RHPs Blas Castano & Matt Brash added to 40-man amidst a handful of Mariners roster moves
Seattle activated three players off the IL alongside Clastano to fill the 40-man roster at 40.
The Seattle Mariners announced today that they have selected RHP Blas Castano from Triple-A Tacoma and added him to their 40-man roster. Additionally, they have reinstated RHPs Matt Brash and Jackson Kowar, along with UTIL Sam Haggerty, from the 60-day injured list. The moves bring the 40-man roster to a full 40.
The return of Brash, Kowar, and Haggerty are procedural, with Brash and Kowar on track seemingly to return to full health sometime between Spring Training and the first half of the 2025 season. Players cannot be kept on the injured list until Spring Training’s outset. The return of Brash is eagerly anticipated, as the M’s bullpen sorely missed one of the league’s best relievers. While Haggerty and Kowar are both players who could see themselves jettisoned depending on roster crunch, for now they remain on the roster. Kowar is still in his pre-arbitration state, so he will be paid the league minimum if tendered a contract next year, while Haggerty has ticked into arbitration. While he’s likely only due a small raise in MLB terms, it’s not clear if Seattle will tender the 30 year old a deal if they can save a few hundred thousand clams.
Castano’s numbers likely don’t leap off the page at first glance, but there’s some there there in the 26 year old Dominican. The righty sinkerballer primarily mixes his diving heater with a well-mirrored slider and changeup, getting hitters to pound the ball into the dirt ad nauseum between Double-A Arkansas and Triple-A Tacoma last year. Signed as a minor league free agent in the middle of 2023, the longtime New York Yankees farmhand will hopefully not be called upon to start for Seattle next year, however he does provide optionable depth in the rotation who might be able to wriggle his way past big league hitting. As likely is a bullpen/swingman angle, occupying the Jhonathan Díaz role of 2024. If and when he does grace T-Mobile Park’s mound at last, it’d be a Major League debut for the diligent hurler.
Additionally, while unconfirmed, with the 40-man roster being announced as full, it seems by extension and all assumptions (albeit without confirmation) that OF Mitch Haniger has opted in to his player option for $15.5m. The deadline for decisions on options was today, so it is unclear if the decision was simply so obvious as to not have yet made news, or whether another move is incoming, however we should know sooner or later with clarity.