Mariners notebook: Monday moves just the beginning

It had been six days since the Mariners last made a roster move – placing James Paxton on the 15-day disabled list and recalling Cody Martin – so one could say they were overdue for another. On Monday, they recalled Guillermo Heredia and placed Drew Storen on the 15-day DL with right-shoulder inflammation.

The Heredia call-up was not a huge surprise. One defensive replacement in the outfield Sunday afternoon proved not enough with miscues by Norichika Aoki, so it stood to reason that the Mariners would look to get Heredia back on the roster. Storen’s shoulder inflammation is a surprise as he had been pitching well.

“He needs a little blow where he’s at,” manager Scott Servais said, pointing out that Storen’s workload with the Mariners was different than what it had been in the past. “He’s done a nice job for us in traffic situations, sixth, seventh innings. I was trying desperately to stay away from him yesterday, but ultimately had to get him up in the ninth and he was probably going to need a few days anyway. We need him back, but … we certainly saw what happened when we gave (Steve) Cishek a blow and got him back healthy. He’s looked very good the last couple of times out.”

For Storen, it’s tough to have to take a seat at this time of the year, but he realizes that it is all hands on deck right now and he needs to be closer to 100 percent with his availability.

“The last thing I want to do is cost the team wins,” he said. “It’s frustrating, but sometimes you have to do the smart thing.”

The move is retroactive to Aug. 20 and Storen is not expected to miss any additional time.

Heredia was the victim of a numbers crunch when he was sent down on Aug. 10. With the starters going deeper in games, Servais could afford to go one short in the bullpen, which allowed Heredia to be on the roster. Before he was sent down, Servais called Heredia “a luxury”. He appears to be a necessary luxury now with the team fighting for every win. We could see some interesting moves to keep him on the 25-man roster.

Servais indicated that there would be more moves coming. Paxton will need to be activated from the 15-day DL. A starter for Tuesday will need to be added and all indications are that it will be Taijuan Walker. A bullpen arm will also need to be added, and general manager Jerry Dipoto on Sunday singled out Tony Zych and Evan Scribner as two relievers that could help them sooner rather than later.

Why Peterson is playing OF

You may have noticed that D.J. Peterson is playing in the outfield for the Rainiers. I asked Dipoto about the why’s and what’s next for the former first-round pick.

“There’s not a lot of opportunity at first base right now,” Dipoto noted. “We wanted to get Stefen Romero some time over there, (Dan) Vogelbach is playing over there and now with Dae-Ho (Lee) going down to Tacoma, we are trying to keep D.J.’s bat going.”

While outfield is not his natural position, it will only help Peterson’s stock if he can show any ability there.

“The more positions that guys feel comfortable playing, the more opportunity they will have,” Dipoto said. “In player development, the more we can do that with players with that type of skill-set or at least explore it, the better off we are.”

Note

• Edwin Diaz is available Monday night after getting Saturday and Sunday off.

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