Dan Altavilla demoted, Chase De Jong called up as Mariners optimize pickup basketball lineup

Jerry Dipoto heard that you were leisurely enjoying your sunny and unexpectedly warm Friday afternoon, and decided to gift us with another roster move to spice things up.

Divish tweeted earlier that Chase De Jong had been scratched from his start tonight, so the only question was who would be correspondingly demoted. It could have meant a brief DL stint for Iwakuma and a spot start tonight, or the (temporary) end of Evan Marshall’s tenure as most currently beloved, mediocre bullpen arm, but instead we must bid a (again, temporary) farewell to Diesel Dan.

Presciently, Kate wrote about Dan Altavilla’s struggles earlier this afternoon and pointed to a new slider grip, coupled with some terrible BABIP luck, as his downfall. We need not rehash his difficulties further but can simply hope that some time in a lower-pressure environement, coupled with increased exposure to Lance Painter, will restore Dan’s command and control.

De Jong has made two starts since Tacoma’s season began, lasting around 5 innings and giving up one homer in each outing. His walk rate has been somewhat high, but he’s managed to maintain a 1.16 WHIP/1.76 ERA and Oakland should be a far friendlier place for him to pitch than that bandbox in Houston. No Springer, no problems.