The Seattle Mariners cut a group of four players at Spring Training Sunday night (March 10). These are the first cuts that the team has made down in Peoria this spring and it included four pitchers. Right-handers Chance Ruffin, Jonathan Arias, and D.J. Mitchell and lefty Brian Moran were the players receiving the first cuts from the Spring Training squad.
Arias, Mitchell, and Moran are all invitees to camp, so they are now reassigned to the Minor League camp to continue proving that they deserve a spot in either Double-A or Triple-A when the regular season begins. Ruffin is currently a player on the 40-man roster, so he has been optioned back to the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers for the time being.
Ruffin is one of the players that the Mariners acquired from the Detroit Tigers in the Doug Fister trade. He didn't do too well down in Arizona, pitching three innings while giving up three runs on six hits. Mitchell, who was one of the players that the Mariners acquired from the New York Yankees in the trade of Ichiro Suzuki, gave up two runs in 4 1/3 innings this spring.
None of the four pitchers really looked to be part of the plan for the 25-man roster coming into Spring Training for the Seattle Mariners, so these moves by the front office aren't all that surprising. It is likely that one or two of them could become bullpen components at some point in the next few seasons for the Mariners, but they don't play into the immediate plans at this time.
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