The Mariners announced this evening that they’ve optioned infielder Luis Urías to Triple-A Tacoma. Seattle recalled rookie outfielder Jonatan Clase to take the open roster spot.
It’s a little surprising to see Urías optioned out entirely. The righty-hitting infielder has played regularly at third base this month. Urías hasn’t hit, though, slumping to a .152/.264/.316 line in 91 plate appearances on the season. Seattle welcomed J.P. Crawford back from the injured list earlier in the week, while Jorge Polanco has played two of the past three games after missing some time with a sore hamstring.
Crawford and Polanco should draw into middle infield on most days. Manager Scott Servais told reporters that Josh Rojas and Dylan Moore will platoon at third base (X link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). Rojas, a left-handed hitter, opened the season at the hot corner but moved to second base while Polanco was out. He’s out to a .286/.354/.421 line through 41 games, a solid rebound after his underwhelming 2023 season.
Moore has arguably been even more impressive. The righty-hitting utilityman handled shortstop while Crawford was injured and has hit .248/.359/.504 over 145 plate appearances. Moore has connected on six homers, including three in his last eight games, and is drawing walks at a lofty 12.4% clip.
As one would expect for a right-handed batter, Moore is better against lefty pitching. He has absolutely destroyed southpaws this season (.289/.391/.632 in 46 plate appearances), though he’s more than holding his own against righties as well. Moore has a .343 on-base percentage and is slugging .446 in 99 plate appearances without the platoon advantage, albeit with a modest .229 average.
Moore can also play second base and the corner outfield, so he should play fairly regularly even against right-handed pitching. He’ll likely be at third against opposing southpaws in place of Rojas, who is a career .253/.330/.346 hitter left-on-left. Urías, meanwhile, will get everyday reps in the Pacific Coast League as he tries to get on track. It’s the second straight year in which he has been optioned. The Brewers sent him down for 26 games midway through last season.
Urías entered 2024 with four years and 98 days of MLB service. He needs around three more weeks of major league time to cross the five-year threshold this season. In either case, that might wind up being immaterial. Urías is playing this season on a $5MM salary and would be in line for a modest raise next year if he’s tendered an arbitration contract.
He’d need a significant turnaround over the next few months or he’ll be an easy non-tender call for the Seattle front office. He’d already seemed like a non-tender candidate last offseason when he was with the Red Sox, but the M’s sent reliever Isaiah Campbell to Boston to give Urías a shot at a bounceback. It hasn’t transpired thus far.
Urias is out of shape and needs to take 3 crow hops to get the ball across the diamond. Hopefully the M’s will never recall him to the major league team. Not sure what Dipoto was thinking when trading for him when Mariners were very salary conscious.
Urias seems like a triple A player now, 3 down years (2 unplayable years) in the bigs means that you shouldn’t be there
Urias is still young maybe he has a rock in his shoe.
Mariners thinking?
there probably wasn’t a ready replacement or maybe one that wasn’t a take a chance with, in any event they because of money constraints they must have felt it was worth the cost. they work the same way with their pen.
Thank god, he’s been atrocious.
Urias is probably better off going to AAA where he can get some ABs and try to figure things out. I’m not very hopeful however.
I don’t think anyone knew how the Rojas/Urias platoon would work out for us. All things considered, having one of those guys pan out and fill the hole is more than we could have hoped for.
Agree completely
Has there ever been a Mariners platoon that’s ever worked out?
“ It’s a little surprising to see Urías optioned out entirely.” In what universe is this surprising?? He’s horrible….
Slow, seemingly a little out of shape, can’t handle a breaking ball, off balance every time he gets a fastball. He has been absolutely horrendous. I am surprised that his WAR is not lower than it is (-.2)
I agree with you, Travis’ Wood. The only shocking thing is that he evn made a team.
Maybe he meant it in the respect that it’s a little surprising that they didn’t outright release him… or take him straight to the glue factory.
Not everyone is made to be in the majors. Still plenty of guys who are below MLB replacement level and still on teams.
Guys like, Victor Robles, Jonathan India, Justin Turner, Alex Wood, Aroldis Chapman, Edwin Díaz, George Springer, Whit Merrifield, Charlie Blackmon & Joe Musgrove should all be sent to the minors a well.
39 year old Justin Turner should go to the minors???
He’s in a prolonged slump at the moment after a highly productive start and is still only 3% below average as a hitter. He’ll get back to hitting sooner or later, and he’ll do it without going to the minors.
@Canuckleball
He’s -0.2 fWAR, so someone in the minors could replace him.
Ah, Old York strikes again with the epitome of a stupid comment.
@SewaldSwansonSwoon
Since you’re evaluating comments, you must be an expert of stupidity. Congratulations, you played yourself…
Just because a hitter is in a slump where he goes into negative war doesn’t mean he is done forever and should be banished
What if the Phillies demoted Bryce Harper and trea turner after last years slumps from them?
@sad tormented neglected mariners fan
It’s a necessary evil to be done to get their heads in the game and allow the team to be competitive. But, I get that fans like yourself have images of players as godly.
This should surprise no one. His playing time only increased because JP was on the IL and Jorge was unavailable. With both players back, there really wasn’t any reason to keep him on the roster. He offered no defensive value and wasn’t hitting.
Hopefully he’ll get himself on-track with the Rainiers. Meanwhile, I hope we see more of Moore than Polanco.
Also… hopefully this is enough of a shock to the other players on the team that some can stop pressing and just concentrate on hitting the ball
Hope he’s saving some of that $5M salary for his future
Maybe they should option Garver…12 mil per. He’s been a huge disappointment. I said it in the off season, they should’ve spent Garvers dollars on Lourdes Gurriel.
Lourdes gurriel isn’t good either, he was also more expensive
Nothing was great in free agency last offseason and the upcoming offseason so trader Jerry should look at the trading block
In a perfect world, the m’s would sign Pete Alonso, get 2 more above average bats, and fire their hitting coach
But that would never happen because we are the mariners and our off-season additions are hitting under .200
In a perfect world, Bill Gates would by the team as a gift of love to the City and then announce he is putting up another 3/4 of a billion on future salaries. The let Dipoto or his successor go on a shopping spree.
The handwriting was on the wall. The budget did allow for a flyer on Urias. Leave Rojas at third he will become better, Moore play left, sit Haniger down and play Raley. in right.
Did anyone see the game today? Kirby is starting to wobble some have you notice? If the hitting doesn’t pick up then trouble ahead.
Most teams have at least two good starters, and if you have trouble hitting the ball the advantage in pitching is gone. at least half of the time unless the hitting gets fixed.
So weird how long it took Urias to get a throw off to first base.. He had to get into some weird rhythm by taking a few steps. Josh Rojas, Dylan Moore and even Luke Raley have been better than I could have hoped for. The same cannot be said for Polanco, Garver, and Haniger, and Julio Rodriguez to a certain degree….I am hoping that they make a trade for one of the following players, in order, and in each trade they need to also receive an 8th inning reliever.
1) Ryan McMahon 3B Rockies (Lawrence RP)
2) Isaac Paredes 3B Rays (Jason Adam RP)
3) Vlad Guerrero Jr 1B Jays (Yimi Garcia RP)
4) Zach Gelof 2B A’s (Mason Miller RP) Pipe Dream from me.
Gelof’s not an upgrade over Dylan Moore. (I really like Dylan Moore. He was one of the most impressive players on the field when I saw him in Baltimore)
I’m of the opinion that Gelof was a flash in the pan last year. He has too much swing and miss in his game to be consistent. Pretty similar to a pre-2024 Dylan Moore without the versatility.
That’s four games in a row, you know what I mean, Another wasted pitching effort. We got hoodwinker a cold plate of revenge served up, Ya think maybe we might trade back for him?
He was the 23rd-ranked prospect in all of the MLB just 5 years ago! He’s also the 13th player from the top-50 in 2019 to be back in the Minors(2 other ex-M’s were also on that list…Taylor Trammell(#16) and Justus Sheffield(#43)….ALOT of Bad misses it seems that year prospect-wise!
“Meanwhile” has to start the sentence, Anthony. It can’t come in the middle between commas.