The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence. Left-hander Jhonathan Díaz was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot for Lawrence, infielder Austin Shenton has been designated for assignment. Brady Farkas of Refuse to Lose was among those to relay last night that Lawrence was likely to be called up today.
Lawrence, 37, has been on and off the Mariners’ roster all year long. He signed a minor league deal with Seattle in the offseason and this is the fourth time they have selected him to the roster. In the first two instances, he was quickly designated for assignment after an appearance or two. He elected free agency after clearing waivers and returned to the club on a fresh minor league deal. His third DFA resulted in him being claimed by the Blue Jays. That club gave him similar treatment, putting him into one game before sending him into DFA limbo. Lawrence again elected free agency and returned to the M’s on a fresh minor league deal, leading to today’s selection.
Around all those transactions, he has 12 2/3 innings in five appearances. He has a 4.97 earned run average, 8.3% strikeout rate, 1.7% walk rate and 45.3% ground ball rate. He now has a 6.59 career ERA in 136 2/3 innings, spread over five different seasons.
The Mariners recently put Bryce Miller on the 15-day injured list, joining George Kirby and Logan Gilbert. That leaves them with a four-man rotation core of Luis Castillo, Bryan Woo, Emerson Hancock and Logan Evans. When Miller hit the IL about a week ago, Díaz was recalled to give the club a fresh arm capable of covering multiple innings, but he hasn’t been used since. His last outing was a minor league game on May 9th, 11 days ago.
Lawrence last pitched on the farm May 15th. That was only for two innings, but it seems the Mariners felt better about him on regular rest as opposed to Díaz after such a long layoff. Casey Legumina is listed as tonight’s starter but he will probably serve as an opener, as he’s mostly been a one-inning guy this year. After that, the M’s will see what they get from Lawrence as part of a bullpen game.
To get Lawrence onto the big league roster, the M’s are risking losing Shenton. The 27-year-old infielder was acquired from the Rays in a November cash deal. He’s out to a slow start this year. He has stepped to the plate 169 times at the Triple-A level. He has eight home runs but has been punched out at a 29% clip. He has a .207/.284/.413 line and 76 wRC+ on the year.
That rough performance has nudged him off the 40-man and into DFA limbo, which can last for as long as a week. However, the waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Mariners will have a maximum of five days to explore trade interest.
It’s possible that some other club looks beyond the rough 2025 numbers to see potential. Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Shenton took 940 minor league plate appearances. His 28.1% strikeout rate in those was certainly high but he also drew walks at a huge 15.1% clip and hit 49 home runs. He produced a combined slash line of .286/.399/.549 in that time, leading to a 149 wRC+.
For his minor league career, Shenton has mostly played the infield corners, with some brief looks at second base and in the outfield corners as well. He has less than a year of service time and is still optionable for the rest of this year and one additional season. Put it all together and it’s possible some club will be enticed to acquire him as a depth piece.
Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images