Hanson, 28, signed a similar deal with the Mariners prior to the 2020 season, though that arrangement was impacted by the lack of a minor league season in 2020. He’ll now return to the Mariners and give them some depth both around the infield and in the outfield.

The last big league appearance for Hanson came with the 2019 Blue Jays, for whom he posted a .163/.229/.163 slash in a small sample of 48 plate appearances. That marked Hanson’s fourth season with some big league time, as he’s also had stints with the Pirates, White Sox and Giants.

At one point, Hanson was considered one of the top prospects in the game. Baseball America rated him as a Top 75 prospect in 2013-14, while MLB.com had him ranked among the game’s 100 best farmhands each year from 2013-15. Unfortunately for Hanson and for the Pirates, who signed and developed him, the results have never been there at the MLB level.

Hanson did rack up 30 extra-base hits in a career-high 310 plate appearances for the 2018 Giants, but his overall .232/.266/.368 line in 625 plate appearances as a Major Leaguer has been lacking. He’s had better results in the upper minors and has logged at least 180 innings at every position on the field other than first base, catcher and pitcher, so he’ll give the M’s some depth at multiple spots.

Most immediately, Hanson gives the M’s some experienced outfield depth in the wake of today’s news that Mitch Haniger recently underwent core surgery and will miss the start of the season.  Since Haniger is expected to be back before the end of April, however, Hanson’s versatility gives him a shot at remaining on Seattle’s roster even after Haniger returns.  Over 261 career games at the big league level, Hanson has started at every position on the diamond except pitcher and catcher.

Not much hitting pop has come along with that defensive flexibility, as Hanson has only a .232/.266/.368 slash line over 625 career plate appearances in the majors, and he also hasn’t hit much at the Triple-A or even Double-A levels.  The 27-year-old has bounced around between four different organizations over his pro career, seeing MLB action with the Pirates, White Sox, Giants, and Blue Jays.

With Haniger on the shelf, Jake Fraley and Braden Bishop stand out as Seattle’s top candidates for right field playing time.  Kyle Lewis could also see some time at the position if not in left field, while Dee Gordon is expected to be deployed at multiple positions.  Hanson will be battling for a utility role with such players as Tim Lopes, Patrick Wisdom, Dylan Moore, and Donnie Walton.

It’s been an all-around rough year for Hanson, who had only a .392 OPS over 48 Major League plate appearances for the Jays before the club outrighted him off their 40-man roster in May.  Hanson was part of the three-player trade package Toronto acquired from the Giants for Kevin Pillar soon after the start of the season, though Hanson didn’t produce in what little playing time he received in a Jays uniform.

After receiving some top-100 prospect recognition while coming up in Pittsburgh’s farm system earlier in the decade, Hanson hasn’t delivered on that promise over 625 MLB plate appearances (.232/.266/.368) for the Pirates, White Sox, Giants, and Blue Jays from 2016-19.  Hanson is still only 26 and has multi-positional ability, so it’s possible he could get another look on a minors contract from another team interested to see if he could be a late bloomer.

• Veteran backstop Drew Butera cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Albuquerque, per a club announcement from the Rockies. While Butera could have rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, The Athletic’s Nick Groke tweets that the 35-year-old will accept the assignment and remain in the organization. Butera went 3-for-17 in his brief run with the Rox this season and has never hit much in the Majors aside from an outlier 2016 campaign with the Royals. In 1364 trips to the plate at the MLB level, Butera owns a .201/.258/.299 slash with 19 home runs. However, he’s long been regarded as a quality defender behind the plate and has carved out a decade-long career at the big league level as a result of his glovework. Should the Rockies incur an injury to either Chris Iannetta or Tony Wolters later this season, Butera will quite likely get a call back to the big leagues.
• The Blue Jays announced that infielder/outfielder Alen Hanson has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Buffalo. Hanson, 26, came over from the Giants in the trade that sent Kevin Pillar to San Francisco, though that trade was driven in large part by salary and Hanson wasn’t necessarily viewed as a long-term piece by the Jays. In 48 plate appearance with Toronto, Hanson hit .163/.229/.163, and while it’s a tiny sample, he’s never hit much a total of 625 MLB plate appearances. Dating back to his debut with Pittsburgh in 2016, Hanson is a .232/.266/.368 hitter. The former top prospect is a .273/.327/.406 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons, and it appears he’ll stay on hand as a depth piece for the Toronto organization.

Both of these players came to the Toronto organization in the same early-season swap with the Giants. Law had already been removed from the San Francisco 40-man, while Hanson was in DFA limbo at the time of the deal.

Law, 28, has been off to an impressive start with his new organization. He’s carrying a 1.69 ERA with 17 strikeouts and three walks through 10 2/3 innings in eight outings. He has shown it in the majors before as well, but has yet to repeat his strong 2016 debut season at the game’s highest level.

As for Hanson, the 26-year-old switch-hitter has been one of quite a few players clamoring for opportunities in the Jays’ infield/outfield mix. He received 48 plate appearances over the first month of the season, but managed only a .163/.229/.163 batting line with 17 strikeouts.

The latest:

• With Alen Hanson and Socrates Brito reporting for duty, the Jays have a pair of new position players to work into the mix. Whether either or both have staying power remains to be seen, but the out-of-options players would need to be exposed to waivers if they’re not held on the active roster. To create space, the Jays optioned back outfielder Anthony Alford (who’s evidently not yet in line for a real look at the majors) and hurler Sean Reid-Foley. Lefty Thomas Pannone is jumping into the rotation vacancy, though he may ultimately just be keeping that spot warm.
• The Toronto pitching staff will at some point feature bounceback candidate Clay Buchholz. As MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm reports (links to Twitter), he’s one of several hurlers on the mend. Buchholz has already built up to sixty pitches and may be ready for the majors in the next ten days or so. Relievers Ryan Tepera and Ryan Borucki are also working back from injuries; the former seems to be on Buchholz’s timeline while the latter could return by the end of April. Meanwhile, David Phelps has resumed throwing as he tries to work back from Tommy John surgery. His timeline is not apparent at present.
• Much of the intrigue this year will come from the young talent trying to force its way onto the MLB roster. No player has more hype than Vladimir Guerrero Jr., though he’s only one of several top prospects with obvious ability and intriguing MLB bloodlines. Vladito is also still working back from an oblique injury. He’s set to launch a rehab assignment this evening, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets, with a Class A stop to open the season.
• The possibility of an early (even pre-MLB) extension for Guerrero or other top Jays prospects seems interesting. GM Ross Atkins discussed that possibility recently, as Emily Sadler of Sportsnet.ca writes, though he didn’t really tip his hand on the likelihood of such a deal. If anything, he seemed to downplay such a scenario (at least in the immediate term). “It happens with a lot of discussion, a lot of interaction, a lot of back-and-forth,” said Atkins of extensions for younger players, “and what’s important to a player and what’s important to an organization has to line up and those risks are very different.” Regardless of contract possibilities, the Jays are still preparing to face multiple near-term promotion questions. On that issue, Atkins struck much the same tone he has previously, saying: “We want to have the most well-rounded and complete player as possible, but we’re not going to wait for that. We’re going to do the best of our ability to balance that.”

The Giants designated outfielder Michael Reed to create roster space. He joins both Law and Hanson as recent 40-man roster casualties. Law had already been outrighted prior to this move, while Hanson was still in DFA limbo.

It’s not immediately clear how the Giants will line up in the outfield. Youngster Steven Duggar is likely in line for most of the time in center, but Pillar would offer a platoon match there — the former hits from the left side, the latter from the right — and could also spend time in the corners. He was obviously preferred to the untested Reed, who was added to the mix via late in camp.

Pillar, 30, has some pop but struggles in the on-base department. He’s a lifetime .260/.297/.396 hitter, but has been better (100 wRC+) against left-handed pitching. Pillar’s appeal lies in his glovework and baserunning. While metrics dimmed on his overall defensive work last year, Pillar has a history of outstanding work up the middle and has one of the game’s most impressive highlight reels on the outfield grass. He could end up being moved at the deadline, kept as a one-year fill-in piece, or kept for 2020 via arbitration (his final season of control).

For the Jays, Pillar simply wasn’t part of the long-term plans. This transaction is the latest that clears out roster space and sheds some payroll. The club could have held onto Pillar in hopes that he’d turn in a quality first half and become a mid-season trade chip, but will instead drop his $5.8MM salary and open the door for Anthony Alford to get a shot at the majors.

The Toronto organization does pick up a few potentially helpful roster assets in Law and Hanson. The former had a nice 2016 debut but has struggled since. Law will be available as a depth relief piece if a need arises. Hanson, 26, was a major contributor least year in San Francisco but faded down the stretch. He could take up a utility role, though the Jays have several such players on the roster already.

But the only player with notable potential future value is De Paula, a 21-year-old who has had some success in the minors. He reached the Class A level last year, making one start there. Over 233 innings in parts of four seasons in the low minors, he carries a 2.47 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.

De Paula originally came to the Giants last year in the swap that sent Andrew McCutchen to the Yankees. As JJ Cooper of Baseball America notes on Twitter, he has now been swapped three times already in his still-nascent career.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

It had been clear already that Hanson and Murphy were on their way off the 40-man, but Williamson’s fate was not resolved. But the writing was largely on the wall. The San Francisco organization made clear it would carry newly acquired outfielders Michael Reed and Connor Joe along with third baseman Pablo Sandoval.

Williamson has flashed ability at times, including a stirring power outburst last year at Triple-A. But the 28-year-old’s 2018 season was stunted by a concussion and he has yet to make good on his talent at the game’s highest level. Through 339 total plate appearances in the majors, Williamson carries a .222/.295/.386 slash with 13 home runs.

Recently acquired, right-handed-hitting outfielders Michael Reed and Connor Joe (who also has infield experience) are both slated to have MLB jobs, per Bochy. And the same holds for veteran third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who’s said to be in the club’s plans for the time being.

Hanson, 26, played a big role for the Giants last year. He was excellent in the first half of the season but faded down the stretch, ending the year with a .252/.274/.425 slash. While it’s rarely wise to read too much into spring stats, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Hanson racked up twenty strikeouts in his 54 plate appearances in camp.

As for Murphy, he was only just plucked off waivers from the division-rival Rockies. Evidently, the plan was to nab him in hopes of slipping him to Triple-A through the wire. Whether that works out remains to be seen.

It seemingly remains a fluid situation in San Francisco, with late-spring decisions from other teams potentially still intervening. As Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic notes on Twitter, the evening’s announcements appear to indicate that either Sandoval or out-of-options outfielder Mac Williamson will ultimately need to be bumped from the roster. If the latter is sent packing, that’d seem to leave Joe and Redd (with an assist from Yangervis Solarte) responsible for manning one corner spot while also filling in at times for left-handed-hitting outfielders Steven Duggar and Gerardo Parra.

Belt exited the Giants’ game Friday with appendicitis symptoms and subsequently underwent an appendectomy, so his DL placement doesn’t come as a surprise. Nevertheless, it’s a disappointing development for a San Francisco club that has gotten off to a 27-30 start. The Giants’ sub-.500 ways certainly aren’t the fault of Belt, who’s in the midst of a career season. The 30-year-old has slashed a tremendous .307/.403/.547 with 11 home runs in 226 plate appearances. His output has been 60 percent better than league average, according to FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric.

Hanson, 25, had been enjoying a terrific season before he went on the DL on May 14 with a hamstring strain. The offseason minor league signing opened 2018 with a .298/.346/.638 line and four home runs over just 52 PAs prior to landing on the shelf. Hanson saw action at second base and left field along the way, though he has also lined up at third base, shortstop and the other two outfield positions during his short major league career.

Perhaps chief among these tidbits is the confirmation that veteran Hunter Pence will play in a backup role when he returns from the disabled list, where he’s been shelved with a sprained thumb since mid-April. Skipper Bruce Bochy couldn’t have been more direct, making it clear that Mac Williamson is the club’s primary left fielder while stating that he’d like to get Pence in later in games, “like I would with a fourth outfielder.”

Although Bochy’s plans are hardly surprising considering how much injuries and the aging curve have slowed Pence’s production across the past few seasons, it’s surely disappointing news for the three-time All-Star. Pence was once one of the great players in the game, ranking 33rd in fWAR from 2008-2014 with at least 20 homers in every one of those seasons. This year, however, Pence kicked off the season by hitting .172/.197/.190 with just one extra base hit an alarming 22 strikeouts in 61 plate appearances. He’s in the final year of his five-year, $90MM contract and thus will reach free agency at season’s end.

The oddest thing to come out of Schulman’s piece is the news that Pablo Sandoval is taking ground balls at shortstop. “He’s got good hands and a good first step,” said Bochy. When the club activated Panik, they optioned Kelby Tomlinson to the minors in a related move, leaving Sandoval as the only reserve infielder on the major league roster. That’ll change soon when Alen Hanson returns from his hamstring injury (Schulman notes that this will probably happen early next week), but for the time being it would seem as though the club is prepared to turn to Sandoval as its emergency shortstop in the event that Brandon Crawford has to come out of a game for any reason.

At least one more move is coming, as Madison Bumgarner is slated to make his season debut against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

Other injury notes from around baseball…

• Yesterday, the Diamondbacks officially announced the activation of slugging third baseman Jake Lamb from the disabled list. After hitting the 10-day DL with a sprained right AC joint and subsequently having his return delayed by elbow tendinitis, has finally completed a rehab assignment and is ready to return. It’s a welcome sight for the Diamondbacks, who recently lost team WAR leader A.J. Pollock to the DL. They’ll hope Lamb can repeat the 30-homer power he showed last year and help propel an offense that currently ranks 27th of 30 MLB teams with a wRC+ of just 83.
• Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports provides a pair Giants injury updates via Twitter. Joe Panik is reportedly doing well in his recovery from left thumb surgery, and could begin a rehab assignment as soon as the end of this month. Meanwhile, Mac Williamson served as a DH in Triple-A last night. None of the rehabbing Giants, however, will be called upon at the major league level for at least another week, a group that includes rookie Alen Hanson and veteran outfielder Hunter Pence.
• There’s still no real answer to the nerve issue in Matt Shoemaker’s forearm, according to Jeff Miller of the Los Angeles Times. The Angels right-hander reportedly visited a specialist in St. Louis earlier this week, and the next move in his recovery isn’t quite clear at this time. The oft-injured Shoemaker landed on the DL after just one start this season; he allowed three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings while striking out four.

• Royals first baseman Lucas Duda is heading to the DL as well, the team announced, owing to a bout of plantar fasciitis. It seems the expectation is that the left-handed-hitting slugger won’t miss too terribly long, with skipper Ned Yost saying it may be anywhere from just under a week to three weeks before he’ll be back. (Via Rustin Dodd of The Athletic, on Twitter.) Duda is still sitting under league average with his output on the year, though he has surged a bit of late. If he can get back to health and start hitting closer to his career mean, Duda could still be a trade piece for K.C. this summer. Former first-round pick Hunter Dozier will come up to take the open roster spot.
• The Twins provided updates on a pair of key rehabbing players, as conveyed by Phil Miller of the Star Tribune (Twitter links). Righty Ervin Santana has finally thrown his first live batting practice session and may be nearing a start in extended spring. He has been coming along slowly from finger surgery and will still need to fully ramp up and complete a rehab assignment before he’s ready for the majors. Meanwhile, third baseman Miguel Sano is still not close to being activated from a hamstring strain. Indications are he’ll at least be out for another week.
• Not long after returning from a brief DL stint, Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu is going back on the shelf, this time with a left thumb sprain. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out, but there’s also no reason to suspect it’ll be a lengthy absence. The 29-year-old, a pending free agent, has played well thus far, slashing a sturdy .279/.350/.457 with five home runs in his 143 plate appearances. Utilityman Pat Valaika takes the open roster spot.
• Meanwhile, the Giants have sent infielder Alen Hanson onto the 10-day DL with a hamstring strain while bringing back Austin Slater, who may need to see a bit of time in the infield. That’s a tough break for Hanson, a minor-league signee who had impressed in his 14 games of action after previously failing to gain traction in the majors. He has produced at a healthy .298/.346/.638 clip in 52 trips to the plate. As for Slater, the 25-year-old has demolished Triple-A pitching thus far, with a .386/.456/.670 batting line in 103 plate appearances. He has spent most of his career in the outfield, but does have a bit of experience under his belt at second base.

Hanson, 25, was once viewed as one of the game’s hundred or so top prospects. The switch-hitter has continued to advance, first reaching the majors in 2016, but analysts have soured on his outlook along the way.

In 2017, Hanson received his first extended run in the majors. He was claimed off waivers in early June by the White Sox from the Pirates after a rough start to the season. Over his 175 plate appearances in Chicago, Hanson produced a .231/.276/.375 batting line with four home runs and nine steals.

The Sox non-tendered Hanson after the season, so clearly that rebuilding organization was not convinced of his future. But he did show quality baserunning ability while playing all over the diamond — second, short, third, and all three outfield positions — so perhaps there’s still a possibility that Hanson could turn into a useful utilityman if he can make some strides at the plate.

Once one of baseball’s top overall prospects, Hanson’s production trailed off upon reaching Triple-A.  That didn’t prevent him from reaching the Majors, but he hasn’t performed well there, either, hitting a combined .205/.239/.261 in 92 plate appearances between the 2016 and 2017 seasons. The bulk of his time in the field as a big leaguer has come at second base, though defensive metrics such as Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved don’t paint a favorable picture. Hanson is out of minor league options, so if the White Sox wish to send him down at any point, they’ll have to once again expose him to waivers.