The Mariners have re-instated Jesus Montero to their 40-man roster and designated pending free agent Corey Hart for assignment in order to make room, according to Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune (Twitter link).
Because Hart is a pending free agent, the move is a largely procedural one; he’d have been off the team’s 40-man roster following the postseason anyway and wasn’t a candidate for a qualifying offer base on a down season. The former Brewer batted just .203/.271/.319 in his lone season with the Mariners — a clear disappointment for a team that was undoubtedly hoping to have secured something closer to the .279/.343/.514 batting line he posted from 2010-12 in Milwaukee. Anything close to that production would’ve made his $6MM base salary a bargain, but Hart was a known risk after missing all of 2013 due to a pair of knee surgeries.
I’m going to celebrate this news with an Ice Cream sandwich!
I get the Hart bit, but was the Montero part in order to protect him in Rule 5 draft or something?
CBA rules; a player on suspension has to be reinstated to the 40-man roster when his suspension is complete. Montero was suspended for the rest of the season, so he had to be added back to the 40-man roster today. The M’s will do their best to trade Montero this off-season; they don’t like troublemakers, and he won’t pass through waivers to be outrighted off the 40-man roster. But he’s damaged goods, both talent-wise and psyche-wise, so they probably won’t get a lot in return (certainly not nearly as much as we gave up.) Right now, Montero is at best the right-handed part of a DH platoon (meaning about 40% playing time), but some other team may be able to get more out of him. But I think it’s safe to say he’s not in the M’s plans for 2015 or beyond anymore.
To an extent, the M’s are actually doing Hart a favor, as he can now enter free agency a month earlier; I don’t think he can sign a contract yet, but he can begin to negotiate with other teams. Most free agents won’t be able to do that until after the World Series.
I wish we would have dfa’d hart 4 months ago
Montero performed a bit better this season; if he can work on his makeup issues he’s still young enough to get better. Hart is done; his bat speed was non-existent this year, he can’t play the field at all, and the M’s don’t really need him, Lomo, Montero, Morales and Smoak to fit into the DH/1B/occasional LF slot. In fact, I would argue that ONLY Montero should be retained of all these guys.
I’d cut them all (I’d say dump Montero for another high-risk prospect, but no one is gonna bite). Push for Victor Martinez on a 2-3 year deal for DH.
Oh, and then see just how unreasonable Amaro, Jr. is for Rollins (he’d fit into their “win now” window).
As crazy as it sounds, V-Mart might require 4-5 years.
Eek
Can’t see five, but four yes. Zero chance he settles for two.
lomo was solid after he came of the dl
and he was very good the last two months of the season
Generally late-season stats aren’t reliable predictors of future success…otherwise the Padres would be preparing for the postseason today. Their 2013 second-half record was the best in the NL West. Lomo is probably a guy okay to take a flyer on, but not sure if Seattle should play VMart past his age 40 season. Seattle needs actual two-way players instead of crowding their roster with DH types.
I think they keep Lomo. I don’t see the M’s spending big on a first baseman when their best prospect (DJ Peterson) is going to end up there.
thanks for that homerun against oakland a few weeks ago
The M’s had a good run all things considered. Dumpster diving on players like Hart and LoMo after signing Cano wasn’t a recipe for success.
Justin Smoak trade proposals are one of the things I’m looking forward to this offseason. I hope there’s some gems.
The Mariners can have Arod back if they are willing to part with Smoak.
Would the Yankees eat the salary if the Mariners were to take on all home run incentives?
smoak has 0 value–he is a non-tender candidate. There is no way that smoak Ms are getting offering him arbitration.
Lomo was actually a decent surprise. His overall numbers were not great, but he was very productive at times, especially during the last month. He’ll get a shot at the first base job next year, but no way should he be given the job without competition (M’s made that mistake with Smoak for past 2-3 years).
Montero spent the year at AAA Tacoma in a hitter friendly league, so his “improvement” is little to be excited about. Also I think we should hold on to LoMo.
Tacoma is probably the least hitter’s friendly park in the PCL.
Id love it if the Mariners could get Vmart as a DH for next yr.
The hiring of A.J. Hinch as manager of the Astros only goes to show that bad organizations constantly make bad decisions!
Montero has history no doubt but who else in the system is better right now? He is certainly a better candidate than Hart.
He would be worth a look see for the Reds. Maybe some cheap power that benefits by coming back to the NL.
The Ms have high hopes for corey hart but he just didn’t do well with the Ms but im sure the Ms would resign because they need right handed power threat in the middle or bottom part of their batting lineup. Would they be interested in signing idk Michael cuddyer or Michael Morse? They could get josh willingham but willingham might be retiring after this year but the best place for willingham to go is the rangers or cubs.