May 19: The Mariners announced that Elias has been returned to Triple-A Tacoma. That he wasn’t passed through waivers indicates that he was indeed treated as a Covid substitute player, despite the fact that the team did not originally specify him as one. He’ll remain with the organization but won’t occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Steckenrider, meanwhile, has been reinstated from the restricted list.
May 16: The Mariners have selected the contract of left-hander Roenis Elias from Triple-A Tacoma, per a team announcement. Right-hander Drew Steckenrider, meanwhile, has been placed on the restricted list in advance of their forthcoming three-game series against the Blue Jays in Toronto. Steckenrider is temporarily removed from the 40-man roster while on the restricted list, so the Mariners didn’t need to make an additional move to accommodate the return of Elias, who pitched with Seattle from 2014-15 and 2018-19.
Elias, 33, returned to the Mariners in hopes of a third stint when he signed a minor league deal prior to the 2021 season. He tore his left elbow’s ulnar collateral ligament during Spring Training 2021, however, and missed the entire season after the subsequent Tommy John surgery. He’s healthy again, having pitched 14 2/3 innings of 4.30 ERA ball with an 11-to-4 K/BB ratio in Triple-A Tacoma so far in 2022.
Elias has spent parts of four previous seasons with the Mariners, and while he’s also pitched with the Red Sox and Nationals, he’s never found much success outside Seattle. In 377 career innings as a Mariner, the Cuban-born southpaw has a 3.75 ERA, 14 saves and a shutout (during his 2014 run as a starter). He’s logged a combined 11 innings between Boston and Washington, surrendering 15 runs in those brief stints.
It could be a short stay on the roster for Elias, although it’s worth noting that the Mariners did not classify him as a Covid-related “substitute” player. Rather, Seattle made formal announcement of his selection to the 40-man roster. Team-by-team terminology tends to vary with respect to Covid substitutes, but the implication in this instance certainly seems to be that there’s some degree of permanence to this move. If that’s indeed the case, Elias can’t be sent back to Triple-A unless he first passes through outright waivers unclaimed. Even then, he’d have the requisite service time to reject an outright assignment to a minor league affiliate, should he choose.
As for Steckenrider, he’ll be away from the team for this three-game set and presumably rejoin them Thursday when they continue the current road trip in Boston. Travel regulations in Canada prevent unvaccinated athletes from entering the country to compete against Canadian-based teams.
Steckenrider, 31, was a revelation for the Mariners last year after signing a minor league deal. In 67 innings, he pitched to a flat 2.00 ERA with 14 saves, seven holds, a 21.7% strikeout rate and a 6.4% walk rate. It looked to be the start of an impressive rebound for Steckenrider, who shined as a setup man with the Marlins early in his career before injuries derailed his 2019-20 seasons. However, he’s stumbled again in 2022, limping to a 4.85 ERA with diminished strikeout and walk rates (15% and 8.3%, respectively). To Steckenrider’s credit, he’s been dogged by a bloated .356 average on balls in play, but even if one were to chalk some of his struggles up to that woeful BABIP, the sharp downturn in his K-BB% is nevertheless a concern. He’s being paid a $3.1MM salary this season and can be controlled through 2023 via arbitration.
Unxaved fiend! In reality, kinda sucks for these guys deactivated for a series in Toronto, as it automatically broadcasts to all their vaccination status (or lack thereof).
yeah back in my day you just had to judge the stupidity of a player based on their interviews after the game
Unvaxed maybe?
Let’s all go to Canada & find Waldo!
Does he get paid for the series? I mean honestly its his choice to not play. He isn’t hurt or anything so he shouldn’t be paid. Right?
Players on the restricted list are not paid unless the club agrees otherwise.
Oh ok! Good to know. Thank you!
Honestly, I thought there would be more. I thought that might also have contributed to the reason to send Kelenic down when they did. That he too might have had to be placed on the restricted list.
I was thinking that myself. But also he was hitting like Zunino, so sending him down was going to happen no matter what really. Might have saved him some stress by doing it earlier
Kelenic passed through vaccination protocols last year when moving from AA to MLB then AAA without a quarantine period. He’s vaccinated.
“Cough” we’re moving Robbie Rays’ start, too “cough”
What a ridiculous thing to miss games over.
Yes, imagine having authority of making decisions of who puts what medicines/drugs inside your body when there are no long term studies to prove the benefits or effectiveness of same. Indeed. Bah, bah.
Translation:
“ I am more concerned with the possible long term damage, benefits, or lack thereof that medicine might bring me;
than i am a virus that tangibly subtracts some of my brain mass and is killing people.”
Sigh.
The vaccination does not prevent you from getting COVID, nor does it prevent you from spreading the virus. It DOES help you fight the virus if you get it. That is all.
It’s crazy to still see people who knows what’s best for everyone else.
I’m not telling you how to live. I don’t think I know what’s best for you.
I’m telling you that I think it’s a stupid choice to not take the vaccine because of “unknown long term affects.” I think that’s stupid. We’ve been developing medicine and vaccine that has saved lives for 100’s of years; and yet, this person is MORE concerned with long term affects of the vaccine, than the virus that actually kills people.
That’s all I’m saying. I think it’s stupid.
Okay. You essentially say exactly what you said you weren’t saying. Professional level misdirection.
Translation:
I trust pharmaceutical companies enough to be their Guinea pig despite tv commercials being filled with class action lawsuits.
Only the uninformed think vaccines are safe
You have a skewed view of medicine. That is your choice to make. Yes, big pharma is one of the most evil entities ever. 100% agree, but it’s not from some sinister evil plot to take over the word; it’s simply the result of unchecked capitalism. What we all wanted. We’re reaping what we’ve sowed.
Now, does that mean that we should just never take medicine and never trust any sort of medicine or vaccines ever? Boy, that would be a short sided take. Seeing as, we literally suck on big pharmas boob on a daily basis whether we like it or not.
ALL OF US.
Ibuprofen, Tylenol, cough syrup; all of these modern marvels that help us get through society are all thanks to society. It’s all thanks to big pharma. QUICK! CLEAR OUT YOUR MEDICINE CABINET
I just think people are really, really bad at picking their battles; and the anti vaccine sector is quite literally the direct result of that.
But hey. Everybody got choices
Oh god. Shut up.
DONT TELL ME HOW TO LIVE MY LIFE
MURICA
@NWMarinerHawk
Go take another booster
I’ve got one!
I haven’t met one person that had any issues with the vaccine
My girlfriends a nurse. We don’t anybody. Not one! Not one person who had a bad time from the vaccine.
I know it gives some people a bad time. A very SMALL percentage have a bad time. As is the case with EVERY MEDICATION KNOWN TO MAN, EVER. HOLY POOP. Those people who get myocardial issues, imagine what they would have gone through if they actually got the damn virus without the vax? You think the vaccine will cause more myocardial issues than the virus!?!?
No I don’t think it will cause more myocardial events. Why can you use myocardial correct then miss multiple words in a sentence? Is your girlfriend on your computer screen and you ask her to dress up like a nurse? Then agree you have to pay $30 more for the outfit? No I don’t get on those sights I was guessing at costs.
Let me help you out a bit the differences between the meds you listed was the amount of time they took to create and test those compared to Trump saying hit it to Scotty to put us into warp speed. I am not saying that was a bad thing the dishonesty was bad. From the flip flopper Faucci to our honest and upstanding Pres and on down the line. If you want to find out what type of guy is leading us read Hunters Laptop. If you are one of the ones thinking he is doing a good job don’t read it stick your head back in the sand.
I digress we have been told so many different things it is hard to know what to believe. I got my 2 shots but refused to get the booster or the next booster and definitely not the next booster. Guess what another booster will be coming soon. They will keep coming just like the flu shot because the virus will mutate just like the flu. You can pat yourself on the back but don’t think you are better than the guys who haven’t goose stepped to rite aid to get all their shots. Do you feel the same about the flu are people who don’t get the flu shot a menace to society? Maybe you should sit down on your stool and think about the great thing about America is we have a choice.
Lol. Hunter Biden’s laptop.
How am I supposed to converse with you about this when you can’t even stay on task? You went straight to liberal vs conservative mumbo jumbo. Just like a good little trained American.
You are mad, when your masters want you to be mad. They say jump, you say how high. They tell you Hunter Biden’s laptop is relevant to your life; and you gorge it up like a baby kitten drinking milk out of a bottle.
Awwwww
You think you’re making a difference in the world with this bs. How adorable. My free will! My free will!
Lol. JFC
You are the one drinking the kool aid. You have no idea what these shots can do but you get in line like a good little soldier 5 times when they say this will be the last time. By the way they have linked the shots to damaging the part of the brain that controls taste and smell. If you lost those they can see from Covid they can see permanent damage there. They have no idea what happens later. You do you though and let the unvaxed do themselves because you have the shot and boosters so you are safe.