It's September, which, because baseball is weird, means teams get to make their rosters way bigger now if they want to. Some teams out there have added really exciting young prospects, like Jesus Montero and Devin Mesoraco. The Mariners already have pretty much all their exciting high-level prospects on the team, so these are the players they've added instead:
mariners add C Chris Gimenez and pitchers Cesar Jimenez and Shawn Kelley to roster with Sept roster expansion.
There will be more to come - players don't have to be added on September 1st, and at the very least we'll see Justin Smoak and Chone Figgins return before long - but these are the players the M's have chosen to add now.
Kelley, we expected. He's been busy rehabbing in Tacoma after undergoing partial Tommy John surgery, which I'm pretty sure means they move a ligament from your leg to your abdomen. Over 17.2 total minor league innings, he generated six walks and 18 strikeouts, and five of those walks came in one (oddly scoreless) appearance. More important than the numbers, though, is that Kelley has felt good, and reports have been good, and he should be able to hit the ground rolling. Even if the Mariners are hesitant to use him on back-to-back days, he immediately becomes one of the team's better relievers, and September will be all about preparing for an important job in 2012.
Gimenez, we expected. He's returning from the 60-day DL, onto which he was forced by a bad oblique injury. The last time he played, the Mariners were 39-41, and three games out of first. Now they're 58-77 and 18 games out of first. Gimenez was in no way involved in the whole devastating 17-game losing streak. The whole time, Gimenez was just sitting there, helpless, thinking "this team needs more Chris Gimenez!" He's back to wrest playing time from Miguel Olivo, who won't give any of it up without a fight. In that fight, Gimenez may re-injure his oblique.
Jimenez, we didn't expect, although it's not surprising the M's brought up another reliever given that they're running with a six-man rotation in which Blake Beavan might be the fourth-best starter. Jimenez and Gimenez will never be confused for one another so stuff your stupid jokes. If you remember Jimenez, it's because he pitched with the Mariners briefly in 2006, and less briefly in 2008. Or it's because you just know pitchers. Since 2008, Jimenez has had major shoulder surgery and hung out in Tacoma, and with Tacoma this season, he's struck out 81 dudes in 71 innings. His stuff isn't as good as his strikeout numbers so he doesn't warrant much excitement, but on the other hand, the guy's still just 26. He debuted when he was 21. That's crazy since when he was 21, he was bad. In his debut, he relieved Emiliano Fruto, who relieved Jake Woods.
Before today, the Mariners' 40-man roster stood at 39, including Kelley. Gimenez and Jimenez had to be added, so to make room, the M's released Matt Tuiasosopo. I haven't decided if I should write a new post, or leave it at this.