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The Mariners had to place outfielder Michael Saunders on the disabled list Wednesday night and it appears his roster replacement will be DH Jesus Montero. Montero has been playing for Triple-A Tacoma but wasn't in the lineup Thursday in Memphis and multiple reports suggest Montero is flying to Seattle to join the Mariners (Greg Johns of MLB.com being one).
The Mariners can't announce the move as official until Montero actually arrives in Seattle, so there hasn't been confirmation yet.
Montero, 24, is hitting .270/.345/.455 with 15 doubles, eight homers and 40 RBI in 59 games in Triple-A this season. One might recall that Montero was once one of baseball's most highly-touted prospects and was traded to the Mariners after the 2011 season for All-Star pitcher Michael Pineda.
Since then, Montero has done little more than disappoint both on and off the field. In 164 games for the Mariners, he's hit .252/.293/.377 with 18 homers, though much of the positive work came in 2012. In 2013, he was awful and was demoted to Triple-A before being suspended for his ties to the Biogenesis scandal.
Then, this past spring, Montero showed up to camp overweight.
He'll have a shot to rectify everything, likely immediately, because the Mariners need a full-time DH at this time and they're right in the thick of the playoff race.
