This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SEATTLE -- The Mariners made one of their bolder roster moves of the season so far on Monday, at least in the context of how much money they could be on the hook for after designating Leody Taveras for assignment, a little over one month after claiming him off waivers from the Rangers.
Moving on from the struggling outfielder, in the midst of a 6-12 stretch entering Monday that’s seen Seattle lose its grasp of first place in the American League West, signals that the Mariners mean business when it comes to this seven-week window leading into the July 31 Trade Deadline.
But they also could find themselves paying for some of their personnel decisions when the Deadline approaches -- quite literally.
When they claimed Taveras, the Mariners absorbed the remainder of his $4.75 million salary at the time, and they’ll be on the hook for the prorated portion for what’s left in 2025, unless he’s claimed by another club.
Although that could happen -- it’s also possible that the Mariners find a trade partner to take him, though eating some of that money would probably be part of negotiations -- the more likely outcome is that Taveras will clear waivers and accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Tacoma, as to not forfeit the remainder of his salary.
If so, he’d be a reserve if needed again in the Majors. But the club recalling Dominic Canzone to take Taveras’ spot could show that they’re going to give the slugger runway in right field until Luke Raley returns from a right oblique strain. Raley said on Seattle’s last homestand that he hoped to begin a Minor League rehab assignment this week.
Taveras was worth minus-1.0 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs, and 32 wRC+ (league average is 100) in 28 games with the Mariners, and his defense also took a big dip -- never more glaring than when he replaced Julio Rodríguez after an injury scare on Saturday in Anaheim.
When Taveras was claimed, a source with knowledge of the club’s thinking told MLB.com that taking on his contract would impact their Trade Deadline budget -- but also, that remaining in first place could boost that budget.
Within what’s expected to be a seller’s market, the Mariners’ logic was to try and jump the market by acquiring the 26-year-old, who was less than two years removed from being a key cog in the Rangers’ World Series title run.
But now the Mariners found themselves entering the week trailing the Astros by 2 1/2 games for first place and were 1 1/2 games back of the final AL Wild Card spot. And they’re paying a notable amount to another player who’s not on their 40-man roster: Mitch Haniger, who’s earning $15.5 million this year and has not signed with another team since being released on March 23.
Meanwhile, Donovan Solano, who signed a $3.5 million free-agent deal in January, has seen his leash dwindle mightily, entering Monday with just 25 at-bats over the past month. Mitch Garver, who’s in the final year of a two-year, $24 million deal, has a clearer role as Seattle's backup catcher, but that could become compromised if the club were to call up top prospect Harry Ford.
It’d be imprudent to put the situation’s entire onus on president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander, who had a finite amount of payroll room last offseason to work with (roughly $15 million) -- and as such, were forced to make more marginal moves despite other free agents, albeit significantly more expensive ones, being available.
Including Taveras and Haniger, the Mariners’ projected year-end 40-man payroll is around $153 million, per Cots Baseball Contracts, after reaching $143 million last year. Dipoto and Hollander don’t comment on payroll, on or off the record, but the 2024 number wasn’t expected to take a significant spike in ‘25.
There’s still time for the Mariners to rebound in the standings as the Deadline approaches -- and they’ll need to, if they’re hoping to be the aggressive buyers that everyone has expected them to be.