Seattle Mariners Finalize Opening Day Rosters… For Now

Now that the Mariners are back from Japan, the team needed to get their 28-man roster trimmed back down to the standard 25 man roster. Today, they made the moves needed to set their 25-man roster for Opening Day… at least for now.

The first move made was not made by the Mariners at all, but by the decision of Ichiro Suzuki. His retirement left the roster at 27 and also cleared a spot on the 40-man, leaving it at 39 players. We recently wrote about the Mariners adding a 40-man player to their roster here, and it is a distinct possibility.

To get back down to 25, Seattle optioned outfielder Braden Bishop and relief pitcher Dan Altavilla to Triple-A Tacoma. Neither move was unexpected. Bishop was basically awarded a spot on the Japan trip for his excellent Spring Training that saw him slash .379/.419/.724. He did manage to get a few innings in CF after replacing Ichiro in the 8th inning of Game 2.

He also got his first major league debut and it didn’t go particularly well. Bishop struck out looking on 3 pitches. Bishop will almost assuredly be back in Seattle at some point this season. He will likely be the call-up for any injury that may occur in the outfield and will get everyday plate appearances in AAA.

Altavilla had a terrible outing in Japan. He gave up 2 runs to tie the game and had to command of his either his fastball and slider. This has become the same story for Altavilla, who has the stuff to be a high-leverage reliever but can never seem to command it for an extending period of time.

Like Bishop, Altavilla will be one of the first to be recalled from Tacoma and should log meaningful innings for the Mariners. With the moves, Seattle’s roster is set for Opening Day, barring any late injuries or additions from outside the organization.

We have already seen a flurry of moves as roster begin to crunch. With Jerry Dipoto as your GM, you can never rule out a trade of any kind. For now, the Mariners 25-man is set. For how long, nobody really knows.