Over the years, I’ve seen dozens of players designated for assignment and, in the heat of their heartbreak, say they would decline the assignment to the minor leagues if they weren’t claimed by another team.

Then as they pass through waivers and realize that pitching in the minor leagues is better than not pitching at all, they go down and work their way back to the majors.

Roy Corcoran hinted at the same thing on July 24 when the Mariners designated him for assignment. Today, he hasn’t backed off. Corcoran passed through waivers and the Mariners reassigned him to Class AAA Tacoma, but he has declined the assignment. It makes him a free agent.

Here’s hoping Corcoran lands with another team soon and the problems he experienced this year — a biceps injury at spring training that never really got better, plus flat results on the mound — are over.

Corcoran is a funny guy just standing still, and when that Louisiana twang comes out his mouth he can be an absolute riot. How much did his teammates like him? At spring training when manager Don Wakamatsu would call players into his office for get-to-know-you meetings, Wak was amazed at the answer when he asked a guy who his favorite teammate was. More often than not, the answer was Roy Corcoran.

That got me to thinking.

This losing spell the Mariners have hit coincides precisely with the moment the Mariners designated Corcoran for assignment. The Mariners had come back from an uplifting road trip to Cleveland and Detroit, but that night the Indians pummeled them in the first of four straight losses. Since Corcoran left, the Mariners have gone 3-7.