The Mariners have designated first baseman/designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach for assignment and outrighted reliever Bryan Shaw to their alternate training site, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports. The club also recalled a pair of players – outfielder Braden Bishop and utilityman Sam Haggerty – and optioned reliever Art Warren to their alternate site.
This continues a rapid fall from grace for Vogelbach, who seemed to be amid a breakout season just over 12 months ago. He began the 2019 campaign as a .238/.375/.505 hitter with 21 home runs in the first half. That production earned Vogelbach an All-Star nod, but his numbers have fallen off a cliff since he earned that honor. Vogelbach only managed a .162/.286/.341 line with nine homers in the second half of the season, and and although he did end up with 30 HRs in 558 plate appearances, his .208/.341/.439 showing was a significant letdown considering how the first few months of his year went.
Vogelbach and the Mariners no doubt hoped he’d rebound from 2019’s disastrous finish, but he has instead gotten worse this season. The 27-year-old took 64 PA prior to his designation and batted a ghastly .094/.250/.226 (40 wRC+) with two long balls. His .132 isolated power number represents a .100-point drop-off from last season’s mark. As such, Vogelbach began losing DH time recently to Tim Lopes, who also hasn’t offered much production.
Seattle will now have a week to trade, release or outright Vogelbach, who is out of minor league options. However, he is on a minimum salary this season and comes with four years of arbitration eligibility. He’s slated to make his first trip through the arb process during the upcoming offseason.
Shaw, meanwhile, had the option of declining his outright, but he’ll remain with the M’s organization. He was blown up for 12 earned runs on 13 hits and six walks in six innings before Seattle designated him Aug. 15.
🙁
He’s the modern day version of Pete Incavaiglia and Rob Deer.
He wishes he were
Should’ve DFA Altavilla also.
Should DFA Shed Long, JP Crawford, Evan White, and Dee Gordon. Those guys aren’t any better and not exactly that young anymore.
That might be the most ridiculous comment I’ve seen in a while.
Crawford’s been productive this season; White is a top-60 prospect who has a small sample after jumping from AA to MLB, and Long is still a rookie himself; none of those three are older than 25.
Keep in mind that most people don’t understand what DFA actually means. They just think in terms of high school teams. You either make the team or you get cut. They don’t think in terms of controllability.
How is .624 OPS productive? He’s slugging .287. He was trash last year too. Enough is enough.
So with White and Long being 24 they’re no longer considered young.
Hahaha you make me laugh.
Idiotic man.
White is 24, Crawford is 25, Long is 24 not sure where your getting there to old the 3 players combined have less then 1,000 up bats
I created an account just to say this is possibly the worst sports hot take I have ever read
Lmao I know right? Haha I’ve created accounts for the same reason. What a clown
Ik rocks with more brain cells than you
Did you know in 2009 altavilla posted racist stuff on his twitter like using the n-word?
nooooo not vogey 🙁
Just because he’s a nice dude doesn’t cut the mustard. I like the guy, but if you’re not productive then you need to get better or go. Seattle fans are sentimental for all the wrong reasons, this is coming from a Seattle fan.
That’s for sure. If the majority of Mariner fans had their way, Edgar would still be DHing, though he could arguably do better than Vogelbach, even at his age now.
huh what
It’s about bloody time. Glad about Shaw too.
The DH that isn’t good at hitting got cut? Who would’ve guessed
He was good at hitting last year..
I am not going to be mean but it is about time. He was good the first half actually a bit less. He wasn’t hitting the last few weeks before the AS game. Seattle went on that crazy run and Vogelbach went along with it. Anyone sad to see him go probably hates to see any Mariner with a few years of service.
When I saw the scouting report on him I was amazed. A short short armed first baseman with limited mobility. I know they got him for a DH but a back up position would be nice. Nobody but family and friends should be sad. He will also get picked up. There is a team that thinks they can fix him.
Actually, from what I understood, is that they acquired him thinking he could potentially handle 1B for Seattle in the near future. They were a bit taken back at how far behind his defense was once they got a good hard look at him.
The irony is that he has a defensive mindset… at the plate. When you do that, you take a lot of first and second strikes, then finish too often with the K swinging. He was putting the few balls he did put in play on the ground, so that didn’t help either.
I’m not so sure anyone is going to pick him, though. Carrying a DH-only who needs to be fixed isn’t going to be very appealing.
Whoa. I didn’t realize how bad Vogelbach is. He probably will go unclaimed then sent to the alternate site because not many teams want a -0.6 WAR guy who can’t play defense.
I don’t know. He isn’t arb eligible for 2 years. With the universal DH probably sticking around, a lot of teams could use a 40 man spot on the guy. Can’t hurt to keep him around until he figures it out. He hit really well last year
you mean he hit good for 1st half of season the season last yr, during 2nd half he just falter.. He went into quaratine and gain 20 pounds and didn’t bother to work out, get in game ready shape, pretty much put in effort to care about his own career..
Agree. Adam Dunn hit 450+ HR and made a career out of putting up numbers like Vogelbach did last season and Dunn wasn’t worth a flip with the glove either. DH was his best position, but what makes a difference with a Vogelbach and Dunn, as compared to a.. Say Chris carter is 1st 2 knew how to extract walks at high percentage and get on base. More like that of course who walked less than 10%, but those 2 were/are great examples of supposed bad hitters who know/knew the zone.
Dunn started his career as an outfielder and even stole 19 bases in 2002. He didn’t get fat enough to become one-dimensional three true outcomes DH=only guy until much later.
Yea, cause that whopping -5.8 defensive WAR through the first 5 years of his career was going to earn him a bunch of gold gloves.
Dunn in his 20’s walked significantly more, and hit for a better average. Vogelback is Dunn after he got to the White Sox. No one wants that version of Dunn.
Guys who hit home runs and not much else are not rare, and they have rightfully not been given much play for about five years. Chris Carter led the league in home runs, and couldn’t find a contract the next year, because people now realize that unless you hit like Big Papk, Thome, or Big Frank, one-dimensional base cloggers who can’t field are pretty much replacement-level players.
Dunn and Vogelbach are not comparable…not really until Dunn was about 35
Some team might be open to play him at 1B. Justin Smoak has been trash every year except 2017, yet somehow still a starting 1B at 33 years old.
You should go back to answering phones for your stupid ins Co. I heard you and Flo had a thing going stick with her. Stop posting nonsense and what team are you a fan of. Smoak played a respectable first just was spotty hitting.
Guys triggered over smoak
Every Joe Sixpack can play respectable 1B. It’s not a premium position. You’re supposed to hit and hit a lot and Smoak has flopped basically his entire career, yet somehow still starting in the major league.
Marlins should put a claim on him. Guy with power, just needs to be taught how to use it again. He could end up being a steal for them seen as he’s league making the minimum and has plenty of years of control left to try and get him back to form
Maybe but I would not want his at bats be taken from Jesus Aguilar, Garrett Cooper (when he comes back), and especially Lewis Diaz. I wouldn’t even have him as a DH cause Brinson and Sierra aren’t even getting consistent playing time cause Matt Joyce is in the outfield or DH.
With Cooper, Alfaro, Harold, and whoever else coming back, not enough bats available for Vogey.
Vogey has been trash since last July, but they should also DFA Shed Long, JP Crawford, Evan White, and Dee Gordon because they’re not any better
bad comment
The thing abut all the other guys you named, is that they can play defense! (J.P Crawford can do it exceptionally well too)
Crawford is a utility player at best
Asking a team to DFA a young guy like Evan White who skipped AAA to start in the Majors, plays excellent defense, has had all of 82 At bats in the majors, has club control and was considered a top prospect in the minors completely cuts your credibility for anything you have to say. It is the most ignorant thing I’ve read today.
Nobody cares about 1B defense because any fat ass can play it. Btw White couldn’t even hack it in AA last year. He’s a quad-a scrub.
Still a stupid comment. Crawford has been worth 0.7WAR already and White/Long are rookies.
WAR is socialism participation trophy. Crawford has a .624 OPS right now and a hilarious .287 SLUGGING percentage. Dude is trash. His ceiling is utility player. Even Jose iglesias is miles better than him and Iglesias has been bouncing around with doormat teams with spring training invites.
He’s obviously trolling. Don’t feed the trolls, kids.
Not smart
He’s Ronald Guzman without the defense and wingspan. I doubt anybody claims him, unless the Dodgers just say poof, and make him a perennial all-star.
Just like Guzman except vogelbach actually produced above the major league average in a season. AND he walks about 3x as much.
In conclusion: Dan Vogelbach is nothing like Guzman.
Did Vogelbach ever hit 3 home runs against the Yankees in one game… thought so.
No no no lol, I’m not that petty. I mean similar trajectories. Both were prospects who were big power guys, Vogel actually hits for power, and did well for a year, but now both are getting demoted for bad play. Not the same player stat wise, but kind of similar arcs. (Not to say either’s career is done, but for the time being)
Red Sox will put him in the bullpen. They’ll have to open a concession stand though.
Not hasty at all. Look at his track record
Huh? Pretty bold for a team in last place. What a dumb hasty decision.
“Hasty”
The guy has been trash for over a year. No one will probably claim him either meaning he’ll just sit in Tacoma for the year.
This could be an interesting pick up for the Rockies. I mean, he has to at last be as good as Matt Kemp at DH, right? Plus even if he just hits .150, wouldn’t you love to see him get all of one at Coors. With his power it might go 520 feet or more.
Well, he’s hitting about half that now…
For the last two years I’ve hoped that the M’s would send Vogey out to centerfield. Kyle Lewis should be in right so we need a centerfielder.
Can’t say I didn’t see the coming for Vogey.
Another case of the league figuring out a player’s weakness and attacking it until he adjusts. History is filled with players who have big runs the first time through the league and then disappear unless they adapt.
Yet another Dipoto acquisition didn’t work out. When will Seattle realize they will never win with his decision-making? They have some good young talent, but when it comes time to supplement that talent at the mlb level, Dipoto’s fairly lengthy track record shows he will fall short. This shouldn’t be controversial, there’s plenty of evidence.
You poor Angel fans you know you are going to be bad for a long time so you get on Mariner feeds and bash him. It is funny but also getting boring. There is so much evidence to prove you wrong but you will never admit it.
Remind us how Billy Eppler is faring…
I’d like to see two htting coaches. One for the 3 true outcome sluggers, and one for the rest. It may not have made a difference in this case, but it’s worth a try.
Good luck Vogelbach!
Mariners should DFA themselves.
The one thing Seattle should do is stop acquiring Yankee relievers.
I was always intrigued by how that big lefty bat would play in Yankee Stadium. But at the most he’d be our 4th best first baseman.
Anyone remember Bucky Jacobson?
Nice.
Man now I gotta cut him. He was 2nd in the league in HR’s with 12 games played. in my MLB 20 franchise.
I guess Evan White gets the bag.