Mariners News: Brendan Donovan progress, injured reliever ETAs, Lazaro Montes

The Seattle Mariners still aren't where they want to be, but they're waking up on Sunday with fresh hopes for some momentum. They somehow snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, and things are moving in the right direction on the injury front.

Most notably, what had been a long-delayed rehab assignment for Brendan Donovan is gaining some steam. He got back to action in the Arizona Complex League on Wednesday, and is now suiting up for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers as of Friday.

As per Tim Booth of The Seattle Times, Donovan shouldn't be expected back with the Mariners today, tomorrow, the day after that and so on. He hasn't seen major league action since May 15, and he's only DH'd so far during his rehab assignment. Justin Hollander said Friday that the conversation about activating Donovan likely won't happen until "something like 10 days from now.”

The obligatory question on that day will be how the Mariners can find playing time for the 29-year-old, as his former haunt at third base is now occupied by J.P. Crawford. Said time will need to be found, though, as where Donovan is absolutely needed is in the leadoff spot. He had a .400 OBP out of the No. 1 spot earlier this year. Everyone else has combined for a .323 OBP.

Also on the comeback trail is Rob Refsnyder, who has been out of action since June 26 with sore knees. He began a rehab assignment with Tacoma on Saturday and went 0-for-3 with a walk. Hollander expects him to need a week or longer, after which he may well be fighting for his job upon his return.

The Mariners should get injury reinforcements for their bullpen starting in mid-August

Also on Friday, Hollander addressed the timelines of relievers Carlos Vargas (lat strain), Matt Brash (lat strain) and Cooper Criswell (pec strain). Vargas should be back first, hopefully sometime around mid-August. The hope is that Brash and Criswell will be back soon after.

In the meantime, the bullpen remains one of the more bewildering aspects of the Mariners' 2026 season. It ranks fifth in the league with a 3.59 ERA, yet 17th in fWAR and 18th in Win Probability Added. It hasn't risen to replacement-level production in July, posting -0.1 fWAR for the month.

Gabe Speier and Jose A. Ferrer have had missteps recently, but it's the soft underbelly beneath the two of them, Andrés Muñoz and Eduard Bazardo that has truly cost the team. That one horrid loss in Cleveland at the end of June is still fresh. So is the meatball that Nick Davila served up to Willy Adames on Friday.

The August 3 trade deadline sits between now and when the Mariners will supposedly get Vargas, Brash and Criswell back, and the rumor mill has been abuzz with whispers of the team seeking to build a "super 'pen." There has, however, also been buzz that the M's won't actually be aggressive on the summer trade market.

Lazaro Montes' first home run in Tacoma was a moonshot

Down on the farm, Lazaro Montes played in his eighth game for Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday and came through with his first home run at Cheney Stadium. He clobbered it, hitting it at 110.4 mph off the bat and sending it 431 feet.

That's now 27 total home runs for Montes this year, bringing his total for the last two seasons to 59 over 218 games. He also continues to outplay his reputation on defense, which was a factor in us ranking him as Seattle's No. 3 prospect following the draft and Colt Emerson's graduation.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow