Mariners Moose Tracks, 6/7/18: Marc Rzepczynski, PJ Conlon, and Shohei Ohtani

Good morning folks! I hope you’ve had a pleasant week so far. The MLB Draft is officially done, and the M’s dropped one to the Astros yesterday. Today the team starts a four-game set with Tampa before they hit the schedule buzzsaw. Here are some links to get your day started as you await today’s contest.

In Mariners news...

• Here’s who the Rays are expected to throw against Seattle this weekend.

• Marc Rzepczynski is no longer a member of the organization.

• Mariners prospect Logan Taylor discussed his expectations now that he’s been called up to Double-A.

Around the league...

• The Mets have claimed pitcher PJ Conlon back from the Dodgers after the Dodgers recently acquired him from New York. PJ was a pretty good sport about it, though.

• Uhh, well...

• Well, Vlad Jr.’s journey to uhh...Triple-A? might be in jeopardy.

• Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs ponders the future of Ian Kinsler.
• This strikes me as an incredibly dumb idea, but sure.

• MLB Hall of Famer and the man known as “Mr. Cardinal” — Red Schoendienst — died yesterday at 95 years of age.
• Hey, the M’s aren’t the only team to make a trade this early.

• Shohei Ohtani exited his start against the Royals with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand.
• David Schoenfeld at ESPN lists 10 young players who are on the verge of being considered busted prospects.
• Craig Edwards at Fangraphs says that it’s not the hitters’ fault that strikeouts are on the rise.
• Sheryl Ring takes a look at the legality of performance-enhancing drugs.
• Viva El Birdos still thinks Cardinals fans should continue to give David Freese standing ovations whenever he comes to St. Louis.
• Kansas City police arrested a woman for setting a bunch of small fires around Kauffman Stadium.
• Aww: Astros infielder Alex Bregman got to make the phone call to his brother to inform him that he’d been drafted by Houston.

Anders’ picks...

• Well OK then.