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#Mariners announce signing of Henry Blanco. Kelly Shoppach DFA.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 14, 2013
After signing Henry Blanco, the Mariners decided they no longer required the services of Kelly Shoppach, sending him to the big waiver wire in the sky on Friday. Though he is no real prize offensively, sporting an 82 wRC+ in 32 games for Seattle this season, Shoppach likely represents a considerable upgrade over Austin Romine at the plate. Though he has not shown it so far this year, Shoppach does have a career 131 wRC+ off of lefties. That's valuable!
Romine has been completely overmatched offensively since being called up to replace the injured Francisco Cervelli. His -18 wRC+, yes really, is probably deserving of a trip back to Triple-A if a replacement presents itself. Enter Shoppach. If the Yankees can nab him off waivers, it wouldn't be exciting by any means, but it would probably be a boost over what they are presently working with. Of course, the team could just stand pat until the hopeful return of Cervelli, but they have little to lose in making this move if they can.
Should the Yankees miss out on the Shoppach Sweepstakes, there is another possibility floating around on waivers in the form of Ramon Hernandez, who the Dodgers DFA'd earlier today to make room for A.J. Ellis on their roster. Hernandez is rocking a 103 wRC+ in 17 games for the Dodgers this season with some solid defense. The Yankees probably can't be too picky right now, and it is a backup catcher, so the importance level is low. Still, Romine has been completely uninspiring at the plate, and if they can find an upgrade for basically nothing, they should probably pursue it as far as they can.