PEORIA, Ariz. — Cutdown weekend continued Sunday morning for the Seattle Mariners when they sent seven more players to minor-league camp, including outfielder Guillermo Heredia, the Cuban defector who signed earlier in the month.
Heredia, 25, was optioned to Double-A Jackson to hone skills after nearly two years of inactivity.
“You’ve got to see how the bat will play out,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “That will be the determining factor for him. There’s enough skills in the outfield and base-running.
“The culture change is going to be the biggest hurdle to overcome. I’ve been around Cuban players. They come over. It took Leonys Martin a while just to get comfortable with the language and the food.”
The Mariners also reassigned six non-roster invites to minor-league camp: lefty reliever Paul Fry, catchers Marcus Littlewood and Steve Lerud, infielders Benji Gonzalez and Tyler Smith, and outfielder Dario Pizzano.
The moves came one day after the club reassigned three other players to minor-league camp: lefty Danny Hultzen, right-hander Brad Mills and outfielder Mike Baxter.
None of the moves are a surprise.
Players who are on the 40-man roster must be optioned when sent the minors. Those on minor-league contracts are simply reassigned.
Full-squad workouts for minor-league players start Monday. The 10 deletions leave 51 players on the big-league camp roster, including two players on the 60-day disabled list.
All clubs must be down to 25 active players when the season starts.
Sanchez released
The crowd at first base got a little thinner after Sunday’s 5-3 loss to Cincinnati when the Mariners released veteran Gaby Sanchez, who was in camp as a non-roster invite.
Sanchez, 32, signed a minor-league deal on Jan. 28 after spending last season in Japan with the Rakuten Golden Eagles. He entered camp in competition with Jesus Montero and Dae-Ho Lee to be a right-handed complement to lefty Adam Lind.
The possibility that Sanchez could serve as organization depth at Triple-A Tacoma dimmed March 2 when Efren Navarro, a left-handed hitter who seems likely to split time with Stefen Romero on the Rainiers.
Sanchez played seven big-league seasons from 2008-14 for the Florida/Miami Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates. He batted .254 with 61 homers and 266 RBI in 700 career games.
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