News Mariners Team Notes

Mariners To Select Luis F. Castillo

The Mariners plan to select right-hander Luis F. Castillo to start tomorrow evening’s game against the Giants, the club informed reporters (including Adam Jude of The Seattle Times). As Jude notes, it’ll be the second straight Mariners game started by a Luis Castillo. Seattle’s veteran right-hander of the same name tossed seven innings in yesterday’s win over Detroit.

Luis F. Castillo will be making his first major league start. The 30-year-old has three MLB relief appearances under his belt. Those came with the 2022 Tigers, for whom he tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Detroit sent him through outright waivers at the end of that season. Castillo signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball the following offseason.

After turning in a 3.12 ERA across 49 innings for the Marines, Castillo moved to the Orix Buffaloes. He fired 94 1/3 innings of 2.96 ERA ball despite a pedestrian 19.6% strikeout rate. Castillo showed fantastic control, though, walking fewer than 5% of batters faced for the second consecutive season. The Dominican-born pitcher returned to the affiliated ranks last offseason, joining the Mariners on a minor league contract in January.

Castillo pitched five innings of three-run ball across three appearances in Spring Training. He worked 5 2/3 frames in his first Triple-A start on Sunday, allowing one run on two hits and a pair of walks. Seattle will bring him up for at least a spot start as the fifth spot in their rotation comes around. Emerson Hancock got that job out of Spring Training because of the George Kirby injury, but the former sixth overall pick couldn’t escape the first inning in his season debut. Seattle optioned him out a few days later.

The Mariners announced this afternoon that they reinstated Jorge Polanco from the paternity list. They optioned Leo Rivas and swingman Jhonathan Díaz to Triple-A Tacoma. Castillo will take Díaz’s active roster spot. The 40-man roster is at capacity, so they’ll need to make another move in that regard tomorrow.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-to-select-luis-f-castillo.html
 
Mariners Designate Hagen Danner For Assignment

The Mariners announced that right-hander Hagen Danner has been designated for assignment. That opens a 40-man spot for Luis F. Castillo. It was reported yesterday that Castillo would be coming up to start today’s game, making for an odd bit of trivia as the other Luis Castillo started the prior game for the M’s. An active roster spot was already opened by optioning left-hander Jhonathan Díaz yesterday.

Danner, 26, hasn’t been with the Mariners for long. He was claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays in January. He then tossed 3 1/3 innings in the Cactus League, allowing five earned runs. He was then sent to Triple-A Tacoma and started his season with 2 2/3 scoreless innings there.

His overall track record as a pitcher isn’t terribly long. The Jays drafted him as a catcher and tried him at that spot for a few years, but his bat didn’t pan out and they moved him to the mound. He has since put up some decent numbers on a rate basis but with occasional injury absences. Due to those health issues, he still hasn’t thrown 40 innings in any one season.

He has one third of an inning in the majors, which was back in 2023, and then 116 2/3 minor league innings from 2021 to the present. In that minor league work, he has a 2.93 earned run average, 28.3% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate.

The M’s will now have a week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade interest would have to be gauged in the next five days. Danner still has an option, so he could be stashed in the minors by any club willing to give him a 40-man spot. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, the Mariners could hold onto him as some non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-designate-hagen-danner-for-assignment.html
 
Mariners Designate Cody Bolton For Assignment

The Mariners announced this afternoon that they’ve designated right-hander Cody Bolton for assignment. Bolton’s 40-man roster spot will go to right-hander Jesse Hahn, whose contract has been selected from the minors. Left-hander Tayler Saucedo was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Hahn’s addition to the active roster.

Bolton, 27 in June, was a sixth-round pick by the Pirates back in 2017 and made his big league debut with Pittsburgh in 2023. That first stint in the majors did not go especially well, as the righty posted a lackluster 6.33 ERA (72 ERA+) with a 20.6% strikeout rate against a hefty 14% walk rate in 21 1/3 innings of work. While he pitched better at Triple-A Indianapolis, with a 3.86 ERA and a more reasonable 9.2% walk rate, that still wasn’t to convince the club to keep Bolton on their 40-man roster throughout the winter; in early November, the club traded Bolton to the Mariners in a cash deal.

Bolton’s time in Seattle went better than his time in Pittsburgh, but still left something to be desired. The right-hander pitched impressively for the Mariners at Triple-A Tacoma, with a 3.07 ERA in 29 1/3 innings of work that’s made all the more impressive by the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League. Strong as that work was, however, the righty still posted a below-average 4.34 ERA (85 ERA+) with a 20.5% strikeout rate and a 10.8% walk rate that were largely reminiscent of his time with the Pirates. While Bolton stuck with the Mariners on the 40-man roster throughout this past offseason, a rough start to the 2025 campaign at Triple-A where he’s surrendered three runs in two innings of work was evidently enough for Seattle to pull the plug. The club will now have one week to either trade Bolton or attempt to pass him through waivers. Should he clear waivers successfully, the Mariners can outright him to the minor leagues as a non-roster depth option going forward.

The departure of Bolton makes room for Hahn, whose debut with the Mariners will be his first MLB appearance since 2021. A sixth-rounder drafted by the Rays back in 2010, the 35-year-old hurler made his debut with the Padres back in 2014 and enjoyed an impressive rookie campaign where he posted a 3.07 ERA in 73 1/3 innings spread between 12 starts and a pair of relief appearances. His 10.5% walk rate was a bit elevated, but he largely made up for it with a strong 22.9% strikeout rate to post solid results in line with those expected of a #4 starter.

Hahn was included by the Padres in an offseason trade with the A’s that sent catcher Derek Norris to San Diego, and his first year in Oakland saw the righty continue to fill the role of a potential mid-rotation arm with a 3.35 ERA and 3.51 FIP in 16 starts. Unfortunately, much of Hahn’s 2015 season was wiped out by a flexor tendon injury, and when he came back to the mound in 2016 he no longer looked like the same pitcher. The righty posted a lackluster 5.59 ERA in 116 innings of work for the A’s over the next two seasons before being traded once again, this time to the Royals in a trade that brought back reliever Ryan Buchter.

Hahn did not appear in the majors for the Royals until 2019 due to a UCL injury that eventually required surgery, and when he came back late in the 2019 season it was as a reliever. The right-hander ultimately made just 29 appearances for the Royals over parts of three seasons, with a 4.62 ERA (105 ERA+) and a 4.81 FIP in 25 1/3 innings of work. Hahn hit the injured list due to shoulder issues back in 2021 and didn’t pitch again professionally at any level until 2024, when he latched on with the Dodgers on a minor league deal. He’s thrown 51 1/3 solid innings for the Dodgers and Mariners at Triple-A since then, and now appears poised to make his comeback to the majors. He was released from his minor league deal with Seattle just a couple of weeks ago ahead of Opening Day, but evidently re-signed with the club on a fresh minor league deal since then.

Making room for Hahn on the active roster is Saucedo, who served as a solid middle relief option for Seattle in each of the past two seasons with a 3.54 ERA and 3.79 FIP in 86 1/3 innings of work across 105 outings. Things have not gone well for the southpaw so far this year, however, with four runs allowed and more walks than strikeouts in his first three appearances. He’ll head to Tacoma to serve as optionable depth for the Mariners for the time being as he awaits his next big league opportunity.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-designate-cody-bolton-for-assignment.html
 
Victor Robles Carted Off Field With Shoulder Injury

10:47pm: Ari Alexander of KPRC2 reports that Canzone is set to be recalled to the big leagues by the Mariners. That seemingly suggests that Robles is ticketed for the injured list, which Jon Morosi of MLBNetwork reported was likely earlier this evening, though no official move has been made to this point.

6:08pm: Mariners outfielder Victor Robles made an outstanding catch late in today’s game against the Giants, but the moment quickly turned worrisome when Robles crashed into the right field netting in foul territory. As noted by multiple reporters, including Adam Jude of The Seattle Times and Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, Robles exited the game and was carted off the field clutching his left arm. As noted by Jude, manager Dan Wilson told reporters that Robles suffered a shoulder injury is undergoing initial tests to determine the exact issue.

It’s potentially devastating news for the Mariners, for whom Robles has emerged as a spark plug in all aspects of the game since he was signed by Seattle back in June after being released by the Nationals earlier that year. In 77 games for Seattle the rest of the way, Robles hit a phenomenal .328/.393/.467 with a wRC+ of 154. He also played solid defense across all three outfield spots and went 30-for-31 on the basepaths en route to 3.2 fWAR in just 262 trips to the plate of the Mariners last year. It was such a strong performance that the club signed Robles to a two-year extension that guarantees him $9.75MM and keeps him under team control through the end of the 2027 season thanks to a $9MM team option for a third year.

That 2024 breakout season represented a remarkable comeback for Robles, who was considered the best prospect in the Nationals’ system and among the top prospects in the entire sport as he came up through the minor leagues alongside Juan Soto. Unfortunately, injuries have dogged Robles all throughout his career. He appeared in just 530 games in parts of eight seasons in D.C. due to elbow, ankle, back, and hamstring injuries among other ailments. He’s only had one full season in the majors over the years, his 2019 rookie season with the club, and since then has only reached even 400 plate appearances in a season a single time.

It’s impossible to say with certainty to what extent the injuries led to Robles, who hit a disappointing .236/.311/.356 during his time with the Nationals, to under perform the expectations associated with his top prospect status. Even so, it’s without a doubt that both he and the Mariners were surely hoping his fresh start in Seattle last year would afford him the opportunity to prove himself healthy and effective in the big leagues over an extended period of time. While even an approximate timetable for Robles’s return to action won’t be clear until the Mariners provide more details regarding the nature of his injury, it seems safe to say that Robles will miss at least some time due to the injury.

In terms of options to replace Robles in the lineup, they’re relatively few and far between. Dylan Moore has gotten off to a hot start this year but is currently stepping in for Jorge Polanco at third base while Polanco nurses a sore knee. Dominic Canzone is on the 40-man roster at Triple-A and capable of playing the outfield, or the club could move Luke Raley from first base back into the outfield while giving first base to some combination of Donovan Solano, Austin Shenton, and Tyler Locklear. Regardless of which options they ultimately go with to fill in for Robles while he’s out, an extended absence from the outfielder could be tough for the club to handle given their relatively lackluster depth options on the positional side of things.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/victor-robles-carted-off-field-with-shoulder-injury.html
 
Mariners Outright Hagen Danner

The Mariners announced that right-hander Hagen Danner cleared waivers and will be outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma. The righty had been designated for assignment last week when the club added Luis F. Castillo to the roster. Seattle also placed Victor Robles on the 10-day injured list with a dislocated left shoulder and recalled Dominic Canzone — moves that were reported yesterday.

Players have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if they have either a previous career outright or at least three years of major league service time. Neither applies to Danner, so he’ll stick with the Mariners as depth but without taking up a roster spot.

The M’s are likely glad about that. They were intrigued enough by Danner to grab him off waivers from the Blue Jays in January. His track record isn’t long, for a few reasons. He was drafted as a catcher and tried his hand at that spot for a few years before moving to the mound. Since taking the hill, he has posted some decent rate numbers but has also been held back by some injuries.

In the majors, he has just one third of an inning to his name. In the minors, he has tossed 116 2/3 innings from 2021 to the present. Thanks to various injuries, he hasn’t hit the 40-inning mark in any individual season. But he has a 2.93 earned run average, 28.3% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate.

Over the course of a long season, the Mariners will surely need fresh arms from time to time, as all clubs do. If Danner gets back to the majors, he still has one option year and just 52 days of service time.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-outright-hagen-danner.html
 
Víctor Robles Likely To Miss About 12 Weeks

The Mariners today provided an update on outfielder Víctor Robles, who was placed on the 10-day injured list yesterday due to a left shoulder dislocation. Today’s update says that the dislocation caused a small fracture in the humeral head in his left shoulder. The club believes that the fracture will heal without surgery, though Robles will be continually monitored to ensure that is the case. Even if he does continue to avoid surgery, the club estimates it will take him six weeks to heal, followed by a six-week rehab process. That suggests he will miss about 12 weeks even in a best-case scenario.

Of course, if there are any setbacks along the way or if it’s determined that Robles will instead require surgical intervention, that timeline would change. In either scenario, given that Robles is already looking at an absence that would extend to around the All-Star break, doubts about his ability to return this season could arise. For now, however, the Mariners are surely relieved that the injury doesn’t look to be season-ending in nature.

Robles, 27, was a longtime top prospect with the Nationals who debuted in as a 20-year-old in 2017 but never quite found his footing as a regular in Washington. He looked on the cusp of a breakout when he hit .258/.328/.430 with plus defense in 2018-19, his age-21 and age-22 seasons, but in 1124 plate appearances from 2020 through the time of his release last May, he batted only .222/.301/.308.

The Mariners signed Robles to a big league deal early last June and were almost immediately rewarded for their show of faith. He filled a bench role early on but played so well in a limited role that he forced himself into the everyday lineup before long. In 77 games with Seattle, Robles turned in a superlative .322/.393/.467 batting line with four homers, 20 doubles and an eye-catching 30 steals in just 31 tries.

Robles was never going to sustain the .388 average on balls in play that propped up his batting line, but he also showed vastly improved contact skills, cutting the 24% strikeout rate he’d displayed from 2020-24 (27.3% with the Nats last year) all the way to 16.8% as a Mariner.

With Seattle, Robles proved much more aggressive, increasing his swing rate at pitches over the plate by several percentage points and also improving his contact rate on said swings. He swung at only 49% of pitches over the plate up through the 2023 season and made contact on 84.5% of those swings; with the Mariners, he offered at 53% of pitches in the zone and made contact at an 87.1% clip.

Even with some expected regression, the Mariners’ version of Robles looked like a more balanced hitter than the one who’d spent several years struggling in D.C. The Mariner front office clearly believed that to be the case, as Robles inked a two-year, $9.75MM contract covering his first two free agent years last summer. The deal spans the 2025-26 campaigns and includes a club option for 2027.

Now, Robles will spend around half of that contract’s first season (at least) on the shelf. He’d been slotted in as the everyday right fielder with Randy Arozarena in left field and Julio Rodriguez in center field. The Robles injury likely paves the way for more Luke Raley to see more outfield time. He’d originally been expected to play more first base in 2025, but a big performance in spring training from Rowdy Tellez forced the Mariners to reevalute. Seattle released Mitch Haniger and committed to Tellez and Raley splitting the load between first base and DH.

Raley and Dominic Canzone figure to get more time in the outfield. It’s also possible that utilitymen Miles Mastrobuoni and Dylan Moore could log some reps there. All three of Raley, Canzone and Mastrobuoni are left-handed hitters, so a platoon arrangement among them isn’t likely. Raley and the righty-hitting Moore could make sense as an on-paper platoon, but Moore has been used as an infielder exclusively thus far and played a career-low 138 innings in the outfield last year.

However it shakes out, the Robles injury is a significant setback for a Mariners club that currently ranks 21st in the majors in runs scored (36). It’s also likely to result in a defensive downturn; the early marks from Robles this season have been uncharacteristically below average, but he’s generally graded as a strong defender in center and is viewed as a potential plus defender in a corner.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/victor-robles-likely-to-miss-about-12-weeks.html
 
Guardians Acquire Cody Bolton

The Mariners announced that right-hander Cody Bolton has been traded to the Guardians for cash considerations. He was designated for assignment a few days ago when the M’s selected Jesse Hahn. The Guardians transferred John Means to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot and optioned Bolton to Triple-A Columbus.

Bolton, 27 in June, has 40 innings on his major league track record at this point. Between the 2023 Pirates and 2024 Mariners, he has a combined 5.40 earned run average. His 20.5% strikeout rate, 12.6% walk rate and 39.5% ground ball rate are each a bit worse than league average.

The Guards are presumably more interested in his minor league work. After missing the entire 2021 season due to a knee injury, he has since thrown 153 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.40 ERA. His 11.1% walk rate is still on the high side but he struck out 25% of opponents in that time. He averages almost 95 miles per hour on both his four-seam fastball and a sinker, as well as throwing a changeup, sweeper and cutter.

For Cleveland, they effectively had an open 40-man spot. Means underwent UCL surgery in June of last year. He also underwent Tommy John surgery on that same ligament in April of 2022. He’s likely to be out until midseason even in a best-case scenario. They have used that free roster spot to grab Bolton and stash him in Triple-A as some extra depth. He has less than a year of service time and can be cheaply retained into the future. However, he has just one option year remaining, so he’ll be out of options next year if he burns his last one here in 2025.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/guardians-acquire-cody-bolton.html
 
Mariners Put Ryan Bliss On IL Due To Biceps Tear, Designate Jesse Hahn

The Mariners designated right-hander Jesse Hahn for assignment today amid a series of roster moves, per a club announcement. Right-hander Casey Lawrence was selected from Triple-A Tacoma in his place. And, in a concerning bit of injury news, Seattle placed infielder Ryan Bliss on the 10-day injured list due to a torn left biceps. He suffered the tear during a swing in last night’s game. A timeline for his recovery hasn’t been provided, but given the nature of the injury, it seems all but guaranteed that Bliss will be facing a notable absence. Infielder Leo Rivas is up from Tacoma in his place.

Bliss wasn’t off to a roaring-hot start this season, as he’s currently sporting a line of .200/.282/.314. Regardless, the injury further depletes the Seattle infield, which has been an issue for quite a while. All throughout the offseason, they were looking to make notable upgrades to their group on the dirt. Their moves ended up being pretty modest, with Jorge Polanco re-signed and moved from second to third base. Donovan Solano was also signed to be a part-time contributor.

Going into the season, Bliss and Dylan Moore were the top candidates to play second base. Lately, Polanco has been in and out of the lineup due to some soreness in his side, taking the designated hitter spot whenever he’s been healthy enough to play. That has left Moore at third and Bliss at second. Luke Raley has been playing right field to cover for the injured Víctor Robles, opening first base for Rowdy Tellez and the DH spot for Polanco.

It’s less than ideal for a club that has been searching for more offense for a while. The lack of thump in the lineup seemed to be their undoing last year and they weren’t able to make a significant upgrade in the winter. The team has a combined .199/.301/.329 line and 92 wRC+ at the moment and a 4-8 record which has them in the basement of the American League West.

Bliss wasn’t the most essential part of their foundation but it’s another brick removed. Rivas has a .233/.333/.274 line in his big league career but hit .296/.441/.424 in Triple-A last year and is out to a hot start this year, slashing .304/.429/.609 through seven games. He will jump into the infield group though the M’s also have Solano, Moore, Tellez, Polanco and Miles Mastrobuoni in the mix for playing time alongside shortstop J.P. Crawford.

The pitching moves are a reflection of the fact that their recent schedule has been a grind. They lost an 11-inning game on Friday, the first of the six-game stretch, using nine pitchers in that contest. They had fairly regular bullpen usage in the following three games but then had another rough one last night, using seven pitchers in a 12-inning marathon.

With the group fairly taxed overall, they’ve decided to bring in a fresh arm. Lawrence is a 37-year-old who has been called on for such duties before, having worked long relief gigs with the Blue Jays, Cardinals and Mariners in the past. Signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, he’s been pitching in the Triple-A Tacoma rotation to start this year. His last outing lasted 4 2/3 innings on April 4, so he should be able to mop up a few frames today, if needed. After that, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him bumped off the roster. He is out of options and the Mariners have a much-needed off-day tomorrow.

Hahn, 35, just made it back to the majors a few days ago after a long absence. The M’s selected his contract on April 5, his first time in the bigs since 2021. He has pitched four innings for the M’s since then, including the final two innings of last night’s extra-inning contest. He hasn’t been charged with an earned run yet this year but got a tough L last night when the Manfred Man came around to score in the 12th.

He’s now off the 40-man and will be in DFA limbo for a bit, a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Mariners theoretically have five days to explore trade interest. He has a 4.17 ERA in 315 1/3 bg league innings. He missed 2022 and 2023 due to a shoulder injury then pitched in Triple-A last year with a 4.29 ERA over 50 1/3 innings.

Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-ryan-bliss-biceps-tear-jesse-hahn-dfa.html
 
Ryan Bliss To Miss 4-5 Months Due To Biceps Surgery

The Mariners today provided an update on infielder Ryan Bliss, who was placed on the 10-day injured list yesterday with a torn left biceps. Today’s announcement relays that an MRI confirmed the severity of the tear and the need for surgery, with an expected recovery timeline of four to five months.

It’s obviously a frustrating development for Bliss and the club. It’s unclear if that timeline includes an eventual rehab assignment or if it will take that long just to begin rehabbing. Either way, he will miss the majority of the campaign even in a best-case scenario and it seems possible that he won’t return in 2025 at all.

For the team, it’s the second big blow to their position player group in the past few days. Víctor Robles has a shoulder fracture and is expected to miss about three months while avoiding surgery, though that timeline could change if surgery eventually is required. Now Bliss is also going to be sidelined for multiple months.

Lack of offense was an issue for them last year and their infield was particularly concerning. Justin Turner and Jorge Polanco became free agents at season’s end, with Josh Rojas non-tendered as well. That left them with J.P. Crawford at shortstop and a few role players or unestablished young guys as candidates for the other spots. There were many offseason rumors surrounding their infield pursuits but they only made a couple of modest moves, bringing back Polanco to play third and signing Donovan Solano to chip in at the corners in a part-time/platoon role.

That left second base open for internal options, including Bliss, a nice opportunity for him. He came into 2025 with just 33 major league games under his belt but some intriguing minor league numbers. Over 2023 and 2024, he produced a combined line of .290/.378/.497 for various minor league clubs. That production led to a wRC+ of 120, indicating he was 20% above league average. He also stole 105 bases in 133 tries. The M’s acquired him from the Diamondbacks as part of the July 2023 trade that sent Paul Sewald to the desert.

Bliss hit just .200/.282/.314 to start this year but in a small sample of just ten games. He won’t be able to adjust that line any time soon. Between him and Robles, the club has to improvise a new lineup around two vacancies. Polanco is battling some knee issues and has been serving as the designated hitter lately. Luke Raley has moved from first base to right field to replace Robles, with Rowdy Tellez taking over at first, platooning with Solano. Dylan Moore, Miles Mastrobuoni and Leo Rivas figure to cover third and second base, at least until Polanco can take the field again. Cole Young is one of the top prospects in the league and could take over the keystone at some point but he is hitting .171/.292/.244 through 11 Triple-A games to start the year.

All clubs deal with injuries but it’s perhaps a little more concerning for Seattle. They didn’t have many resources available for upgrading their lineup this winter, giving them a somewhat narrow margin for error to begin the year. They have now limped out to a 5-8 start and will be without two lineup regulars for multiple months. Bliss should be moved to the 60-day IL whenever the Mariners need a roster spot.

Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/ryan-bliss-to-miss-4-5-months-due-to-biceps-surgery.html
 
Mariners Exploring Infield Market

Injuries have quickly changed the complexion of the Mariners’ infield. Second baseman Ryan Bliss will miss four to five months after suffering a tear in his left biceps and undergoing surgery. First baseman Luke Raley has shifted to the outfield in the wake of a fracture in Victor Robles’ shoulder, which will sideline him for around 12 weeks. Jorge Polanco is currently relegated to DH work and won’t play the infield for another week or two, per Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. He underwent knee surgery back in October and is dealing with some discomfort in his side as well.

With those early changes to the infield composition, the Mariners are poking around the market for potential external additions, Jude further reports. A major trade this time of year is rare but not unheard of. The Brewers just picked up young right-hander Quinn Priester in a trade with the Red Sox earlier this week, helping to shore up an injury-ravaged rotation in Milwaukee. Last year’s trade of Luis Arraez from Miami to San Diego occurred in early May. Of course, the Mariners spent the bulk of the offseason pursuing trades to bolster their infield and ultimately wound up making a series of small free agent signings instead — clearly not finding a match to their liking.

It’s unlikely that there are any teams that have strongly rethought their status as postseason hopefuls just a few weeks into the season. As such, it’s unlikely that there are any players available on the trade market at present whose teams weren’t willing to discuss them over the winter. If the Mariners couldn’t find an offseason trade of note to bolster their infield, it’s hard to envision them suddenly doing so now.

That said, Jude notes that Seattle’s front office is “combing” other rosters and looking at veteran players who are on minor league deals elsewhere. Many veterans will have opt-out dates and upward mobility clauses in April. Article XX(b) free agents (i.e. six-plus years of MLB service, finished the preceding season on a major league roster/injured list) who signed minor league contracts have a uniform opt-out opportunity on May 1. MLBTR took a look at 36 such players late in camp, though the majority this year happened to be pitchers.

This type of acquisition wouldn’t necessarily be a sexy one, but the Mariners have gotten no production to date out of Rowdy Tellez or Donovan Solano, and they’re hitting .200/.303/.333 as a team as of this writing. The bar for improvement is fairly low. Tellez and Solano will surely get some runway to turn things around, but it’s sensible to looking at other, similar veteran options who could potentially be had on the cheap. Among the veteran infielders on minor league deals and hitting well in Triple-A with other clubs are Christian Arroyo (Phillies), Scott Kingery (Angels), Harold Castro (Royals), Nick Gordon (Royals) and Jake Lamb (Giants).

Help could always come from the farm system as well. Jude writes that the organization is prioritizing top prospect Cole Young’s development at the moment and doesn’t want to rush him to the big leagues but could consider an accelerated path for third baseman Ben Williamson. Young is hitting .178/.302/.267 in Triple-A at the moment anyhow, making it tough to consider him an upgrade. Williamson is a plus defender at third base who’s gotten some reps in the middle infield, too. He’s light on power but has plus contact skills and is out to a .286/.314/.347 start in Tacoma. He batted .283/.375/.394 in 541 plate appearances between High-A and Double-A last year. First baseman Tyler Locklear didn’t hit in his big league debut last year but is slashing .286/.359/.457 through his first nine games in Triple-A this season.

If Seattle’s offensive doldrums continue much longer and there’s no help to be found outside the organization, it stands to reason that Williamson and/or Locklear could get early looks to help right the ship.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-exploring-infield-market.html
 
Mariners Outright Jesse Hahn

The Mariners announced that right-hander Jesse Hahn has been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma. Hahn cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. Since Hahn has more than three years’ worth of MLB service time, he has the right to reject that outright assignment in favor of free agency, but there isn’t yet any word on whether or not Hahn will test the market or stick in Seattle’s organization.

Hahn already quickly re-signed with the Mariners on a fresh minor league deal after they released him from a previous minors contract at the end of March, which might hint that Hahn will again stick around in Triple-A. Hahn’s return to the M’s ended up landing the righty his first taste of Major League action since 2021, after the Mariners selected his contract and deployed him in two games last week. Hahn threw four scoreless frames in those two appearances, albeit with three hits and four walks in that limited sample.

The 35-year-old Hahn has a 4.17 ERA over 315 1/3 career innings with the Padres, A’s, Royals, and Mariners. Health issues have cost him big chunks of his career, as Hahn has undergone two Tommy John surgeries, and he also didn’t pitch at all in 2022-23 while recovering from a shoulder issue. He returned to action to post a 4.29 ERA across 50 1/3 frames at the Triple-A level for the Dodgers and Mariners, as control issues continued to limit Hahn’s effectiveness.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-outright-jesse-hahn.html
 
Mariners Not Currently Listening To Offers On Luis Castillo

Injuries to Ryan Bliss, Victor Robles, and Jorge Polanco have required the Mariners to drastically rethink their lineup in recent weeks. Bliss’s expected four-to-five month absence after undergoing surgery on his biceps leaves a hole at second base, which Polanco won’t be able to fill for at least another week or two as he’s been limited to DH-only duties by his own injuries. Robles, meanwhile, figures to be sidelined for at least three months by a shoulder fracture, which forced Luke Raley to move from first base to right field. That leaves two spots in the club’s infield that need to be filled, and while Miles Mastrobuoni and Rowdy Tellez are holding down the fort for the time being it’s hardly a surprise that the Mariners have begun exploring the market for infield help as they look to reconstruct their offense.

The idea of the Mariners searching the market for infield help is hardly a new one. Over the offseason, Seattle reportedly engaged in trade conversations regarding players like Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner, Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm, and Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas. None of those trade talks ultimately gained enough traction for Seattle to bring an infielder into the fold, however, and so they went into the season with a largely unchanged infield aside from a minor addition in Donovan Solano. The hangup in those talks appears to have been the Mariners’ hesitation to part ways with a member of their excellent starting rotation. Seattle’s on-paper starting five of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, Luis Castillo, and Bryce Miller is in the conversation for the very best in the entire sport, but the team’s unwillingness to split up that quintet seemed to hamper trade talks this winter even as they reportedly at least listened to offers on Castillo.

If the club was reluctant to trade from its rotation this winter, they appear even more unlikely to do so now. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote this morning that one unnamed organization offered the Mariners a young infielder in exchange for Castillo in the aftermath of Seattle’s recent injury woes but was rebuffed, with Seattle indicating that Castillo is off-limits for the time being. It’s notable that the club is holding firm on its desire to keep a strong starting rotation together, even if the details about the reported trade offer are rather sparse. It’s understandable that the Mariners wouldn’t want to compromise their starting pitching depth this early in the season, even in the face of their current woes on offense, given that Kirby is currently out of commission with shoulder inflammation.

Kirby is tentatively expected to be back at some point in May, but details on his recovery process have been relatively sparse so his exact timetable for a return is unclear. Nonetheless, it stands to reason that the Mariners wouldn’t be interested in dealing from a rotation that currently features just four starting pitchers until Kirby returns unless completely overwhelmed by an offer. That’s especially true given how well Castillo has pitched so far, with a 2.12 ERA and a 3.99 FIP across his first three starts of the season.

The Yankees and Mets entered the season with a number of notable rotation injuries and could certainly benefit from a proven starter like Castillo, and injuries will surely continue to plague the rotations of contenders in the coming weeks and months. Just today, the Cubs announced that ace southpaw Justin Steele will miss the remainder of the 2025 season due to impending elbow surgery. The Red Sox, Orioles, and Padres are among the other teams that have been bitten by the injury bug in the rotation to this point in the year, though that list could obviously look very different by the time trade season kicks into full gear.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...tly-listening-to-offers-on-luis-castillo.html
 
Mariners Designate Casey Lawrence For Assignment

The Mariners announced Monday that right-hander Casey Lawrence has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to righty Troy Taylor, who’s being reinstated from the 15-day injured list. It’s also worth noting that right-hander Jesse Hahn, whom Seattle outrighted to Triple-A over the weekend, has rejected that assignment in favor of free agency, according to the transaction log at MiLB.com.

Lawrence, 37, was called to the big leagues last week for a return stint with Seattle. He pitched the final three innings of their April 9 game against the Astros and was credited with a win after allowing a pair of runs on four hits and a walk (no strikeouts). It’s the third season in which the well-traveled Lawrence has suited up for the Mariners. He also pitched with Seattle in 2017 and 2018, in addition to spending the entire 2024 season with their Triple-A club. In 127 big league innings, Lawrence has a 6.73 ERA with a 16.6% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate.

The Mariners clearly like Lawrence and have a good relationship with him. Since 2017, they’ve claimed him off waivers and signed him to three minor league contracts. He can be placed on waivers or traded at any point in the next five days. Waivers would be another 48-hour process.

Within a week’s time, we’ll know the outcome of his DFA, although given his track record and history with the organization, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he accepted an outright assignment or quickly re-signed on a new minor league deal after clearing waivers and electing free agency. He’s already spent the past year-plus living and pitching in the Seattle/Tacoma area, after all, and he could be called upon in similar situations if the Mariners decide they need a fresh arm in the ’pen once again.

Taylor, 23, was a quick-to-the-majors reliever who impressed during his 2024 MLB debut. A 12th-round pick by the M’s in 2022, Taylor logged 19 1/3 innings last year and turned in a 3.72 ERA with a huge 30.9% strikeout rate against a solid 8.6% walk rate. That performance came on the heels of 42 2/3 minor league innings during which the UC-Irvine product recorded a stellar 1.27 ERA with a 27.6% strikeout rate and identical 8.6% walk rate.

Taylor missed the first two-plus weeks of the season with a minor lat strain. He made five rehab appearances and was torched for six runs on nine hits (one homer) and a walk in 3 1/3 innings. Most of that damage came in one outing where he was tagged for three runs without recording an out, however. Clearly, the Mariners are encouraged by the current state of his stuff and his previously ailing lat, as they could’ve simply optioned Taylor to Triple-A rather than reinstate him to the big league roster.

Hahn, 35, pitched in the majors for the first time since 2021 earlier this year when he tossed four frames for the Mariners. Injuries have continually plagued the right-hander, who’s been limited to 29 1/3 MLB frames (and 85 innings overall) since 2019. He’s continued grinding through rehab after rehab, however, and was rewarded with a brief big league return. Hahn could get another look with the M’s on a new minor league deal or latch on elsewhere as a minor league depth option now that he’s once again a free agent.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-dfa-casey-lawrence-jesse-hahn-free-agency.html
 
Mariners Re-Sign Jesse Hahn To Minor League Deal

Jesse Hahn returned to the Mariners on a minor league contract, per the MLB.com transaction tracker. The righty had rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency over the weekend.

Players frequently re-sign after declining an outright assignment. The time on the open market allows the player to at least gauge whether there might be an immediate opportunity elsewhere. If not, they can try to renegotiate more favorable opt-out dates or salaries into a new deal than they would have received had they accepted the outright.

Hahn spent four days on Seattle’s major league roster earlier this month. He pitched twice and turned in four innings, allowing only one unearned run. Hahn walked four batters, but three of those were intentional as he navigated the free runner in extras against the Astros. He struck out three and allowed as many hits.

It was a solid showing for the 35-year-old. Hahn was pitching in the big leagues for the first time in four years. He had made five appearances for the 2021 Royals. Hahn hasn’t topped 20 major league innings in a season since 2017. A shoulder injury sidelined him entirely between 2022-23. He returned to the affiliated ranks on minor league contracts with the Dodgers and Seattle last season, combining for a 4.29 ERA through 50 1/3 frames in Triple-A.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-re-sign-jesse-hahn-to-minor-league-deal.html
 
Mariners Option Gregory Santos

The Mariners have optioned right-hander Gregory Santos to Triple-A Tacoma and recalled fellow right-handed reliever Will Klein in his place, per a team announcement.

It’s the first time in nearly three years that Santos has been optioned to the minors. He was a notable trade acquisition in the 2023-24 offseason, with the Mariners sending prospects Prelander Berroa, Zach DeLoach and a Competitive Balance (Round B) draft selection to the White Sox in return.

At the time of the swap, Santos was fresh off an excellent breakout season in Chicago and had five years of club control remaining. His 2023 campaign with the South Siders featured 66 1/3 innings of 3.39 ERA ball. Santos had averaged 98.9 mph on his sinker while turning in strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates of 22.8%, 5.9% and 52.5%, respectively. He’d started that season in a low-leverage role but found himself pitching more meaningful innings as the year went on; he finished with five saves and six holds. It looked like the start of a lengthy run as a quality high-leverage reliever.

As we see all too often with pitchers, however, injuries intervened. Santos was diagnosed with a lat strain last spring and spent the first three-plus months of the season on the injured list as a result. He returned in early July but was back on the 15-day IL less than a month later, this time owing to biceps inflammation. He returned in the season’s final week and pitched a pair of scoreless innings.

Heading into 2025, Santos looked to be on track for a rebound. The lat strain was behind him, he’d finished the prior season healthy, and he posted a 1.59 ERA in six spring appearances (one run in 5 2/3 innings). That hasn’t played out whatsoever.

Santos’ once premium command has been nowhere to be found. He’s pitched seven innings and faced 36 batters. Eight of them have reached via base on balls (albeit, two of them being intentional). He’s also tossed a pair of wild pitches. Equally or more concerning is the fact that he hasn’t recorded a single strikeout yet. He’s still getting heaps of ground-balls (63%), but he’s missing badly and not inducing chases off the plate. His 11.5% opponents’ chase rate is the fourth-worst among all pitchers with at least five innings this year. His 4.6% swinging-strike rate is tied for ninth-worst.

There hasn’t been a major drop-off in Santos’ velocity. His sinker is down a bit, sitting at 98 mph, but that’s less than a one-mile gap from his 2023 peak. He’s had a bit more of a pronounced drop in his slider velo, but there’s no reason to believe he’s injured at the moment. (He is, after all, being optioned and not placed on the 15-day IL.) Santos has seen some changes in his release point from 2023 to 2025, but again, it’s not necessarily a drastic difference. For now, he’ll head to Triple-A Tacoma for a reset and look to get back on track.

It’s possible, though not yet certain, that today’s demotion could alter Santos’ path to arbitration and to free agency. He entered the season with two years and 55 days (2.055) of big league service, meaning he needed 117 days on the roster to reach three years and keep pace for arbitration eligibility this winter and free agency following the 2028 season. Of course, those factors will be rendered moot if he can’t get back on track and reestablish himself as a credible big league reliever.

Klein has actually had similar struggles to those of Santos down in Tacoma this year. He’s faced 36 batters and walked seven of them while plunking another and being charged with four wild pitches. He’s at least missing bats however and is doing so at an eye-popping rate; Klein has fanned 36.1% of his opponents and is sitting on a strong 13.8% swinging-strike rate. He’ll give Seattle a fresh arm one day after four relievers (Santos among them) needed to cover 3 2/3 innings following a rough start from Luis Castillo.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-option-gregory-santos.html
 
Mariners Select Casey Lawrence

The Mariners announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence from Triple-A Tacoma. He’d cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a week ago, briefly elected free agency, and returned on another minor league deal. He’s now right back in the big leagues. Righty Troy Taylor was optioned to Tacoma in his place.

This marks the latest stop in a frequent matchup between Lawrence and the Mariners. Seattle originally claimed the righty off waivers back in 2017, and while he’s bounced around the league at times, he’s repeatedly made his way back to the M’s, signing a quartet of minor league deals and pitching for them in parts of three different seasons. Lawrence also spent the entire 2024 campaign in the Mariners organization, though he wasn’t brought up from Triple-A Tacoma at any point last season.

In 127 major league innings between the Blue Jays, Mariners and Cardinals, Lawrence has pitched to a 6.73 ERA with a 16.6% strikeout rate and an 8.5% walk rate. He’s also pitched in parts of 10 Triple-A seasons, working to a 4.32 ERA in 733 frames at the top minor league level.

It could very well be another short stint for Lawrence, who seems amenable to serving as a depth arm with the Mariners and riding the DFA carousel for the time being. He’ll give Seattle a fresh arm after a wild, back-and-forth extra-innings game saw the Mariners burn through seven relievers en route to a victory over the Reds yesterday. Each of Andres Munoz, Trent Thornton, Gabe Speier and Carlos Vargas has now pitched on back-to-back days, so Lawrence has a good chance at getting into tonight’s series opener in Toronto.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-select-casey-lawrence.html
 
Looking Ahead To Club Options: AL West

Over the coming days, MLBTR will look at next offseason’s option class. Steve Adams highlighted the players who can opt out of their current deals, while we’ll take a division-by-division look at those whose contracts contain either team or mutual options. Virtually all of the mutual options will be bought out by one side. Generally, if the team is willing to retain the player at the option price, the player will decline his end in search of a better free agent deal.

We started with a look at the NL West yesterday. While every team in that division had at least one player whose deal contained a club or mutual option, its American League counterpart only has two teams that are slated to have any option decisions.

Athletics

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Houston Astros

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Los Angeles Angels


The Angels brought in Newman on a $2.75MM contract early last offseason. The contact-hitting infielder was coming off a solid .278/.311/.375 slash over 111 games in a utility role in Arizona. He added necessary shortstop depth with Zach Neto opening the season on the injured list after last fall’s shoulder surgery. Newman had a rough Spring Training, though, and the Angels went with minor league signee Tim Anderson as their primary shortstop until Neto’s return tonight.

Newman’s cold spring has carried into his early regular season work. He has managed three hits, all singles, without taking a walk in 23 trips to the plate. Newman has never walked much or hit for any kind of power, but he generally puts the ball in play and can move around the infield. Neto’s return means he won’t get much playing time at shortstop, while Kyren Paris and Luis Rengifo are respectively getting the majority of work at second and third base.

Note: José Quijada and Evan White each have club options on their respective contracts. They’ve both been outrighted off the 40-man roster and are very likely to be bought out. If they’re added back to the 40-man, the Angels would control both players via arbitration even if they decline the options.

Seattle Mariners


Garver’s two-year, $24MM contract remains the only multi-year deal that the Mariners have awarded to a free agent hitter under Jerry Dipoto’s leadership. It hasn’t gone well. While Garver’s injury history made that a somewhat risky investment, he looked like a good bet to hit whenever he was on the field. Garver was coming off a .270/.370/.500 showing for the Rangers during their World Series season, and he brought a career .252/.342/.483 batting line to T-Mobile Park.

The 34-year-old’s production tanked almost immediately. He managed a career-high 430 plate appearances last season, but it came with easily his worst rate stats in a full season. Garver hit .172/.286/.341 while striking out at a 31% rate. It wasn’t simply a product of Seattle’s pitcher-friendly park. His .186/.290/.324 line on the road wasn’t any better than his .153/.281/.363 showing at home. He doesn’t look to be on the verge of a rebound. Garver has begun this season with four singles, six walks, and zero extra-base hits across 34 trips to the plate.


The Mariners worked out an extension with the hard-throwing Muñoz during the 2021-22 offseason. He’d made all of one appearance in a Seattle uniform at the time. Muñoz had undergone Tommy John surgery while a member of the Padres in 2020. Seattle acquired him early in the rehab process. They believed he’d blossom into a late-game weapon. They were right.

Muñoz has rattled off three straight sub-3.00 ERA seasons since signing his extension. He has begun this year with 10 scoreless innings, recording 13 strikeouts with an AL-leading seven saves. He carries a 2.35 earned run average with a huge 34.7% strikeout rate over 184 frames in a Seattle uniform. This has quickly become one of the most team-friendly contracts in the game.

The option is essentially a lock unless he suffers a significant injury that’d cost him all of next season. The team has respective $8MM and $10MM options for 2027 and ’28, so they could keep him at below-market rates for three years. Next season’s option has a $6MM base value. It’d climb by $250K apiece if Muñoz finishes 20, 30, 40 and 45 games this year. He’s already at eight games finished and should get to 45 by season’s end. The option price will probably end up at $7MM, but it’s an easy call for the front office.


Polanco’s option begins as an $8MM mutual provision, but he can convert it to a player option if he hits a vesting threshold. If he reaches 450 plate appearances this season and avoids a lower half injury that’d require him to begin next season on the injured list — which is protection for the team given his recent knee concerns — it’d become a $6MM player option. Getting to 550 plate appearances this year would push the player option price to $8MM.

If Polanco does not hit the vesting threshold, it’d remain an $8MM mutual option with a $750K buyout. He has been dinged up by knee and side discomfort that has limited him but not prevented him from playing. The switch-hitting Polanco is currently unable to play the infield or hit right-handed in games. He’s a lefty-swinging designated hitter for now. Yet he’s been on such a tear that the Mariners will happily live with the limitations.

Polanco has connected on three homers and a pair of doubles through 13 games. He’s hitting .378. That not only leads the team but ranks sixth in the majors among hitters with at least 40 plate appearances. He’s obviously not going to keep up this pace, but Polanco was fairly consistently an above-average hitter during his run as Minnesota’s second baseman. The Mariners felt that last year’s career-worst production was attributable to the knee injury through which he played a good chunk of the season. Polanco has done his best to prove that right so far.

Texas Rangers

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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/looking-ahead-to-club-options-al-west.html
 
Mariners, Zach Pop Agree To Minor League Deal

The Mariners and right-hander Zach Pop have agreed to a minor league contract, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. The Blue Jays designated Pop for assignment at the end of spring training when they needed a 40-man roster spot. The out-of-options righty was battling elbow inflammation at the time, and since injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, the Jays instead had to place him on release waivers. He became a free agent a couple weeks ago and will now join the fifth organization of his professional career.

Pop, 28, was a seventh-round pick by the Dodgers back in 2017. Los Angeles traded him and four others to the Orioles in the 2018 Manny Machado blockbuster, and he’s since pitched with the Marlins and Blue Jays organizations. The 6’4″ righty has logged big league time in each of the past four seasons, working to a combined 4.45 ERA with a sub-par 18.4% strikeout rate, a solid 7.9% walk rate and an excellent 55% ground-ball rate.

The 2024 season was a struggle for Pop, who pitched to a grisly 5.59 ERA over the course of 48 1/3 innings. With his sinker being hit harder than usual in 2023-24, Pop began to incorporate a cutter a couple months into the season. The pitch showed some promise, generating plenty of pop-ups and whiffs when chased off the plate, but Pop also misfired with it too often and served up three of his nine homers on the new offering — despite only throwing it at a 12.3% clip.

If the Mariners can help Pop refine that cutter or perhaps implement a new third offering, he could yet emerge as a reliable bullpen arm. He sits 96 mph with his sinker, which is plenty in terms of velocity, and his slider has long graded as a quality offering. The pitch misses bats, and opponents have slugged only .328 against it when making contact. Add in his lofty ground-ball numbers and it’s easy enough to see why the Mariners feel they may be able to coax another level out of him, even if the results over the past couple seasons have been rough.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-sign-zach-pop.html
 
Mariners Designate Casey Lawrence For Assignment

The Mariners announced this morning that they’ve designated right-hander Casey Lawrence for assignment. Right-hander Sauryn Lao was selected to the roster to replace Lawrence on the 40-man and active rosters.

Lawrence, 37, is a journeyman who has pitched in parts of five MLB seasons. After signing with the Blue Jays as an undrafted free agent back in 2010, the right-hander spent years climbing up the minor league ladder before finally reaching the majors during the 2017 season. He struggled to a 6.64 ERA with a 5.08 FIP in 78 2/3 innings of work for the Jays and Mariners over the next two years before heading overseas to pitch for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Hiroshima Carp in 2019. Lawrence posted a 4.80 ERA in 110 2/3 innings of work for the Carp and did not pitch professionally during the 2020 season.

He resurfaced in Toronto during the 2021 season and has oscillated between the majors and Triple-A in the years since then, with a 6.62 ERA and 6.12 FIP across 50 1/3 innings between the Blue Jays, Cardinals, and Mariners. His most recent stint in Seattle has seen the right-hander post five innings of three-run (two earned) ball, though he’s failed to strike out any of the 20 batters he’s faced. The Mariners will have one week to work out a trade involving Lawrence or pass him through waivers, and if he goes unclaimed he’ll have the option to either accept and outright assignment back to the minor leagues or elect free agency in search of a better deal elsewhere.

Lawrence’s departure makes room for Lao on the active and 40-man rosters. Signed by the Dodgers out of the Dominican Republic back in 2016, Lao was initially signed as a corner infielder but converted to pitching after struggling to hit at the High-A level. He made his first pitching appearances in 2023 and looked good enough to reach the Double-A level, and last year dominated Double-A to the tune of a 1.90 ERA in 20 relief appearances before getting promoted to Triple-A. The inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League was not kind to Lao, as he surrendered a 5.22 ERA in 29 1/3 innings of work. That was his last work in a Dodgers uniform, as he elected minor league free agency and signed with Seattle.

He’s made three abbreviated starts for Seattle so far at Triple-A, and looked good in doing so with a 2.00 ERA and a 21.2% strikeout rate against a walk rate of just 3%. Lao figures to serve as a long man for the Seattle bullpen, offering bulk relief to the club now that Lawrence is off the roster and Emerson Hancock has taken up a rotation job. Lao figures to be especially important for the Mariners in the coming days after the club went 12 innings against the Blue Jays last night, only five of which were handled by starter Logan Gilbert.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-designate-casey-lawrence-for-assignment.html
 
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