The Mariners announced that outfielder has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma. He had been bumped off the 40-man roster when the Mariners designated him for a signment earlier this week. Taveras has the right to elect free agency but will likely forgo that right. Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject an outright a signment and head to the open market. However, if they have le s than five years of service, they have to forfeit any remaining salary commitments in order to exercise that right. Taveras is between three and five years of service and is making $4.75MM this year, so it seems fair to presume hell report to Tacoma in order to keep the remainder that money coming to him. That money has been an undercurrent to all things related to Taveras in the past year or so. He had a down season in 2024 and was arguably a non-tender candidate coming into 2025. With the Rangers attempting to stay under the competitive balance tax, they could have cut Taveras and given center field to . The Rangers did tender Taveras a contract but there were surrounding him in January. Though the club had a tight budget, its po sible that concerns around Carters back surgery may have motivated them to stick with Taveras. But his production fell even further from his 2024 levels while Carter was getting into game shape. They decided to move on and put Taveras on waivers. The Mariners made a somewhat surprising claim, given their own financial constraints. Reports throughout the winter suggested they only had about $15MM to spend on upgrading their roster for the Leicester City Jersey 2025 season. They signed and to one-year deals worth a combined $11.25MM, leaving them with a bit of wiggle room for in-season moves. At the time they claimed Taveras, he still had about $3.7MM of his salary to be paid out, a notable sum for a fringe roster player. Perhaps not coincidentally, that money and the Polanco/Solano contracts add up to almost exactly $15MM. Presumably, the Ms felt they could get the 2022-23 version of Taveras. In those seasons, he had slashed .264/.311/.400 for a 97 wRC+ while stealing 25 bases and providing strong outfield defense. They also had lost and to the injured list, perhaps motivating them to take a gamble. As mentioned, Taveras had seen his production drop lately. He put up a line of .229/.289/.352 last year, leading to an 82 wRC+. This year, his line was at .241/.259/.342 when Texas bumped him off the roster. While the Ms hoped for a bounceback, he actually got worse after coming to Seattle, with a .174/.198/.272 line in 28 games. They decided to pull the plug and it seems no other club was willing to take on the roughly $2.7MM of his salary still to be paid out. Its a le s than ideal use of resources for the Mariners, especially given how little they had to work with. That is something which could impact their moves in the rest of the season. Unle s ownership greenlit some extra spending, this move used up a few million bucks that could have been used to acquire a more surefire upgrade at the deadline. Theres still some time to flip the narrative. Perhaps Taveras can get back on track with Tacoma and earn his way back onto the roster. However, that may get tougher in time. Raley is now on a rehab a signment and should be back on the roster in the next few weeks. Robles is further away but could rejoin the club later in the year. Presumably, adding another outfielder or two at the deadline will be a po sibility. If Taveras doesnt get called back up to the majors, he will be able to elect minor league free agency at seasons end. Thats the case for all players with at least three years of big league service time who are outrighted during the course of a season. Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images Argentina Jersey