No Jean Segura (paternity leave) means unique Mariners lineup ... and another first for Dee Gordon
Dee Gordon – super utility pl…?
He stopped the question midway through.
“Let’s not go there, man,” he said. “Let’s not go there.”
Second base one night, center field the next then on Friday Gordon was plugged in at shortstop for the first time this season.
Jean Segura was placed on the major-league paternity list while expecting the birth of his child, so Mariners manager Scott Servais told Gordon he’d be playing shortstop in Segura’s place.
Gordon’s reaction?
“Cool,” he said.
Surprised?
“Not this year,” he laughed. “But I mean, I’m cool with it.”
He was one of a handful of players Servais said he met with before Robinson Cano was slated to officially return from his 80-game suspension for violating major league baseball’s joint drug agreement, playing his first game since May on Wednesday night in Oakland. First baseman Ryon Healy has missed starts because of Cano’s return, and it also affects how much outfielders Denard Span, Cameron Maybin, Guillermo Heredia and even third baseman Kyle Seager play over the next month and a half before the end of the regular season, with the Mariners entering Friday 2½ games behind the Athletics for the final American League wild card.
That’s not an easy conversation to accept.
“We talked as a group about where we’re at and what it’s going to take to ultimately get to where we want to go,” Servais said. “Everybody has to sacrifice a little bit for the betterment of the team. The situation with Jean – why not run Dee over there and we’ll have fun with it.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lineups for both <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mariners?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mariners</a> and Dodgers: <a href="https://t.co/V5WKQK1WdM">pic.twitter.com/V5WKQK1WdM</a></p>— TJ Cotterill (@TJCotterill) <a href="https://twitter.com/TJCotterill/status/1030579481692368897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Let’s go embrace the challenge. He’ll get a little action out there and I’m looking forward to seeing it.”
Gordon could be at shortstop for the next three games. That’s how long Segura could be out while on paternity leave, but Segura could return sooner. Servais wasn’t sure how long he planned to be out, though earlier this month Seager took all three days on paternity leave for the birth of his daughter.
Infielder Gordon Beckham was selected from Triple-A Tacoma with a roster spot open, but outfielder John Andreoli was designated for assignment to make room for him on the 40-man roster.
But in the meantime this means there’s four Gold Gloves in the Mariners infield – two for Cano, one for Gordon and one for Seager. Gordon did play shortstop in three games for the Marlins last season, but before that hadn’t been there since 2013 with the Los Angeles Dodgers – the team he was now playing against on Friday.
Actually, Gordon was playing shortstop at Safeco Field for the Dodgers on June 8, 2012 – when the Dodgers were no-hit by six Mariners pitchers.
“Y’all got a fake no-hitter,” Gordon said. “It don’t count.”
He said that because he still claims he was actually safe when he was called out on a ground ball to then-Mariners shortstop Brendan Ryan in the ninth inning.
Cano’s return
This was Cano’s first game at second base since his return and he said he felt far more comfortable heading into his first game at Safeco Field for the Mariners since May 6 knowing he had his familiar teal and blue second baseman’s glove instead of wearing a red first baseman glove that was given to him by friend Albert Pujols.
Cano said he was feeling a rush of anticipation before Friday’s game. He called his first game back, a rehab start in Tacoma almost two weeks ago, the longest pregame of his life working between 3-7 p.m. before the game – but this was just the same, he said. It’s been a long road after surgery on his fractured finger, then apologies after being busted by MLB for taking a diuretic commonly used to mask use of performance-enhancing drugs.
But he said he really felt the buildup on the Mariners day off on Thursday.
“And really even in Oakland I was just thinking about it,” Cano said. “It’s always good to be back home, but just really hoping everything goes good and that the fans are going to be on your side and things like that.”
It was all boos in Oakland.
“I’m not nervous, but it’s a feeling – like I can’t wait to see how it’s going to be when I step in the box,” Cano said.
“Really, my focus is on helping this team win a championship and get to the playoffs. But, man, it’s special. It’s going to be really special to be back out there.”
On tap
Right-hander Erasmo Ramirez (0-2, 6.75 ERA) will make his second start off of the disabled list in the 7:10 p.m. Saturday game at Safeco Field against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who will start left-hander Rich Hill (5-4, 3.57 ERA). It will broadcast on Root Sports, and 770-AM and 570-AM radio.
This story was originally published August 17, 2018 at 6:07 PM.