Mariners will be forced to make an unpopular roster move when Cal Raleigh returns

Baseball fans with a passion for history will have heard the story of a young heartbroken boy saying to Shoeless Joe Jackson "Say it ain't so, Joe" in relation to the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Jackson would say years later that the incident didn't actually take place. Still, "Say it ain't so" feels like an appropriate comment when it comes to Jhonny Pereda likely being the odd man out in Seattle.

As SoDo Mojo's Zachary Rymer covered on Tuesday, Cal Raleigh is continuing to take positive steps in his recovery from a strained right oblique. He's now projected to begin a minor league rehab assignment on Sunday, so the Mariners should get the runner-up for the 2025 AL MVP back sometime this month.

At that point, they will need to make a decision with their backup catcher situation. Pereda figures to be removed from the 26-man roster rather than Mitch Garver, mainly due to holding a minor league option.

As great as it will undoubtedly be for the Mariners to get Raleigh back, it's going to be a damn shame if Pereda does indeed head to Tacoma. He's clearly become a fan favorite during his short time in Seattle, with him just having a way of being in the middle of the action in (mostly) entertaining ways. Whether it's making a heads-up play on the basepaths, taking a ball off the groin, or homering after a long at-bat:

No matter if it's in person, on social media, or otherwise, it just feels like the love is real within the Mariners fanbase.

Jhonny Pereda over Mitch Garver AND Cal Raleigh ... to an extent

In general, Mariners fans just see a player who's giving his all whenever he's out on the field. It probably also helps in some respects that not much was expected from Pereda, with him turning out to be a pleasant surprise in Seattle. In fact, let's compare some of his offensive numbers this season to the M's other two catchers up to and including June 3:

Now yes, Raleigh's numbers were severely compromised by trying to play through his injury, Further, we appreciate that Pereda only has a small sample size of 45 plate appearances. And yet it can't be denied the impact he's having, while Garver continues in a similar vein to his previous two seasons in Seattle, with minimal success at the plate.

One possibility for keeping Pereda around could involve DFA'ing the perpetually cold Rob Refsnyder, have Garver take his DH at-bats versus lefties and make Pereda the full-time backup catcher. For the record though, as much as this idea might appeal to a lot of people, we don't think it's going to happen.

Which sadly brings us full circle back to the original point, that Pereda is likely to be the odd man out in Seattle when Raleigh is activated from the injured list. Say it ain't so Jhonny, say it ain't so…

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