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The Mariners have designated first baseman Rowdy Tellez for task, per a crew announcement. His spot on the roster will go to outfielder/first baseman Luke Raley, who’s been activated from the injured checklist after lacking seven weeks with an indirect pressure.
Tellez, 30, is in his eighth large league season and has popped 11 house runs whereas serving as Seattle’s major first baseman. Early within the 12 months, he was anticipated to see extra time at designated hitter for skipper Dan Wilson, however the damage to Raley and ongoing damage points for infielder Jorge Polanco (who was accordingly relegated to DH work) pushed Tellez into the sphere frequently.
After a disastrous begin to his season, Tellez righted the ship in mid-April and has been a serviceable however flawed supply of energy within the coronary heart of the Mariners’ order. He reached base simply as soon as in his first 23 plate appearances however has since swatted 11 homers and slugged .484. That energy comes with a low common and bottom-of-the-barrel OBP, nonetheless. Tellez hardly ever walks, is straightforward to place towards defensively attributable to his extreme-pull strategy, and is measured by Statcast because the slowest participant in baseball (eliminating nearly any likelihood of him reaching by way of infield hit).
Courting again to April 11, Tellez has taken 162 turns on the plate and is hitting .229/.265/.484. He’s been shielded nearly solely from left-handed pitching, receiving simply 14 plate appearances and reaching base solely twice (one single, one hit-by-pitch). He’s hitting .219/.257/.463 towards right-handed pitching this 12 months.
With Raley nearing a return, it appeared possible that both Tellez or fellow veteran first base choice Donovan Solano might be pushed off the roster. Since each Tellez and Raley hit left-handed, the Mariners opted to maneuver on from the veteran who can hold a platoon intact. Solano has helped his trigger by hitting higher over the previous month, albeit in an excessively restricted position. He’s batted .333/.394/.467 since Might 20 however accomplished so in solely 33 plate appearances (26 of them towards lefties).
In the interim, Solano and Raley will presumably platoon at first base. That’s not a really perfect setup, as Raley is extra snug within the outfield than at first and Solano has struggled this season total. The Mariners will, on the very least, possible discover the commerce marketplace for righty-swinging choices at first base within the weeks forward. Dominic Canzone has offered barely better-than-average offense in proper subject since being referred to as up earlier this month (.233/.303/.400 in 33 plate appearances), but when he struggles like he has in two prior MLB seasons, the Mariners may transfer Raley to proper subject. That may set them as much as both give prospect Tyler Locklear a run at first base or discover the commerce marketplace for a full-time improve both at first base or in proper subject.
The Mariners can have 5 days to commerce Tellez or place him on waivers. He initially signed a minor league contract with Seattle however locked in a $1.5MM wage when he made the roster after a giant spring efficiency. He’s nonetheless owed about $806K of that sum, as of this writing.
Any crew that claims Tellez off waivers would assume the whole thing of that remaining wage. If the M’s discover an commerce accomplice, they may embrace some money to offset the wage in alternate for what would nonetheless possible be a nominal prospect return. Since waivers are a 48-hour course of, we’ll know the result of Tellez’s DFA inside a most of 1 week’s time. Within the occasion that he clears waivers, Tellez has sufficient service time to elect free company and retain the remaining cash on this 12 months’s wage.
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