raleigh has popped a team-leading 11 homers but is hitting just .209 with a .278 on-base percentage.

What’s particularly problematic for the Mariners is that several of the weakest spots in the lineup are the ones they sought to address in the offseason. Switch-hitting second baseman Jorge Polanco was one of the American League’s steadiest hitters from 2018-23 in Minnesota, batting a combined .270/.338/.455 in nearly 2700 plate appearances. He’s hitting .195/.293/.302 for the Mariners. Haniger got out to a blistering .300/.382/.500 start through his first 68 plate appearances but has faceplanted with a .185/.234/.281 line over his past 145 trips to the plate. Garver hit .250/.346/.508 in his final 1242 plate appearances before signing a two-year deal in Seattle. He’s hitting .170/.276/.309 as the team’s primary DH.

Between Rodriguez, France, Raleigh, Polanco, Garver, Haniger, injured shortstop J.P. Crawford and others, the Mariners have the makings of a productive lineup. Almost the entire unit has underwhelmed, however, leading to far more one- and two-run victories than the club would prefer. Those offensive weaknesses could be particularly exposed in a short postseason series, when teams can more aggressively lean on their top few pitchers to cover the bulk of their innings.

An upgrade in the outfield corners, in particular, seems like a worthwhile pursuit for the Mariners — and some help at the hot corner or second base could prove sensible as well, depending on whether Polanco can turn things around. (Adding at third base could allow hot-hitting Josh Rojas to slide over to second more regularly.) But while ownership can pledge to provide sufficient resources to the baseball operations staff, at least some of the improvement is going to need to come internally.

The Mariners have too many underperforming veterans with strong track records to upgrade over on the fly this summer — many of whom (e.g. Garver, Polanco, Haniger, France) are commanding salaries of note and are signed/controlled beyond the current season. That collection of veterans has exactly eight weeks until July 30 to get back on track. It’s unlikely they all manage to do so, but the front office’s strategy will come into focus as those who are able to bounce back begin to show signs of life.

Mariners Outright Luis Urías

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The Mariners announced today that they have signed outfielder Víctor Robles to a major league deal, a move that was reported yesterday. To open a spot on their 40-man roster, they announced that infielder Luis Urías was outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma, suggesting he has already passed through waivers unclaimed. He has the right to elect free agency but would have to forfeit his salary in order to do so.

Urías, who just celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday, was once a solid regular in the big leagues but has fallen on hard times lately. He hit 39 homers for the Brewers over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, while also drawing walks at a 10.8% clip. He slashed a combined .244/.340/.426 over that two-year stretch, production which translates to a 111 wRC+.

But last year, he missed a couple of months due to a strained left hamstring. He produced a dismal line of .145/.299/.236 in 20 games for the Brewers when healthy, which got him optioned to the minors and traded to the Red Sox at the deadline. He had a bit of a resurgence in Boston, hitting .225/.361/.337, then was flipped to Seattle in the offseason.

After becoming a Mariner, his struggles continued. He hit just .152/.264/.316 for Seattle and was optioned to the minors just over a week ago, though has now been bumped off the 40-man roster entirely.

Players with more than three years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency. However, a player needs five years of service in order to do so without forfeiting the remainder of his salary. Urías came into this year with four years and 98 days of service, leaving him 74 days shy of the five-year mark. Since he was optioned in late May, he added just under 60 days to that tally but is still not quite at the five-year mark.

Getting to five years of service also allows a player to refuse an optional assignment, so it’s perhaps not coincidental that Urías was sent down when he was, though his performance clearly justified the decision from the club. He and the M’s had agreed to a $5MM salary for 2024, with about $3.4MM left to be paid out. Urías likely doesn’t want to walk away from that kind of money and will almost certainly accept his fate with Tacoma and look to get back in form. For the Mariners, they are able to keep an experienced player around as depth without using a roster spot.

Braves Sign Brian Anderson To Major League Deal

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The Braves have signed veteran third baseman/corner outfielder Brian Anderson to a major league contract, reports Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Anderson, a CAA client, will be in uniform for tonight’s game. He opted out of a minor league deal with the Mariners over the weekend. Atlanta transferred lefty Tyler Matzek from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the roster for Anderson.

Anderson, 31, should be a familiar face for Braves fans and those within the organization. The former third-round pick spent the 2017-22 seasons with the Marlins, taking regular at-bats between stints as the team’s everyday third baseman and everyday right fielder. From 2018-20, Anderson was one of Miami’s most reliable hitters, batting .266/.350/.436 with 42 home runs, a hefty 74 doubles and six triples in 1419 plate appearances. By measure of wRC+, he was 15% better than a league-average hitter in that span.

Shoulder injuries and a severe oblique strain both weighed down Anderson’s production in 2021-22, however, and the always cost-conscious Marlins non-tendered him following the ’22 campaign, making him a free agent a year early. He signed with the Brewers in hopes of rebounding but didn’t manage to do so, slashing .226/.310/.368 (85 wRC+) in 361 plate appearances. So far with the Mariners’ Triple-A club in Tacoma, Anderson had tallied 176 plate appearances and recorded a .270/.358/.439 batting line with six round-trippers and seven doubles.

While Anderson obviously can’t replace Ronald Acuña Jr., whose 2024 season ended last week when he suffered a torn ACL, the seven-year MLB veteran can still give the Braves an experienced right-handed bat to pair with lefty-swinging Jarred Kelenic in left field. Kelenic, Michael Harris II and Adam Duvall figure to take the bulk of the outfield at-bats, with Marcell Ozuna seeing regular time at DH and left-hitting J.P. Martinez receiving sporadic outfield at-bats as well.

Mariners To Sign Víctor Robles

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The Mariners are signing outfielder Víctor Robles, per Ty Dane Gonzalez of the Locked on Mariners podcast on X. The Mariners optioned Jonatan Clase earlier today, opening an active roster spot for Robles but they will need a corresponding move to open a 40-man spot.

Robles, 27, was once a top prospect with the Nationals but has repeatedly struggled in recent years, both with underwhelming performance and injury absences. The Nats finally decided to move on last week and designated him for assignment. They seemingly explored trades but couldn’t find a deal to their liking and eventually released Robles. The Nats remain on the hook for his $2.65MM salary, meaning the Mariners will only have to pay him the prorated portion of the $740K league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Nats pay.

That makes it a fairly low-risk move for the Mariners, who will surely be hoping Robles can revert to his earlier career form. A few years ago, he was one of the top prospects in the whole league, with Baseball America giving him the #5 spot going into 2018 and the #11 slot the year after.

He seemed to be delivering on that prospect hype in 2019, when he was just 22 years old. He hit 17 home runs for the Nats that season and stole 28 bases while also providing elite defense in center field. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 3.7 wins above replacement that year and his strong performance helped the club reach the postseason, eventually winning the World Series.

Unfortunately, his performance slipped after that season and he hasn’t been able to get it back on track. He hit just .220/.293/.315 in the shortened 2020 season and produced fairly similar numbers in the two full seasons that followed, leading to a batting line of .216/.291/.306 over the 2020-22 period.

The fortunes of the club also faded in that time and the Nats entered a rebuilding phase. That should have left Robles with plenty of chances to turn things around but his health didn’t cooperate. He only got into 36 games last year due to back spasms in the lumbar spine and missed about a month of the current campaign due to a left hamstring strain. He managed to show some encouraging signs last year, hitting .299/.385/.364 despite the back problems, but has produced a brutal line of .120/.281/.120 so far this year.

Despite all the struggles, Robles is still young and could engineer a comeback. As mentioned, he was hitting okay last year. That didn’t carry over into this season, but he won’t maintain a .176 batting average on balls in play and it’s perhaps a good sign that he has drawn walks at a strong rate of 15.2% this year. That’s in a small sample of 33 plate appearances but it’s more than double his career rate of 6.2%, so it could be a nice step forward even if it regresses a bit.

The Mariners currently have an outfield/designated hitter mix consisting of Julio Rodríguez, Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone and Mitch Haniger. It’s possible that Robles will be utilized in the short side of a platoon. The right-handed hitter has slashed .262/.353/.373 against lefties and .226/.293/.349 against righties, leading to respective wRC+ counts of 101 and 72. Both Raley and Canzone are lefties with notable platoon splits. Raley has a 119 wRC+ against righties and 84 otherwise, with Canzone’s numbers at 86 against southpaws and 65 versus righties.

The M’s can use Robles to shield Raley and/or Canzone from some lefties while also perhaps using Robles for pinch running duties or as a late-game defensive replacement. For his part, Robles will get a chance to reinvent himself with a chance of scenery before he’s slated for free agency this winter.

Brian Anderson, Michael Chavis Opt Out Of Minors Deals With Mariners

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Infielders Brian Anderson and Michael Chavis have both opted out of their minor league deals with the Mariners, according to Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto on X. Both players now figure to return to the open market as free agents.

Anderson, 31, is the more established big leaguer of the two. The Marlins’s third-round pick in the 2014 draft, Anderson made his big league debut with the club back in 2017 and hit a decent .262/.337/.369 in 25 games for the club that year. That cup of coffee was enough to earn Anderson a more regular role in Miami, and he quickly established himself as one of the more reliable bats in a Marlins lineup lacking in thump. From 2018 to 2020, Anderson slashed .266/.350/.436 with 42 home runs and 74 doubles in 341 games while splitting time between third base and right field with the Marlins. That performance was worth a wRC+ of 115, which was good for 11th among all qualified third baseman during that three year period while his 7.2 fWAR ranked 12th.

Unfortunately, Anderson would find his career derailed by injuries in 2021 as he missed nearly four month with oblique and shoulder issues. While he managed to appear in 67 games in between stints on the injured list, Anderson posted pedestrian numbers when he was healthy enough to take the field, hitting .249/.337/.378 with just 7 home runs and 9 doubles in 264 trips to the plate. His injuries woes continued in 2022, as he missed two months of time across three trips to the injured list for shoulder and back issues while posting a career-worst .222/.311/.346 slash line in 98 games with the club.

The back-to-back campaigns filled with injuries and ineffectiveness were enough for the Marlins to decide to non-tender Anderson during the 2022-23 offseason, making him a free agent for the first time in his career. The infielder landed on his feet with a one-year deal with the Brewers that winter, though a .226/.310/.368 slash line in 361 trips to the plate with the club last year did little to re-establish him as a big league regular. Anderson found himself designated for assignment before the 2023 season came to a close and lingered on the free agent market into Spring Training before eventually joining the Mariners.

As for Chavis, the 28-year-old was once a first-round pick by the Red Sox back in 2014 and was a consensus top-100 prospect in baseball prior to his big league debut. His career hasn’t lived up to that potential to this point, however, as after a decent rookie season where he slashed a roughly league average .254/.322/.444 in 95 games, he’s posted a slash line of just .231/.265/.382 over the past four seasons split between the Red Sox, Pirates, and Nationals. Chavis was outrighted off of Washington’s 40-man roster back in October and elected free agency as a result, eventually landing with the Mariners on a minor league deal in January.

Since joining the Mariners, both Anderson and Chavis have posted solid numbers at the Triple-A level for the club. Anderson has slashed .270/.358/.439 in 176 trips to the plate, while Chavis has impressed with a .290/.367/.485 line in 191 trips to the plate. Unfortunately for the pair, an excellent performance from Dylan Moore as the club’s right-handed utility infielder has left either without an obvious path to big league playing time with the Mariners, particularly after Luis Urias was optioned to the minors to act as depth already on the 40-man roster.

In addition to their solid slash lines at the Triple-A level this year, both veterans can offer solid versatility. The duo split time at both first and third base for the Rainiers during their time in Tacoma, and Anderson has past experience in right field while Chavis has played not only the outfield corners but also second base throughout his career. Looking ahead, it’s fairly easy to imagine in need of infield depth jumping at the chance to sign either player on a minor league deal. Even so, it seems unlikely that interested clubs would be confident enough in the 2024 performances of either player to offer a big league pact given the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League.

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