Mariners’ right-field – As Cal Raleigh and Brendan Donovan work through injuries, the Mariners may be forced into a trade—not because they’re fading, but because the lineup math stops working when both return and the right-field logjam gets too crowded.
For the Mariners, the trade deadline conversation is starting to sound different. Not the usual kind—rooted in whether a season is slipping away. This time, the pressure comes from roster geometry.
Seattle’s farm system has been the go-to for years, the place where the team has found veterans to plug into the major-league roster. The Mariners have made that approach work by acquiring Brendan Donovan in the offseason, Josh Naylor last summer, and Randy Arozarena in 2024.
Now, there’s talk of a different kind of deal: moving someone already on the active roster.
“‘It’s a redundant roster,’ MLB Network insider Jon Morosi explained to Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob last week. “… To me, at some point, there’s probably a trade to be had here.”
Morosi tied the idea to a specific bottleneck—what Seattle does with the eventual returns of All-Stars Cal Raleigh and Brendan Donovan from injuries. Raleigh. the slugging catcher. has a straightforward path back: once he’s healthy. he could lean into regular designated hitter work. Donovan’s route is messier, shaped by the way the team has been distributing roles in his absence.
Rookie Colt Emerson has been playing third base and shortstop, and J.P. Crawford has been positioned as someone who could switch spots with Emerson. Donovan—who began 2026 as Seattle’s third baseman—may end up with less time in infield spots than he had planned for. The most likely landing spot, at least in the discussion, is the outfield.
But left field may already be spoken for. Morosi said it seems unlikely Donovan would take the left field role from Arozarena. who is posting a .867 OPS and has been Seattle’s best offensive player in 2026. That leaves right field—where the Mariners have depth stacked deep enough to become a problem of its own.
Seattle has Luke Raley, Victor Robles, Dominic Canzone, and Rob Refsnyder as players who are either primarily playing right field or splitting their time between right field and DH.
“I’m not saying (trading one of the right fielders would be) a blockbuster – OK. we’re not trading Griffey here – but one of those guys you mentioned. there’s just some redundancy there. ” Morosi said. “And maybe part of this gets decided once Cal is fully back to being himself from a health standpoint. then that sort of re-centers what the DH position looks like. But I think for now you can be a little bit lopsided. but once Donovan and Cal are fully back in the lineup every day. you almost have to either designate someone for assignment or make a trade because you cannot carry that many right fielders. The math doesn’t make sense for you to do that.”.
The math is one side of the dilemma. The other is health—and the kind of uncertainty that makes deadline decisions harder than they look on paper.
Raleigh is dealing with an oblique issue that he initially strained before going on the IL. and he already played through a stretch after that initial setback. Donovan’s situation is tied to groin strain. and he is on his second IL stint with the same groin strain coming off offseason sports hernia surgery.
That’s why Morosi described the timing as anything but routine.
“The nature of the injuries Raleigh and Donovan are dealing with add to the difficulty of the situation. because there’s no guarantee they won’t re-aggravate them when they return. ” Morosi said. “They both essentially already have. as Raleigh played a stretch after initially straining his oblique before going on the IL. and Donovan is on his second IL stint with the same groin strain coming off of offseason sports hernia surgery.”.
He framed it as a chain of questions Seattle can’t fully answer yet—how much DH time Raleigh will need, and what happens if a return triggers another setback.
“Assuming when Cal’s playing time gets redistributed, how many DH days is he going to need?. There’s just so many questions right now. They don’t have to make that decision at the exact moment, but it’s coming,” Morosi said. “And the difficult part of it is. and why you don’t want to have to designate someone for assignment so quickly. is there has to be some level of re-injury risk with some of these guys that we’re talking about here. The last thing you want to do is DFA someone because Cal’s ready to play and then all of a sudden Cal tweaks this again and then you’re in trouble.”.
Seattle’s options aren’t empty. Morosi said the Mariners “have options,” but stressed the choice still isn’t easy, especially because the offense doesn’t make the decision simpler.
“They’re in a difficult spot. They’ve got options, but this is not an easy decision and it’s not as though they’ve got one through nine all rolling in a big way offensively, because that would make these choices a lot easier. As we all know, they don’t.”
In other words, the Mariners may not be deciding whether they can compete this year—they’re deciding how to keep the roster functional once two key players are back.
And until that happens fully—until Raleigh is healthy enough to reshape the DH picture and Donovan is fully integrated into the outfield plan—the Mariners will keep living with a crowded right-field conversation, one that’s increasingly hard to avoid as the season moves toward the trade deadline.
Seattle Mariners Cal Raleigh Brendan Donovan right field DH roster redundancy Jon Morosi trade deadline J.P. Crawford Colt Emerson Luke Raley Victor Robles Dominic Canzone Rob Refsnyder Randy Arozarena