Luke Raley’s return from the injured list on Friday presented the Seattle Mariners with an interesting decision.
Mariners activate Luke Raley from IL, DFA Rowdy Tellez
It created a roster crunch that essentially meant either first baseman Rowdy Tellez, first baseman Donovan Solano or outfielder Dominic Canzone would be left as the odd man out.
There were cases for and against all three players, but ultimately it ended up being Tellez who drew the short end of the straw, as the lefty-hitting-slugger was designated for assignment in a corresponding move to Raley’s activation.
The 30-year-old Tellez hit 11 homers in 62 games for the Mariners this season, but batted just .208 with a .682 OPS. He served as the left-handed side of a first-base platoon with the right-handed-hitting Solano, which made his profile redundant with the lefty-hitting Raley expected to play a healthy dose of first base in addition to his more traditional outfield role.
As Mariners insider Shannon Drayer explained Friday morning on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, designating Tellez for assignment made the most sense from a roster-construction standpoint.
“It became evident that Luke Raley was going to play more first base than we saw early on, and so … at that point you are crowded (at first base),” Drayer said. “You don’t need two left-handed hitting first basemen. And Donovan Solano has picked it up over the last few weeks — both offensively and he’s shown some nice defense as well.
“So when I’m looking at it, I would guess that (first base) just kind of became a spot where they could most afford to lose somebody. … And I think there’s probably a little bit of intrigue with what Canzone is doing offensively as well. I think (this) was probably, as far as roster goes and positioning goes, the move that made the most sense to them.”
Solano’s surge
Solano had a nightmare start to the season, batting just .133 through his first 26 games. But the 37-year-old veteran has since turned things around, hitting .323 over his past 15 games.
Solano’s recent stretch is more in line with his track record. Over the course of his 12-year career, he’s batted .277 with a .377 on-base percentage.
“Maybe this was just an extremely slow start for him,” Drayer said. “And look, you’re not going to be looking for like big pop or anything for him. But he’s a guy that can keep the line moving. … I think you take a look at where this is going with him right now, because he certainly has the track record for it.”
Canzone’s pop
It’s a very small sample size, but Canzone has swung the bat well since being called up from Triple-A Tacoma last week. The 27-year-old lefty slugger is hitting .259 in 27 at-bats over that span, including a mammoth 450-foot homer against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Unlike Tellez and Solano, Canzone has minor league options remaining. As a result, Mike Salk argued that the easiest move for Seattle would have been sending Canzone back down to Tacoma.
Salk said keeping Canzone on the 26-man roster was a vote of confidence by the Mariners.
“The easiest thing to do would have been to send down Canzone,” Salk said. “You (wouldn’t) have (had) to DFA anybody. You could just send him back down and bring him up whenever you want.
“But I think it’s almost a tacet recognition that Canzone might have just as much power as Tellez and be a better hitter overall.”
Listen to the full conversation with Shannon Drayer at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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