Could the Seattle Mariners be any more unserious? The question wrote itself Tuesday when they activated Rob Refsnyder from the IL and DFA'd Buddy Kennedy . Kennedy replaced Refsnyder a month ago. Now Refsnyder is replacing Kennedy.
We have completed the circle of mediocrity. Congratulations to everyone involved. Kennedy hit .100 in five games with Seattle, so nobody needs to organize a candlelight vigil. He was never the answer. The Mariners have spent the past month rotating two unproductive right-handed hitters through the same roster spot while one of their clearest weaknesses has continued demanding attention.
Seattle signed Refsnyder to a one-year, $6.25 million contract because he was supposed to punish left-handed pitching. Instead, he has hit .133/.203/.219 with a .422 OPS across 119 plate appearances. Against lefties, the entire reason he's here, Refsnyder has produced a .140/.214/.244 slash line.
His rehab assignment offered little reason to believe any change was coming. Refsnyder went 6-for-29 with one home run for Triple-A Tacoma, hitting .207/.281/.310. Now the Mariners are handing him a major-league roster spot during the final week before the trade deadline he's plugged in as the DH to open their series against the Dodgers .
Hope really is doing a lot of heavy lifting around here. We hope Refsnyder takes Justin Wrobleski deep tonight. Fine, maybe that's setting the bar too high. We hope he doesn't go 0-for. Better?
The Mariners entered the second half with an MLB-worst .631 OPS against left-handed pitching. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto has openly acknowledged the need for another right-handed bat. Everyone watching this lineup reached the same conclusion months ago.
The Mariners' response has been plucking Kennedy off waivers while Refsnyder was on the IL, followed by bringing Refsnyder back for Kennedy. The timing makes it look even worse. Seattle is 52-55 after losing 11 of its past 16 games. They've led for only three of 36 innings during a four-game series in Texas that should have brought some urgency to the surface. Instead, the Rangers took three of four, clinched the season-series tiebreaker and pushed Seattle 2 1/2 games behind them in the AL West.
The division remains available because nobody has been good enough to seize it. Texas is the only AL West team above .500. A serious contender should see that mediocrity and attack. The Mariners have answered it by reaching back for a 35-year-old hitter with one of the lowest OPS marks in baseball.
Now they head to LA to take on the Dodgers. The contrast is paralyzing. One organization operates like October is the expectation. The other is cycling through struggling bench bats while telling their fans to be patient.
Hmm, we think they've done enough of the patience thing. Mariners fans have spent years being handed marginal improvements wrapped in front-office fluff and told to admire the efficiency. They watched this team reach the ALCS last season. They saw what a legitimate contender looked like. Expectations changed, whether ownership and the front office were ready for them to change or not.
That's why the online reaction to Refsnyder's return has been filled with memes and sarcasm. Fans are not furious that Buddy Kennedy was DFA'd. They're exhausted by what the transaction represents: another small answer to a problem that requires conviction.
Refsnyder could collect a few hits against the Dodgers. He could rediscover some of the form that once made him one of baseball's more reliable platoon bats. It still wouldn't excuse the Mariners from finding a genuine offensive upgrade.
The move leaves Seattle's 40-man roster at 38 players. Great. There are two open spots and less than a week before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. The Mariners now have the flexibility to do something meaningful.
The Mariners have a vulnerable division, a talented pitching staff and the remnants of a team that came within one victory of the World Series last fall. They should be pushing forward.
Instead, they just went from Refsnyder to Kennedy and back to Refsnyder.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/mariners/onsi as Mariners Deliver a Masterclass in Going Nowhere by Replacing Buddy Kennedy With Rob Refsnyder .
