Seattle Mariners Rumors: Five Players Cut As Mariners Trim Roster, Furbush Shoulder Injury Addressed
Seattle Mariners rumors indicate that five players have been cut from the spring training roster. These Mariners rumors also seem to confirm that relief pitcher Charlie Furbush won’t be ready by opening day. A report from MLB.com on Sunday, March 20, provided an outlook on Furbush and the shoulder problems he has been dealing with. New Mariners manager Scott Servais spoke about Furbush trying to return from a rotator cuff tear by opening day.
“I’m trying to be as optimistic as I can. But you guys can look at the calendar. I think there’s a better chance that Charlie is probably going to be late to start the season with us. Nothing definite yet, nothing set in stone, but it’s starting to look that way.”
A report from The Seattle Times addressed several other Seattle Mariners rumors, including cuts the team made and a scheduled start for James Paxton. The team cut five players from big league camp in order to slim the main roster down. Right-handed pitcher Jonathan Aro, left-handed pitcher David Rollins, and catcher Steven Baron were optioned to Triple-A Tacoma on Sunday. Additionally, right-handed pitcher Adrian Sampson and infielder Ed Lucas were re-assigned to minor league camp.
The spring demotions don’t come as a huge surprise to these players, as most of them were invited to Spring Training just to get more work. David Rollins actually looked really good in Arizona, though, posting a 2.57 ERA and 0.71 WHIP over seven innings of work. Aro, who was acquired in the Wade Miley deal, posted an 8.53 ERA and 1.74 WHIP over 6 1/3 innings. Servais made a statement about the cuts Sunday morning.
“All those guys showed well at times in camp, but the innings and the at-bats are starting to go away. So we’ll let those guys go down and get ready for their season as well.”
Wade Miley pitched five innings on Sunday as the Seattle Mariners fell to the Cleveland Indians 3-1. Miley gave up just three runs on four hits, but two of those hits were home runs by Jose Ramirez. The bullpen then pitched four innings of hitless ball, led by two strong innings from reliever Mayckol Guaipe. In six appearances this spring, Guaipe has worked 8 2/3 innings with a 3.12 ERA and 0.92 WHIP. The Mariners only managed five hits on offense, though, dropping the team to 9-11 in the Cactus League.
James Paxton, who has been at the center of several Seattle Mariners rumors about the Opening Day starting rotation, will get an extra start with the minor league team on Tuesday, March 22. The plan is to keep him on a schedule and to allow him to pitch on what would have been his turn in the rotation. Through four starts during spring training, Paxton has given up 12 runs on 5 walks and 16 hits. Over his 11 innings of work, Paxton has a 9.00 ERA, a 1.91 WHIP, and opponents are hitting 0.327 against him. Scott Servais spoke about the effort to get Paxton some extra work.
“We’ll keep him on schedule. Mel [Stottlemyre] will be here. I will be here. And obviously Jerry [Dipoto] will be around and we’ll go from there.”
There are 11 more big league spring training games for the Mariners before the 25-man roster has to be set. The last one comes on Saturday, April 2, against the Colorado Rockies. Opening day 2016 for the Seattle Mariners then comes on Monday, April 4, as the team travels to play the Texas Rangers. The Mariners then return to Seattle for the first homestand of the season, beginning with three games against the Oakland Athletics from April 8-10 and then concluding with three games against the Rangers from April 11-13.
[Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images]
