Mariners have 36 minor leaguers opt for free agency

Mike Curto of the Tacoma Rainiers announced on Wednesday afternoon that 36 Mariners minor leaguers have opted for free agency, six more than any other organization.

You can find the list in its entirety above, but some of the most notable among those who opted to test the minor league free agent waters are:

• UTIL Shawn O’Malley
• RHP Casey Lawrence, RHP Evan Marshall, RHP Ryne Harper, RHP Micah Owings, RHP Dylan Unsworth, and LHP Dean Kiekhefer
• C Steve Baron, C Tyler Marlette, C Marcus Littlewood, C Yojhan Quevedo
• OF Kyle Waldrop

The two big surprises here are 1) the Mariners incredibly weak catching depth in the system somehow just got even worse and 2) Dylan Unsworth, formerly a promising prospect, may be ticketed for a new ballclub

You can expect that many of the 36 now-free agents will sign a new deal with the M’s, but there is some organizational shakeup to be expected.

Also worthy of note is that the Mariners re-signed C Tuffy Gosewisch and UTIL Danny Muno.