3 Mariners who should be worried about their jobs at the start of July

July is here, and the Seattle Mariners are still just kind of OK. That is simply unacceptable, as the dual goals for this year were nothing short of another AL West title and a World Series appearance. As such, it's feeling like time for a roster shakeup.

Before we get into talking about which players should fear for their jobs, understand that this is not about reaching for pieces of low-hanging fruit.

Everyone knows that Weston Wilson and Buddy Kennedy are merely placeholders on the bench for Brendan Donovan and Rob Refsnyder. The same goes for Michael Rucker, Cole Wilcox and Nick Davila, whose spots in the bullpen are earmarked for Matt Brash, Cooper Criswell and Carlos Vargas once they're healthy.

These 3 Mariners could be out of a role or even out of a job soon

The real question is which players may be falling out of the grand plan with which the Mariners entered the season, which naturally starts with a guy who's having one of the worst seasons in team history.

DH/OF Rob Refsnyder

Yes, Refsnyder's job is safe for now. There might even be more hope for him than there has been in a while. Though he only just went on the injured list with knee inflammation on Monday, it had been an open secret that his knee had been bothering him for a while.

Even before Refsnyder went on the IL, though, Adam Jude of The Seattle Times reported that the Mariners were in the market for a right-handed hitter ahead of the August 3 trade deadline. That alone is an indictment of Refsnyder, whose whole job description is "right-handed hitter."

Dunking on him now is beating a dead horse, but it's not as if Refsnyder's 2026 season has any redemptive qualities. His 22 OPS+ is currently the seventh-worst ever by a Mariner in a season consisting of at least 100 plate appearances. His IL stint shouldn't stop whatever plans the team has to add a righty bat, and he shouldn't be guaranteed a job on the other side of that effort if it's successful.

OF Victor Robles

Remember when Robles came off the scrapheap to produce 3.0 rWAR for the Mariners down the stretch of 2024? Well, he's played in just 63 games and been worth -0.8 rWAR ever since then, and his 52 OPS+ this year puts him closer to Refsnyder territory than anyone wants to be.

What value Robles does provide is tied up in his athleticism. He can play all three outfield spots, which has been an especially valuable skill lately. With Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley dealing with injuries, Robles has been needed on both sides of Julio Rodríguez in the outfield.

That said, even fourth outfielders should be capable of doing more than being a warm body for plug-and-play action. Beyond having nothing to offer in terms of offensive impact, it's also been a long time since anyone considered Robles an ace defender.

RF/DH Luke Raley

Raley has been one of the Mariners' best hitters this year. His 14 home runs are tied for the team lead, and his 122 OPS+ is behind only Arozarena among the regulars. That's not a guy whose job should be in jeopardy.

And yet, Brendan Donovan has to play somewhere when he comes off the injured list after the All-Star break. There will be only fill-in work available at third base, second base and left field, which leaves right field as his most logical home. And Raley lacks at least one strong bulwark against him, in that he rates as one of the league's worst defensive right fielders.

Otherwise, Raley is coming off a June in which he posted just a 15 wRC+. He's also much less playable against lefties than Donovan or Dominic Canzone, as his wRC+ against lefties for the last two seasons amounts to 1. As in, he's 99 percent worse than average against southpaws.

In other words, he may soon have to be content with being a spot starter and big bat off the bench.

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