Mariners Release Ruggiano

On Thursday June 4 the Seattle Mariners released outfielder Justin Ruggiano after the trade for Mark Trumbo the day before. They had to bring up Jesus Sucre to replace Welington Castillo who was sent to Arizona as part of the trade.

I am sure like most Mariner fans were as surprised as I was with the release of Ruggiano. The Mariners had to remove Ruggiano, Weeks, or Ackley. To be honest I thought it would be Weeks. I knew likely Ackley would stay because he is a left handed batter and he would likely be used for defensive purposes.

Ruggiano is the best defensive player of the three and his bat is not too bad either. Not any worse than the others. For some reason Manager Lloyd McClendon did not like Ruggiano very well. He should have been used more when Austin Jackson was injured and he was out for about three weeks. Ruggiano was the best defensive outfielder next to Jackson but for some reason was not used much during that time.

McClendon did not give much of an answer why Ruggiano was released other than the extra outfielder will not play much. It is obvious that McClendon did not like Ruggiano for some reason.

I now see that within the next few weeks likely the Mariners bench will be totally changed except the return of Sucre. None of the other three players Bloomquist, Weeks, and Ackley are hitting at all. Weeks likely will DH against left handed pitching and pinch hit when necessary.  Person-ally I believe Franklin Gutierrez could do a better job in place of Weeks especially on the defensive side.

Ackley on the other hand has little purpose on the team now. He would only be used sparingly mainly as a defensive replace-ment for Seth Smith. He would be better traded to another team. Maybe he can get his career going with another team.

Willie Bloomquist only value is as a versatile player who can play multiple positions, and play defense. He now has very little value as a hitter. It would be best to replace him with someone younger who has the same skills, and can hit. He could still be good to keep if both Ackley and Weeks are replaced with better players. He could be used with his limited skills with upgrade in those two positions.

The trade for Trumbo upgraded the team for sure especially at the bottom of the batting order but the bench needs to be upgraded as well. I look forward to see what happens there.

The Mariners are losing a lot of close games so any upgrade even little could put them over the top in winning those close games. We know the pitching and defense will keep them in the games. It is nice to see the starters are doing well now, and the bullpen has been upgraded to get back to where it was last year. Go Mariners!