Seattle Mariners News: Romero to Tacoma, Walker to Seattle

The Seattle Mariners continue to make moves, but that is normal over the course of a long season. Throughout the year, players get promoted from Triple-A and have an opportunity to prove themselves.

Some stay. Some return from whence they came.

Taijuan Walker, the jewel of the farm system, is reportedly heading for Seattle and will pitch on Monday for the Mariners. It will take a bit of time to answer two questions. One, can Walker stay healthy? Two, will he develop into the star that everyone hopes he will be?

In another transaction, the Mariners sent weak-hitting Stefen Romero back down to Tacoma. For Romero, the question is whether he will return to Seattle in the near future. Or ever.

Romero stuck around for 51 games, compiling a .196/.236/.324 slash line. Not exactly impressive hitting statistics. Romero struck out 40 times in 148 at-bats, and only walked four times. Sadly, this is not a strong display of patience at the plate.

He had a -0.9 OWAR for the season. In a word, poor.

The young outfielder will turn 26 in October, which means that he still has some time to prove himself. That said, he will need to have an impressive hitting stint at Triple-A in the coming weeks and months if he wants to be considered for promotion again.

One player is about to make his season debut, and there will be many who watch with great anticipation. Another player has to try and recover from a demotion.

These are the ups and downs of playing professional baseball. Right now, these two players are heading in opposite directions.