Mariners add Martin and Ramirez, DFA DJ Peterson

The Mariners found themselves in an interesting spot Sunday morning due to the injury of Mitch Haniger and the trade for Erasmo Ramirez. They needed to clear some space for those two, and the team took a rather interesting route.

With the addition of Leonys Martin from Tacoma and the subtraction of the injured Mitch Haniger, the M’s 25-man roster stayed at 25. The Mariners optioned reliever Cody Martin to Tacoma to make room for Ramirez, but, due to the addition of Ramirez from outside, Seattle had to clear space on their 40-man as well.

This is where it gets really puzzling. Dipoto designated for assignment, once first round draft pick, D.J. Peterson.

Peterson, over 5 seasons in the organization, has posted a batting average of .269. While not great, that includes a miserable 2015 campaign where he took a big step back and hit .223 on the year. In 2017 he’s put up serviceable numbers, hitting .264 with 12 homers and 54 RBIs.

More from Mariners News

• Mariners starting pitching is being overlooked by MLB
• Baking the Cake: An Adjusted Mariners Offseason Plan
• Taylor Trammell Could Provide Impact to 2023 Mariners
• What Jerry Dipoto’s trades, comments mean for remainder of Mariners offseason
• Mariners Select Chris Clarke in Rule 5 Draft

Apparently though, the Mariners brass did not see this as being good enough, and were willing to cut him. In my own opinion, Peterson has real potential, and as a first baseman, the M’s might as well give him a shot. I watched him play a couple of times in AA, and his power is certainly eye-popping.

The interesting thing, there seemed to be less drastic cuts the Mariners could’ve made. While not exactly the best option to only have 2 catchers on the 40-man, Seattle could’ve DFA’d Tuffy Gosewisch. Also some arms such as Zac Curtis, Chase De Jong, or Cody Martin could’ve gotten the boot.

Next: Mariners Trade Tracker: Dipoto's Deadline Dealings

In fairness, Peterson isn’t a certain loss, he may go unclaimed on waivers and report back to Tacoma. However, it is a little strange Dipoto would risk losing a potential asset who plays first base, an area the M’s are currently quite thin. Yet he was a leftover from the Jack Z era, and maybe Dipoto didn’t see in Peterson what the previous GM did. We will see what happen’s with him, and make sure updates are known to you when they come.