Former Seattle Mariners Farmhand Agrees to Deal with Rivals, Ending Chance of Reunion

May 20: The Los Angeles Dodgers designated veteran utility man Chris Taylor for assignment on Sunday in the midst of a tough season.

Taylor, 34, is hitting just .200 through 35 at-bats. He's played in only 28 games, registering two RBIs. Though Taylor can technically can be traded, he's very likely to clear waivers, allowing a team to pick him up for the league minimum in free agency.

Taylor was originally a fifth-round pick of the Seattle Mariners (2012) out of Virginia. He got as high as the No. 7 ranked prospect in the organization in 2014 and made his debut with Seattle that year, playing with the M's for parts of three seasons. Seattle traded him to the Dodgers in 2016 in one of Jerry Dipoto's greatest misses as a Mariners executive.

In parts of 10 seasons with the Dodgers, Taylor became a super utility player, hitting .250 with 108 home runs. He helped the Dodgers get to the World Series in 2017, 2020, and 2024, with the team winning a title in the latter two years.

He even hit a career-high 21 homers in 2017.

So, could the M's look to bring him back amid injury concerns on their own roster?

It doesn't seem likely. For starters, Taylor just isn't have a good season. Second, the Mariners already have utility infield types in Miles Mastrobuoni, Leo Rivas, and Donovan Solano. If the M's were to move off any of them, they could simply call up top prospect Cole Young, who is knocking on the door of a promotion at Triple-A.

The Mariners will play the White Sox again on Tuesday afternoon at 4:40 p.m. PT.