8:14pm: Seattle has officially announced all three moves: Arozarena’s retroactive IL placement, Washington’s selection, and Wilson’s transfer to the 60-day injured list. Wilson has been out since late April with a broken left thumb. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, he was recently pulled from a rehab assignment with continued pain and is weighing season-ending surgery.
7:51pm: The Mariners are placing Randy Arozarena on the 10-day injured list, reports Adam Jude of The Seattle Times. Seattle’s left fielder hasn’t played since Friday due to left hamstring tightness, so it’ll be a retroactive placement to June 13.
Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports that the Mariners expect it to be a minimal IL stay. Arozarena is dealing with a mild strain that would’ve left him unavailable for the next few days. A team can only backdate an IL placement by a maximum of three days, so Seattle opted for the IL stint tonight rather than waiting a few days and risk shelving Arozarena beyond the next week.
A roster quirk will lead to the first big league call for 26-year-old outfielder Curtis Washington Jr., Divish reports. He’ll be selected onto the MLB roster and be available for tonight’s game against the Orioles. Washington is playing with High-A Everett, which is about 30 miles outside Seattle. The team’s Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers, are on the road this week for a series in Salt Lake. Washington can make the quick drive to T-Mobile Park. The M’s will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster but can do so by transferring infielder Will Wilson to the 60-day injured list.
Washington, a Purdue product, is a former 19th round pick. He’s hitting .190 over 44 games in High-A this season. He’ll surely be designated for assignment or outrighted this week but will collect a major league salary for a day while joining an MLB clubhouse. If tonight’s game is a blowout in either direction, maybe Dan Wilson can get him in as a pinch-hitter or defensive substitute and etch his name into an MLB box score.
Jude notes that outfielder Connor Joe was pulled from Tacoma’s lineup and will head to Seattle for tomorrow’s game. Joe is already on the 40-man and has appeared in 18 big league games this season. He’ll fill in as a right-handed bench bat with Victor Robles likely to replace Arozarena in left field for the next week. Josh Naylor and Luke Raley are also day-to-day, which pushed Miles Mastrobuoni and Rob Refsnyder into tonight’s lineup against Baltimore righty Brandon Young. Dan Wilson will likely only have backup catcher Mitch Garver and Washington Jr. available off the bench today.
In one other lineup note, today’s game officially marks J.P. Crawford’s first appearance as Seattle’s third baseman. The longtime shortstop was activated from a minimal 10-day injured list stint due to a right hand injury. He’s leading off and manning the hot corner, his first action there since the 2018 season with Philadelphia.
The Mariners had telegraphed the position change, as Crawford has been working out at third base for the past month. It’s to the former Gold Glove winner’s credit that he’s not only on board but actively approached the team about the possibility. Rookie Colt Emerson is the franchise’s long-term shortstop, so Crawford sought to expand his versatility in advance of his first trip to free agency. That allows Emerson to stay at his natural position while potentially making a case for the front office to bring Crawford back on a multi-year deal in the offseason.
