Logan Morrison back from DL, Justin Smoak takes his place

Justin Smoak hasn't started a game since June 6th with a quad injury, and he won't be starting another one for a couple more weeks. He's been placed on the 15-day disabled list, and it's Logan Morrison, back from an extended rehab assignment in AAA, to take his place.

Smoak has been a defensive substitute for Willie Bloomquist a few times in the past week, so his DL stint can only be retroactive to June 9th. The quad injury has been nagging at him for a while, and whether or not it affected his offensive performance is up in the air, though we've been made to believe it has. Given that Smoak has been much worse than usual, it's feasible.

So it's Logan Morrison back in the fold, who should slide right into Smoak's spot at first base. There shouldn't be much positional fallout from this, other than Morrison being able to play the outfield from time to time. But with all of the outfielders currently on the roster, it would be a surprise if the Mariners chose to play him anywhere but 1B or DH, especially after recovering from a hamstring injury.

It could be an offensive upgrade for the Mariners, as Morrison has quietly started to dominate Tacoma over the past couple of weeks. He's all the way up to a .387 wOBA, including a .321/.472/.571 line in his last eight games. Connor will have more on Morrison's performance in AAA in a Fun on the Farm post at 3:30.

We still don't really know what we have with Logan Morrison. He didn't get enough playing time for us to see what he was like healthy, then he got hurt, now he's presumably not hurt but may not play long enough for us to find out what he is, again. Either way, it's more potential impact in the lineup, and that will be welcomed with open arms after some of the timid lineups the Mariners have trotted out over the past week. Swapping an unknown for something that was supremely ineffective over the past month will work out just fine.