Mariners add two (sorta) new catchers, demote Luis Torrens, DFA Brady Lail & José Marmolejos

The Seattle Mariners have made a bevy of moves on their off day, making a promotion and a waiver claim in concert with a minor league optioning and a pair of designations for assignment. The Mariners have claimed (once again!) C Jacob Nottingham off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers, promoted C José Godoy from AAA-Tacoma, demoted C Luis Torrens to AAA-Tacoma, and DFA’d RHP Brady Lail and 1B/OF José Marmolejos.

The writing has been on the wall for weeks with both Torrens and Marmolejos struggling to put together anything potent at the plate and harboring significant defensive limitations. As Connor investigated earlier today, Torrens has absolutely crumbled defensively after being solid previously, leaving Seattle little choice but to find an alternative, giving Torrens time in Tacoma to reset at the plate and behind it. They’ve chosen two replacements, with their second round of claiming Nottingham this year extending the hilarity of their last flirtation. As you may remember last time, the 26 year old was claimed by Seattle back in April but almost immediately was traded right back to the Brewers for cash, following an injury to Omar Narváez. The Brew Crew ultimately jettisoned Nottingham again recently with Narv on the mend.

The second backstop added is minor league signee José Godoy, who extremely dedicated Spring Training and Tacoma Rainiers aficionados may recognize. Godoy is just 26 himself, and will be making his big league debut if and when he gets in a game. This is Godoy’s first full season out of the Cardinals organization, where he spent his entire career since signing in 2012. Where Nottingham has a Tom Murphy-esque profile of decent power and some swing and miss, Godoy is a contact hitting lefty who has never run a strikeout rate above 19% in the minors. He’s been fairly successful, albeit with incremental steps up through the minors that have only yielded 129 plate appearances in AAA for his career. He should be solid behind the dish, though this will be his first work with a big league staff.

Heading out the door are Lail and Marmolejos, both of whom are no stranger to living on the fringes of a big league roster. Seattle already passed Lail through waivers at least once since mid-2020, while Marmo will be a mildly interesting one to see if another club bites on his prodigious power. The moves leave Seattle’s 40-man roster full once more, with just 25 players on the active roster, meaning another move is likely before tomorrow’s series opener in San Diego. Look for another pitcher, most likely, either an activation of someone like Keynan Middleton from injury or a promotion of another depth option from Tacoma.