Why Mariners should've made this Cal Raleigh IL roster move a long time ago

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Why Mariners should've made this Cal Raleigh IL roster move a long time ago originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Seattle Mariners have had a bit of a rough go of things this season, and no one player has felt the struggles of the season more than Cal Raleigh, their 60-homer slugger from a year ago.

At 21-23, the Mariners are in decent shape in the AL West, as they're just two games back of the Athletics atop the division. But now, they're going to have to go forward without Raleigh.

According to Adam Jude of The Seattle Times, the Mariners are placing Raleigh on the injured list. This IL placement doesn't come as a surprise, as he was clearly in pain recently.

"NEWS: Cal Raleigh (right oblique strain) is headed to the IL for the first time in his career," Jude reported Thursday morning.

This roster move for the Mariners is a massively unfortunate one, but it's actually one they should've made a long time ago.

Why Mariners should've placed Cal Raleigh on the IL a while ago​

Raleigh's struggles this season are well documented at this point, with his .161 batting average being well below league average. While his seven homers aren't a bad total, and a .560 OPS isn't the worst in the league, he's been a severe disappointment offensively.

The biggest sign of something being wrong was his ridiculous 0-for-38 streak at the plate, as he failed to get a hit for multiple weeks until he got two on Tuesday night.

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And that lengthy hit-less streak was the sign that Raleigh should've been on the injured list. He was clearly playing below 100% during that stretch, and could've benefitted from a stint on the IL.

His struggles this season could've been avoided if they had placed him on the IL earlier this season and turned to Mitch Garver and other backup options.

Raleigh missed time earlier this season due to this right-side injury, and it's clear now that the Mariners should've placed him on the IL then to avoid this 0-for-38 streak, especially now that his oblique issue is bad enough that they're forced to place him on the IL.

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